Moonlight Masquerade...Review

About the book:
Lady Celine Wexham seems the model British subject. French by birth but enjoying life in 1813 as a widowed English countess, she is in the unique position of being able to help those in need--or to spy for the notorious Napoleon Bonaparte. 

When Rees Phillips of the British Foreign Office is sent to pose as the countess's butler and discover where her true loyalties lie, he is confident he will uncover the truth. But the longer he is in her fashionable townhouse in London's West End, the more his staunch loyalty to the Crown begins to waver as he falls under Lady Wexham's spell. 

Will he find the proof he needs? And if she is a spy after all, will he do the right thing?

Wow.  Seriously.  I couldn't put this one down.  I read it in a day.

I loved Rees and Celine.  I loved the way they danced around each other and the issues at hand.  Was he a spy?  Was she?  I love the Downtonesque upstairs/downstairs thing.  How they both struggled with the attraction and the realization that he was the "butler" and she, the Lady.  Their chemistry was amazing and believable and quite refreshing for a regency romance. And, more than that, the friendship that developed between them was fantastic.

The whole spy/espionage theme really worked and it's not something one usually associates with the time of Napoleon Bonaparte, but I liked the English/France relations.

I haven't read Ruth Axtell before, but you can bet I will from now on.  I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

Available March 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group. Thanks to Donna at Baker Publishing for the opportunity to review this book. You can learn more about Ruth Axtell here. You can purchase your own copy here .

Read 2/13

* * * * *
5/5 Stars

Comments

  1. Darn, I had my eye on this one but passed it up because my schedule is overflowing. The synopsis sounded so good. So glad it lived up to its pitch and you loved it!

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  2. I am enjoying that you are branching out, and i do tend to like novels about spies, so this one sounds exciting to me. I am so glad that it more than lived up to your standards. Excellent review today!

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  3. Five out of 5 - I can't pass up on a book with that high of a rating. You know me - I love historical mysteries.

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  4. I'm reading this one now and really enjoying it!

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