I received a temporary digital advanced copy of His Lady in Hiding by Jen Geigle Johnson from NetGalley, Covenant Communications, and the author in exchange for an honest review.

After her father gives her hand away to the highest bidder, Lady Elizabeth Davenport runs away from her family and country, and sets sail to America where she has accepted a position as the head housekeeper of a prominent Philadelphia family. Lady Davenport meets Lord Barton while crossing the Atlantic; the two become friendly and Lady Davenport explains a version of her past. Lord Barton is eager to help Lady Davenport learn the ways and responsibilities of a housekeeper. Little do the two know, Lady Davenport has been hired to his house. After some fumbles as the housekeeper and attempts to maintain a friendship (as much their societal positions will allow) Lord Barton and Lady Davenport realize this situation is not easy to navigate.

This regency romance provided a lot of adventure and suspense. Despite my frustrations with Lady Davenport's decision making (why does she keep leaving places unchaperoned?!) I did enjoy the storyline and characters. I found the willingness to embrace working by Lady Davenport and her mother extremely refreshing as I have yet to read a regency romance with that perspective. I also appreciated the historical references and connections at the end of the book.

Romance, clean, period;
Liz (Lady Elizabeth) and Anthony's (Lord Barton) romance was sweet, unexpected, and well-done. The journey across the ocean, treacherous and awful, the time in America, and the surprise for Lord Barton. Liz's adjustments to her new life and station, trying to leave her old life behind and do her best with her new job as a housekeeper, as well as her passion for the social issues she finds in America. The pulls toward home (England) with all the complications for both of them, tied together well. Some of the side characters felt a little forced, but overall a fun, interesting, suspenseful at times, and of course, sweetly romantic read for me.

More of a 3.5 for me as a reader, but rounded up with the lush cover. I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. My opinions are my own.

I am ashamed to say that I almost gave up on this book. Liz was rude and spoiled and I was way too annoyed with her to continue. DO NOT GIVE UP ON THIS BOOK, It is a new favorite.
While I hated Liz in the beginning, I quickly grew to love her, and I identified with and appreciated her transformation. This book definitely was a lesson about stepping into somebody else's shoes.
Secondly, I loved the romance between Liz and Anthony. They start out as enemies, become friends, and eventually that leads to something more ;). This is one of my favorite progressions to follow, and I was really grateful that Geigle Johnson allowed us to see that they truly did complement each other and had developed a firm foundation in friendship.
I also loved the tension about slavery that was woven through the storyline. I think it made this book just that much better.
The only reason I am not giving 5 stars is because there were just way too many loose ends at the end of the novel that were not tied up. While it's not the worst thing ever, there was a bit of a mystery and some other things that I wish could have been resolved.
This book was filled with humor, suspense, and lots of heart-thumping and heart-breaking action. I would definitely recommend.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my fair and honest review. Thank you to the author and publisher for this opportunity.

3.5 Stars

Beautiful cover! I was quite intrigued by this story and really enjoyed the spunky main character and her adventure traveling to America. Having to hide who she truly was added to the fun. Things got a bit soap opera-like for me though, and then the story dragged somewhat. It redeemed itself somewhat at the end.

What a unique premise, with a fast-paced plot! Admittedly, it took me a little while to really get into the story, and at times I felt the implausibility of some of the situations. While I admired the heroine for taking action to control her future, I couldn't help thinking that she was silly, but instead of being endearing, she was simply annoying. I realize that it was probably more realistic than the usual strong-minded heroines we often read about in this genre. An extremely sheltered, privileged young lady would be arrogant enough to think she could quite easily take on the life of a servant. In her mind, since she never really paid any attention to the labors of her own servants, how hard could it be? I came to appreciate the determined evolution of the heroine through her many trials, though. And, oh, was there ever a vile villain. The descriptions of him made my skin crawl. Narcissistic tendencies in a time and place where women already had no control over their own destinies made for some very dramatic scenes. I was aggravated with the hero but could understand the realistic conflicts he faced. There were some unexpected plot twists, as well. This wasn't a magical happily-ever-after. This one was earned.

First of all, i enjoy the books written by Jen Geigle Johnson, and this book, His Lady in Hiding, was no exception.

