Wendy Vella gives us a fresh look at Regency period romance, but with a bit of a rags to riches Cinderella story.


Sophie is recently widowed with a young child. She travels to London with her sister -in -law for the season. But, Sophie has a secret past and is terrified she will be found out.

Patrick knows there is something off kilter about the beautiful Countess and vows to uncover her secret. Once he begins to spend time with Sophie his dislike of her lessons considerably. Instead of trying to uncover a fraud, he must know her secret in order to protect her.


There is instant chemistry between Sophie and Patrick. They each have an independent streak that causes them to constantly learn how to give and take. They also have insecurities that cause misunderstandings. But, I like the way they worked together to solve their problems.

Of course, Sophie has a few enemies and finds herself in danger, which gave the story a few tense moments.

The secondary characters are also interesting and it is fun to see their relationship develop too, but the secondary romance was rushed through, and might have worked better in a novella, or if they got a book of their own, instead.


One other personal pet peeve of mine is the relaxation of the language used during this period. There were several lapses when a current day phrase was used, especially by women, that I just couldn't see being true of the period.

Overall, this was a solid historical romance and I really enjoyed it!
. This was an ARC copy I received from Netgalley. This is a Random House Love Swept Romance publication.