By Anne Stuart
Story Rating - 4.5
Bryony Russell is determined to find out who framed her
father for embezzlement and subsequently murdered him, leaving her sisters and
her without a home and with a shadow over their name. First on her list of suspects
is Lord Kilmartyn, a rake and her father’s business partner, a man who seems to have escaped
the scandal unscathed. So Bryony infiltrates his household as the new
housekeeper, one in a succession of unsuccessful women who have been driven out
by the Lord’s virago of a wife.
Adrian Bruton is an Irishman living in England, a lord by
virtue of his wealth rather than birth. His ties to Ireland leave him in a
precarious position, one which his spiteful wife holds over his head as
blackmail. To pique her, he hires the new housekeeper in spite of his wife’s
objections that Bryony “Greaves” is too ugly to bear the sight of.
What happens after that is fairly predictable. Adrian finds
himself drawn to Bryony, a woman he assumes is a spy, but he doesn’t realize
until further on what she's after. Bryony knows her employer is a
rake and although she intends to avoid him, she kisses him when she
believes him to be in a drunken stupor. I have to say that didn’t quite ring
true for me. HOWEVER, that did not detract from the read for me. I did enjoy
this well-written story. Gothic romances are among my favorites and I would
likely read this again. On the downside, stories that start with an intention
of adultery, no matter what the circumstances, generally detract from the
experience. I’m not going to tell the author how to write her story or what
might have made it easier for me to countenance (here I go being prudish!). To
the author’s defense, she did an excellent job making Adrian a man of
questionable character, so it fits with his personality. Unfortunately, that
didn’t make it "all right." And I’m dwelling on a minor flaw in the tale. Bryony’s
character shines through. She’s hard-working, determined, industrious and
loyal. These are the virtues that redeem her, and her weakness for Adrian makes
her human. I enjoyed the story overall, but the personal issues I had with it
force me to grade it a little less than a five (issues another reader might not
stumble over).
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