Moonglotexas“I blinked a few times and took a deep breath. Apparently I’d survived.”
Opening lines of “Masquerade at Middlecrest Abbey” by Abigail Wilson
Set in 1815, Abigail Wilson opens “Masquerade At Middlecrest Abbey” with a dramatic carriage robbery. Our leading lady, Elizabeth, agrees to marry Lord Torrington mere hours after meeting him in order to protect him and Britain. She doesn’t realise she is putting the lives of herself and her son in danger in doing so.
Lord Torrington is ferreting our French spies and thinks of the marriage as a cover for his identity unaware of danger lurking at home in Middlecrest Abbey.
Suspicious, dangerous and deadly happenings follow them and soon they fear for all their lives as they realise it has to be someone in their midst! The characters’ suspense is held right until the end of the book when the true villain is finally revealed!
I found the first quarter of the book a little slow but a masquerade marriage is one of my least favourite tropes, I just can’t resist an Abigail Wilson book! Once the mystery was fully fledged, the pace picked up and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Her characters are carefully created with interesting histories which makes the reading all the more enjoyable. If you love historical romance, this is one for you! It’s a four out of five on the enJOYment scale.
From the back cover:
In this new Regency romance, a young unwed mother must protect her heart from the charms of her convenient new husband, Lord Torrington. She is not, however, prepared to protect her life.
When the widowed Lord Torrington agreed to spy for the crown, he never planned to impersonate a highwayman, let alone rob the wrong carriage. Stranded on the road with an unconscious young woman, he is forced to propose marriage to protect his identity and her reputation, as well as his dangerous mission.
Trapped not only by her duty to her country but also by her limited options as an unwed mother, Miss Elizabeth Cantrell and her infant son are whisked away to Middlecrest Abbey by none other than the elder brother of her son’s absent father. There she is met by Torrington’s beautiful grown daughters, a vicious murder, and an urgent hunt for the missing intelligence that could turn the war with France. Meanwhile she must convince everyone that her marriage is a genuine love match if her new husband has any hope of uncovering the enemy.
Determined to keep her son’s true identity a secret, Elizabeth will need to remain one step ahead of her fragile heart, her uncertain future, and the relentless fiend bent on her new family’s ruin.
I received a complimentary copy of the book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