Lady Davenport flees England to come to America to work as a housekeeper. She feels she must leave England to avoidan arranged marriage to Lord Pinweather. She boards a ship to England where she has booked a passage in steerage. One night, she boards a lifeboat to get some rest and to be away from steerage, but she soon finds herself adrift at sea. Lord Barton, a fellow passenger on the ship,comes to her rescue, and she cheekily critiques him on his rescue techniques -- this is a cute scene! Lord Barton is going to America to explore his options in shipping. Through his rescue of her, they connect. He soon learns that she is going to be a housekeeper, even though she has no experience in being a housekeeper. He decides to help train her to be a housekeeper, because, of course, he has lots of servants he has interacted with through the years. To avoid detection, Lady Davenport is traveling under an assumed name, and she does not reveal to Lord Barton that she is of the nobility. Sparks fly between the two, but he is a Lord and she is a housekeeper, and nothing can come of their relationship. Things are not always as they appear.

I loved Liz's character in this novel. She is a take charge kind of person. She leaves England, and everything that she knows, to make a way for herself in America. She never had been a housekeeper, but she soon excels at housekeeping, even going so far as to shadow all the maids while they do their jobs, so she can improve as a housekeeper. In taking on that role, she soon realizes the nobility in work and soon greatly sympathizes with the lot of the working man and woman and becomes a beloved housekeeper.

On the other hand, the males in her life did not impress me. Her father was very disreputable, and because of his actions, he destroyed her reputation among the ton. Her affianced, Lord Pinweather was not an honorable man,. He searches her out, and keeps on coming into her life, and I was grateful when I realized finally that he wouldn't be bothering her anymore! I hate to add, but I will, that Lord Barton did not really impress me either; he said he didn't like the social machinations that went on it England, but embraced the same machinations in America. Thank heavens for an "ancient duke,' who was a relative, that had only daughters, that made it possible for an inheritance and an estate in Wales to remain outside the reach of a marriage agreement.Those inheritance laws were really a tough pill to swallow.

This is a sweet romance and I think you will enjoy this novel by Jen Geigle Johnson; she creates interesting characters and immerses you in the historical setting of bygone years.

A descent historical fiction. Predictable but non the less a good read. Characters were well thought out and the storyline flowed. I read this in a few days.

Thank you to Netgalley and Covenant Communications for an advanced digital copy. The opinions expressed are mine.

Loved. Loved. Loved. this book! The story line was fantastic! I adored Lady Elizabeth and all that she did but more importantly all that she became. Lord Barton was intriguing and I appreciated how he was conflicted with his feelings over a housekeeper who acted more like a lady equal to his standing-- so perfectly written. So many wonderful things in this book. It will take you away to another time and another place and you will never want the story to end.

This is the first book I've read under this author's pen name, and I really enjoyed it. The build up between the characters was the right balance of chemistry and witty banter. From their trip over on the ship together, from their time together in his household, there were lots of great moments filled with humor and romantic tension. I did get somewhat frustrated that our leading hero took so long to declare his feelings, but such is the way of a lot of romance books. I will be back to read more from this author,

This is a well written book that holds your attention. It has just enough twists and turns to keep you turning the pages to see what happens next. If you like good clean historical romance, you will love this book! Thank you Covenant Communications via NetGalley for the complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Seventeen-year-old Lady Elizabeth refuses to allow her father to sell her into marriage with the odious Lord Pinweather. To save herself, she passes herself off as a housekeeper and sets sail for America. Along the way, she meets Lord Barton who sees through her disguise almost immediately. Will love grow between them despite the "class divide" that separates them, or will Lord Pinweather find her first?

What I liked about this story was the unique nature of where part of it happened. It was interesting to see the Regency Era set on a ship and in Philadelphia. I did like how real life people, Richard and Sarah Allen, were woven into the story.

But I just didn't like the rest of the story. I especially didn't like Liz. From the start she comes across as a headstrong and immature young woman, and she didn't grow much by the end. It seemed highly unlikely that anyone would hire her for a position that a mature woman would have taken on. I couldn't understand why Lord Barton fell in love with her.

There were other points in the story that were too much a stretch. Perhaps this author's style is just not for me.

**I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. My review and responses are completely my own.**

Jen Geiger Johnson is one of my favorite authors for how she weaves unknown bits of history into her stories. In this novel she explored female inheritances, noblewomen hiding away as servants in other homes, and adds as a plot point of hope the characters of the Allens and their parish which was the longest continuously owned piece of land by African-Americans in the USA.

This was a good read, lighter than some of her other historical romance novels, but simultaneously addressed serious issues such as social class, marriage contracts, race, women’s rights, and of course, romance. I wanted to whack Anthony over the head numerous times for being a hostage of what other people thought though I also understood that at the time and place concerns like that could heavily impact success or failures. Liz/Heidi was such a fun character to read once she became comfortable in her surroundings. It was fun to watch her surprise others with what they didn’t know she knew. And the helping clean the chamber pots bit was such a fun surprise.

The story is a bit like a fairytale in a historical setting. It was a surprisingly complex mix of lighthearted friendship, romantic moments & suspenseful villainy. 

