Reviewed by Charlotte alias Charmian (Goodreads).
The Book’s
Blurb:
A missing heirloom. A stolen inheritance. Can love conquer
mistrust?
Athena Hawthorne never imagined that she would
lose everything she'd ever had. But after the death of her father, his
prosperous jewelry store is sold off to pay his supposed debts. Athena, now
destitute, embarks on a mission to discover the truth, but circumstances force
her to accept an offer from a handsome stranger to work as a governess. She's
determined to clear her father's name, but a certain earl is making matters far
more difficult than necessary. And she can't be in danger of losing her heart
to a member of the aristocracy...
Orion Ashcroft, the Earl of Rockford, is
convinced that Athena is a grasping thief who stole a priceless family
heirloom, the rare sapphire known as the Couleur Magnifique. When he offers her
the position of governess to his sister's children, he only intends to catch
her in some nefarious scheme and get back the sapphire—his grandmother's dying
wish. But he soon discovers that keeping his distance—and his sanity—around the
beautiful Athena isn't as easy as he'd planned. It certainly doesn't help that
his sister and his best friend plead her innocence at every frustrating turn.
Soon he's struggling between honoring his promise and his growing attraction to
Athena.
But there's danger closer than either expect.
Even a masquerade can't hide Athena from the curiosity of the ton forever...and
there's a threat hiding among the highest members of society...
My Review:
Well I must say for
a debut novel Ms Waite painted the heroine to the canvas with in depth emotional
pull and I liked and felt for Athena. Sympathy poured forth (from me that is) while Athena Hawthorne hears of
her fate within a solicitor’s office. Could life be more traumatic than the
death of a father and to learn there is no legacy of worth from a once thriving
business, poor Athena is utterly stunned by it all.
In the event of kindness
from a stranger, which gives hope for a workable life one day, a few days later
the strange circumstances surrounding the job places Athena into an emotional
pit of heaven and hell wrapped up in one man, the Earl of Rockford. Of course
Athena falls hopelessly loves struck with burning desire little knowing the earl’s thoughts
of tumbling the newly appointed governess (to his niece and nephew) has caused
him a good deal of discomfort until the more his eyes glitter with devilry soon Rion and Athena lose themselves in lustful thoughts and eventual actions, while every
crime known to the darker side of London streets start striking with menacing
force. Here the repetitive abduction theme took some believing, while the rest
of the story had me turning the pages to see when Rion would hump Athena again
and would he stop being a mindless prat, and would she fall pregnant. So
obsessed did I become with the likelihood of pregnancy the criminal proceedings
paled alongside my thinking Rion would be forced into marriage with Athena, and
I prayed his sister would stand behind him with a pistol held to his head. It
doesn’t end that way and I did like the sub characters a great deal. All in all I enjoyed Athena's and Rion's story a a romantic tale with danger and mystery.
I do have a few
quibbles. The story setting is Regency England 1819 and there’s reference to a
novel by Charles Dickens which set alarm bells ringing. Dickens was born in
1812 and in 1819 Charles Dickens was 7yrs old and had yet to write his first
published paper let alone a novel. While this may appear a small criticism it
does point to lack of research by the author, it also shames an incompetent editor.
Worse it implies the novel started out as a Victorian novel set after 1836 when
Dickens published his first novel The Pickwick Papers. A few Americanisms didn’t
help matters in recommending this as a Regency set read, while readers who care
not a bean about historical accuracy will enjoy this book for what it is - a
fun read.
