Lady Elizabeth Davenport is desperate. Her hand in marriage has been offered to the highest bidder, a distressing proposition in and of itself but made all the more repulsive when she meets her father’s first choice for her hand: Lord Pinweather. When her parents refuse to hear her pleas, Liz is forced to take drastic measures—she will impersonate her maid and begin anew in America on her own … terms.
Once on board the ship to America, another passenger, Lord Barton, almost immediately discovers her true status as a noble. After listening to Liz’s highly modified version of her life and her plans to begin again, Barton has compassion on her and teaches her how to abandon her noble mannerisms. Upon disembarking, however, Barton’s generous spirit quickly dampens when he discovers Liz has indeed found work—as his own head housekeeper. Suddenly, the tender feelings they hid from each other on the ship are inescapable, but their difference in station makes romance impossible. As misunderstandings abound and a shocking character from Liz’s past looms, she knows she can’t hide her true identity forever. But as her deception begins to unravel, will her charade cost her the man she loves?
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This book takes you on such a fun adventure! I love Jen’s books because they teach history as they tell a story. The characters are well developed and grip you with emotion as they go through different situations. I had some frustration with how long it takes the hero to figure out what he wants, but it gave the sense of multiple climaxes which was fun.
Lady Elizabeth Davenport is happy living her spoiled existence until her father auctions her off to the highest bidder – a cringe worthy Lord Pinweather. Then she runs, which quickly becomes a habit for her.
Elizabeth meets Lord Anthony Barton on the ship to America while she is pretending to be a maid. They have instant chemistry that starts as more of a friendship between them that builds. They also have a relationship with witty banter that gets very entertaining.
“Her life was full of mystery and adventure, full of promise, and full of the unknown.”
I haven’t read a lot about the English nobility that wanted to make a life for themselves in America. I really appreciated Anthony’s dream of making a name for himself through his own hard work instead of just getting by on his title.
“Discovering your housekeeper outranks you in every way is a bit disconcerting for a chap, I’ll admit.”
There is also an interesting look behind the scenes at servant’s life that I always enjoy in Johnson’s books. This book has more of a lighter side than some of her other books but still touches on some very important topics. I also appreciated the amount of research that went in to the writing of this book.
I enjoyed that so much of the story was unpredictable. Although I did want to smack Anthony a number of times.