There were moments when my inner skeptic began to nudge me, but there was nothing outrageous, so I told her to go back to sleep. 

Until this scene jolted my skeptic fully awake:

*******SPOILER*******

While it made for great drama, there's no way Liz would have shown up at a ball, of all things, to see Barton - that's far too public. She knew she needed to be discreet, & that was the complete opposite of discretion. She also would have known enough to recognize the terrible position doing so would put Barton in. She had no thought or care for his fiancée at all. 

I'm baffled at the readers who are mad at Barton for not welcoming Liz. He was *engaged*, so his first obligation was to honor the commitment he had made to the woman who was his fiancée & to be considerate of the problems acknowledging Liz would cause her. Liz put him in that awful, awkward position of having to do what was right as a gentleman rather than giving in to what his feelings wanted. 

And then Barton later tells Liz that he should have gone with his feelings & embraced her - no, no, no. That would have been such a crappy thing to do to Sariah who had been decent & didn't deserve that humiliation

*******END SPOILER*******

The ending is a sweet happily-ever-after though its effect is somewhat muted by those flaws. 

*Clean romance level:  sweet kisses, nothing graphic

This is an enjoyable historical novel. I thought the book was well researched, well-written, and the story moved at a good pace. Liz was an endearing character and I appreciated her little quirks and her bravery. She seemed so much older than 17. On the other hand, throughout the story Anthony came across as indecisive and too concerned with image and status. I don't want to spoil the ending but I don't know if I could have forgiven him so quickly,

Dear Jen Geigle Johnson,

I am your new super-uber-forever-fan. Forever.

And Ever.

Love,

Stacie

Okay, now that I got my little note out there, let me tell you about this book, omg. Jen Geigle Johnson is a new-to-me author, so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, though I had seriously high hopes. And so, I took my hopes and cozied down to see what HIS LADY IN HIDING was all about. And y'all, I didn't come up for air for two whole days.

The author has a clear talent for writing, first of all. The characters she created, the world that she set down; absolutely unforgettable, crazy believable and clearly researched. But the story line! That is what had me burning dinner with one hand while I read with the other. Usually I have a hard time with novels in the romance genre. They are all rather...predictable. Joe falls in love with Jane. Joe (or Jane) has a secret, the whole novel is about keeping the secret, secret is exposed, Joe and Jane stop talking, issues are resolved, Joe and Jane live happily ever after. But HIS LADY IN HIDING wasn't like that. Things were hidden, things were discovered, and everything from that point was very fluid, without me feeling like a needed a bucket of chocolate to wade through the misunderstandings on both sides.

Incredible book, fabulous author, a definite recommend.

This captivating historical romance set in 1817 begins in London, continues aboard a ship in the Atlantic, then on to the final destination—Philadelphia. This easy-to-read, hard-to-put-down story centers on the lives of Lord Anthony Barton and Lady Elizabeth “Liz” Davenport, aka Heidi Worthing, whose lives intersect in a dramatic way as each is journeying to America to start a new life.

This well-crafted narrative flows at a fitting pace and includes humor, witty banter, deception, adventure, danger, social issues, and romance. It’s twists and turns and emotional ups and downs keep the reader’s interest from start to finish. The characters are well-developed and likeable. True historical elements are skillfully infused into the fictional narrative.

Ms. Johnson is a new author to me, and I find her writing clear and concise with vivid descriptions that allow the reader to picture the story in his/her mind. I will definitely seek out other of her works. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

I received a copy of this book in e-book from the publisher via netgalley but am under no obligation to write a positive review. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this story, and it was a interesting story to read and learn more about class difference in the early ninteenth century. I liked Lord Barton more than I liked Liz, but sometimes his treatment of her due to class differences was irritating. However, that was very fitting to the time period.
I do get irritated when heroines make stupid choices over and over, and I would argue this was the case with Liz. However, if you can get past that, this is an entertaining read with a satisfying end.

His Lady in Hiding is by a new to me author. I enjoyed traveling from London to Philadelphia and round trip again. This was an easy read with enjoyable characters. The heroine frustrated me at times, but soon won me over. This is a clean read with actual people from history as a part of the story.

This story had potential but I think it was a little convoluted. There was too much distraction in the form of the would be fiancé who never seemed to take a hint or get resolved and then to toss in someone dying and an inheritance changing everything - it was just too much.

I was provided with an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

#hisladyinhiding #netgalley
Wow, this was one adventure after another! This was an amazing story of a young lady that risks it all for a chance at freedom and a new beginning. This book takes a lot of twists and turns, but they’re so enjoyable that you can’t wait to see what happens next. Loved it!