A Masked Deception

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Summary: The Masked Deception
Review: Set during the French Revolution, Richard Adair, Seventh Earl of Bramption must marry to set up his nursery. Unknown to him, his bride-to-be in this marriage of convenience, is his lost love. The masked lady he has never forgotten during the past 6 years. Margaret Wells, suffering through an unemotional honeymoon with Richard, is determined to woo her husband back, by becoming the woman he lost so long ago. What will happen when and if he discovers her ruse? Mary Balogh is an expect on emotions, she gives us what real people would think and do. Sexual content but not overtly graphic. Definite keeper!! Marilyn, The Regency Lover's Cafe

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Summary: A good start but with a problematic premise, plot device..
Review: This book was Mary Balogh's first, and the one which won her an award as Best New Regency Author, if I am not mistaken. At that time (1985), most of the Regencies were pale imitations of Heyer or were Gothic in the style of Victoria Holt (aka Jean Plaidy or Philippa Carr). Balogh used an innovative plot (not taken from Heyer or any other author that I know of) and added in a moderate dose of sex, to show the inner motivations and needs of the hero and heroine. If I had come across this romance earlier (when I first started reading Regencies other than Heyer) I would have rated it higher. As it now stands, this first work by Balogh must compete both against her later works and the very best works of other authors such as Carla Kelly and Sheila Bishop, as well as newer authors.

I won't go into the details of the plot, except to say that it turns on something slightly improbable - that a man would not recognize his wife when she is masked and disguised, even when having intercourse with her. And the premise is slightly improbable as well, although I have swallowed more improbable stories by Dodd and Quinn. Those facts, and the fact that this is not Balogh at her best (when she really twists your heartstrings in her later Regencies), is why I have awarded this book only 3 stars (3.5). Others might rate it higher.

The hero is not particularly admirable at the beginning. Like most of Balogh's later heroes, he is a rake, well-to-do, and about to marry only to set up his nursery. We learn relatively little about his life as a landlord or his political activities (in the House of Lords), or very much about his inner life, except that he fell in love with a disguised lady at first sight, but consented to marry another lady when his love could not be found. Later, as a married man, he is willing to commit double adultery with the woman he believes to be his long-lost wife, simply because he has treasured an image of her. His wife is not particularly mean, nor is this woman's husband brutal (in fact, he never does meet her husband for a very good reason). I did not find the hero particularly admirable. Nor did I find the heroine's behavior (even though she was seducing her own husband) that admirable. Those are some things that stuck in my thought; others might dismiss them arguing that Balogh has portrayed adulterous heroes beautifully in the past. Yes - but there the adultery has been sort-of-justified (as in THE SECRET PEARL) or the hero realizes his mistake half-way through the book (THE IDEAL WIFE). Until the end, I did not even get the sense that the hero worried overmuch that he was cheating on his wife.

Similarly, although the heroine Margaret clearly knew that she was *not* committing adultery, she was deceiving the hero into believing that he was committing double adultery, as a married man sleeping with a married woman. I thought that she had made little or no effort to share her secret with her, and that secret was relatively innocuous. Therefore the whole masquerade and deception seemed both pointless and petty.

I rated it at 3.5 only because it is still a very good book, well-written and well-plotted. Otherwise, this first romance did not strike me as particularly romantic.

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Summary: Mary Balogh's First Effort
Review: When I picked up this book, I was simply thrilled to have found the first published book by the highly praised (and rightly so!) Mary Balogh. My high expectations were by no means disappointed. This is the story of shy Margaret Wells, an unwed 25-year-old lady who has for six long years nursed a secret passion for the Earl of Brampton. During her year as a debutante, the two met at a masquerade and fell hard for each other. She knew his identity, but her own remained hidden from the earl. When the time for unmasking arrived, Margaret had already been jerked away from the ball by her parents and never found the courage to reveal who she was to the earl. Now, he is looking for a marriage of convenience, and Margaret, thinking this is her one chance at happiness, agrees to serve as his boring, proper bride.

Alas for her expectations--the earl is still in love with his "angel," the masked girl from six years ago, and has no intentions of pursuing deeper feelings with his convenient wife. When Margaret realizes this, she decides on one last, desperate ploy...she will once again disguise herself and try to win his heart.

This novel is wonderfully written. It holds the necessary descriptions of Regency mores, dresses, carriages, etc., but it also sweeps the reader away into a tangled web of complicated feelings and relationships that transcend the time period. One caveat to the reader new to Balogh--unlike most traditional Regencies, this book does have sex in it. But Balogh always uses it as a means to further reveal her characters' growth, never as a flimsy substitute for plot.