Title: A Necessary
Deception (The Daughters of Bainbridge House #1)
Author: Laurie Alice Eakes
Pages: 343
Year: 2011
Publisher: Revell
In this first book of her new series, Laurie Alice Eakes
sets the story in England in the spring of 1812 when France is at war with
England, and the United States is threatening war with England as well. This is also known as the Regency period, and
the story is set among the aristocratic class.
Lady Lydia Gale is a widow, living a rather poor life in
comparison to her upbringing on her husband’s pension as he died while in
service to his country fighting the French.
She only enjoyed one week of marriage before her husband set off to
rejoin his unit, and Lydia never saw him again.
She received one final message from her husband before his death and now
the time has come to fulfill the obligation set forth in his message. After meeting this obligation, she thinks she
is done with her duty and heads off to London to help plan one sister’s wedding
and another sister’s coming out season.
Her mother is often ill and leaves this task to Lydia as she is the
oldest. Lydia also is still trying to
measure up to her father’s expectations in anything she does as she feels she
has always failed him in everything she has tried to do. She failed at being a wife, a mother, and a
daughter in her eyes. She believes God
no longer hears her prayers and has given up on praying. Now she is being blackmailed by an unknown
government official to introduce two operatives into society or else her family
will be ruined once it is found out the task Lydia was obliged to perform per
her husband’s last edict.
Christien de Meuse is French, but moved to England with his
family at the age of 10 to escape the revolutionaries. He is also looking to Lady Gale for an entrée
into society. He and Lydia’s husband
served together as soldiers. Lydia’s
husband shared her letters and pictures with Christien, so he feels as if he
knows her before he actually meets her.
He is immediately smitten, but keeps his feelings to himself. He must complete his last mission, and then
settle down in the country and see his sisters married off. Lady Gale on the contrary is very distrustful
of him as she has just had the same request made of her by someone else. This can’t be a coincidence. Who is telling the truth? Christien has had to compromise his personal
beliefs and integrity for his job. Can
he successfully complete this last mission or will he return to the Christian
man he was before the service?
This novel is classified as historical romance, but there is
much more. There is a tension, intrigue
and suspense with each page as the reader tries to figure out who is really who
they say they are and who is lying.
Also, there is humor, camaraderie and bolstering of shaky faith of
some. I thoroughly enjoyed this story
and have already started on the second book in the series, which I will review
here shortly. This is a great adventure
with great dialogue to keep readers interested and quickly flipping pages until
the very last page.
My rating is 5 stars.
Note: I received a
complimentary copy for an honest review of this book. The opinions shared in this review are solely
my responsibility. Other reviews can be
read at http://seekingwithallyurheart.blogspot.com/
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