“A Delightfully Different Regency Romance” say Readers of Catherine Cookson
Shy, nearsighted caregiver, Gaia Telfair always wondered why her father treated her a little differently than her siblings. She never guessed she couldn’t claim his love because of a family secret, her illicit birth. With everything she knows to be true evaporating before her spectacles, can the mulatto passing for white … for white survive being exposed and shunned by the powerful duke who has taken an interest in her?
Ex-warrior, William St. Landon, the Duke of Cheshire, will do anything to protect his mute daughter from his late wife’s scandals. With a blackmailer at large, hiding in a small village near the cliffs of Devonshire seems the best option, particularly since he can gain help from the talented Miss Telfair, who has the ability to help children learn to speak. If only he could do a better job at shielding his heart from the young lady whose honest hazel eyes see through his jests as her tender lips challenge his desire to remain a single man.
Unmasked Heart is the first Challenge of the Soul Regency Romance novel.
more
If you like lots of angst – his and hers – and a constantly weeping woman then this is the book for you. Lots of betrayal, blackmail, special needs children, awful excuses for father. Poor formatting made dialogue especially hard to read, to keep track of who was talking. So much plodding and head thumping – yuck.
Too many ‘historical’ novels are written without enough knowledge of history. This book annoyed me so much that I couldn’t finish it.
Really enjoyed reading this book.
No one can control their parentage. But society sometimes turns its back on a person though the person has done nothing wrong. Each person has their own unique gifts. We just need to look past the exterior and see the inside.
Good read
A great read
Interesting story. Enjoyed the faith of the characters. It doesn’t beat you over the head with the author’s faith. For those of us who are Christians, inspirational passages.
I absolutely loved it. So different!!
It was a refreshing change.
The story has great potential. It dragged in some areas – too wordy, almost like the author was adding fluff. The story left me hanging in some places, I guess to encourage me to purchase then next book in the series, however I was discouraged. The ending didn’t seem finished either. I did love the main characters.
sweeet and clean.
Unmasked Heart by Vanessa Riley is an entertaining historical romance. Ms. Riley has delivered a well-written book. The characters are awesome. Gaia and William’s story is loaded with drama, humor and spice and quite a bit of angst. I enjoyed reading Unmasked Heart and look forward to reading more by Vanessa Riley. Unmasked Heart is book 1 of the Challenge of the Soul Series but can be read as a standalone. This is a complete book, not a cliff-hanger.
Both the main characters are hiding a dark secret about their pasts. When they meet, they are attracted to each other, but are reluctant to confess their secrets or their attraction, even after they are engaged to marry.
Didn’t like the characters or their circumstances
It was wonderful but sad. My heart hurt for her and also for her future husband and his daughter
Could you handle discovering you are biracial in Victorian England ? Who are you? Who do you have the right to love? Lots of twists in this fascinating tale of privilege , love, and family. It makes you wonder and appreciate our rights.
Although the premise of the story was intriguing, I couldn’t finish this book because of how poorly it was written. Besides basic grammar/editing mistakes, there were several errors in word choice (e.g., “the plains of his face”). I was pulled out of the narrative too many times by these sorts of things to be able to finish and evaluate the entire book.
A very different romance novel. Interesting turn of events during story.
Repetitive
Really enjoyed this story first story I’ve read in Historical romance that not only addressed illegitimate birth but also mixed race. Thought story was well done.