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Rating: 
Summary: Fun and well-crafted
Review: I read this book after having read Tallie’s Knight and Gallant Waif and found this as delightful as the others. Kit Singleton arrives in London after a life spent in foreign parts with her father. She is charged with a mission to fulfill a deathbed promise she made to him. At the same time Hugo Devenish meets her and becomes curious about her past. Anne Gracie skilfully weaves a quite complex story against the background of life amongst the ton of London. Kit and Hugo are unusual characters in this setting; both loners without normal family relationships who seem to swan in and out of society functions without really belonging. They are drawn together and I love the way Hugo is captivated by Kit without consciously recognising it. In my opinion an almost perfect hero. The side characters are well-drawn with lives of their own that add depth to the story. Gracie’s writing style helps make her work so appealing to me. She uses unusually short sentences, a kind of mental shorthand, when she is depicting Hugo’s point of view, for example. Humour lurks in the background of every scene. I love her descriptive use of words - "watchdoggery" and "Sir Primrose", for example.
All in all a treat which I have already read twice.
Rating:
Summary: Keeper for Regency fans!
Review: London has two sensations in the season of 1816: A Chinese burglar and a diamond heiress, both new in town, neither of who want to be caught. The heiress is a spirited young woman who returns to England to restore her family's honour. Playing the social game, Kit Singleton, with her unconventional ideas and manners befriends and rescues damsels in distress and sparks the interest of one Hugo Devenish. He's a strong, tall and dark man, a man that a woman could easily fall in love with - but he's also a man looking for the thief. I love romance novels with thieves and mistaken identities and I love my heroines daring, unique and on the wild side. Add to that some costly artefacts, jewels and a hero that is brooding, rich and unpretentious with no regard for society's strictures and you have a mix that I find irresistible. The story is more complex than expected, surprising me with twists and turns without ever getting lost in them. I immensely enjoyed Ms. Gracie's style, not just for a story well told but for her choice of words that had me re-reading whole scenes just for the pleasure of it. It's never cute but witty, never pretentious but always vivid. This is a true find and definitely a keeper especially for regency fans.
Rating: 
Summary: Unexpected story from a great writer
Review: The thing I like most about Anne Gracie as an author is that she takes the romance genre by the neck and manages to shake out a great story that conforms to all the things I love about romances - but does it in a marvellously unexpected way. This is a satisfying and romantic story but just when you think you have sussed it all out, there is a quite unexpected twist - this happens more than once during the story - We meet Kit Singleton, newly arrived in London for the season in 1816 - an heiress of some standing. At the same time there is a burglar sneaking into the houses of the wealthy - and Hugo Devenish meets this burglar unexpectedly. Unexpected on both sides when he is knocked down by this slight fellow - who sounded perculiarly Chinese. Hugo suspects Miss Singleton is the key to the mystery and can't explain why. Miss Singleton isn't helping him, she has a sacred pact - vengeance she has sworn in her father's honour on his death-bed. There are no easy resolutions in this book but the action never seems contrived simply as plot devices. The only quibble I have with Gracie's latest work is that the slang doesn't feel as Regency as it ought to and there are characters that seem more Victorian than Georgian - such as Sir William Marsden. I would have given this book 5 stars if it had been set in a Victorian setting for that reason. However one thing Gracie doesn't let us down on is a great story and that is definitely the most important thing!
Rating: 
Summary: I just don't get it!
Review: This book was purchased mostly because of very good reveiews at other sites as well as this one. I just don't get it! The story is so beyond belief and more than a little dramatic regarding the upbringing of the heroine by a father who is useless and over the top when it comes to his daughter's well being. The tale of the h/h first meeting is outright silly and the sudden reality of a love for all time is outlandish.
To say this author was a disappointment is understated. Unreal is the only thing that comes to mind.
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