TEST
When I finish a book and can’t remember the main characters, it’s bad. When I finish a book and remember the main characters, but that’s all, it’s average. When I finish a book and remember the main characters, plus all the secondary characters, and wish there was a 24/7 bookstore so I could go out and glom the author’s backlist at 1:00 A.M., it’s a DIK for sure.
Someone who calls himself Sir Thorogood is publishing scathing reformist cartoons lampooning the highest figures in the peerage. Lord Liverpool, the Prime Minister, is not amused: these cartoons are stirring up sentiment against the government. The Liars’ Club, a group loyal to the Crown, elects one of its members, Dalton Montmorency, Lord Ethridge, to flush out Sir Thorogood by impersonating him. Dalton dresses up like an outrageous fop – “I am the weapon of the Crown. A terribly colorful weapon wearing high heels” – and in this disguise he minces out to expose the culprit.
At a Society party, Dalton as Sir Thorogood meets the widowed Clara Simpson. He thinks she is silly; she wonders who this fake is. You see, Clara is the real Sir Thorogood. Pretty soon, Clara and Dalton cross paths again, but this time they are both in disguise. He is “Monty,” a masked thief and she is “Rose,” a saucy maid. While Dalton looks for evidence against Wadsworth, a munitions seller and suspected traitor, Clara takes the place of the real Rose to give the poor girl a much-needed rest and to gather information for her cartoons. Pretty soon, “Monty” and “Rose” begin to fall for each other, “Sir Thorogood” decides that Mrs. Simpson may not be all that silly after all, Mrs. Simpson decides that “Sir Thorogood” is more that just a fop, and things get very complicated.
The Imposter has a complex plot and I’ve only given the barest outline of it. Celeste Bradley handles the tangled threads of the plot with the greatest ease and never gets them in a snarl. She makes the improbable seem quite plausible. It’s hard to believe this is only her third book, but that’s good – I can easily glom her backlist.
The characters in The Imposter are all that I love in historical romances. I suppose you could call Dalton a tortured hero, but he is not (thank heavens!) afflicted with priapism and misogyny. Dalton had a lonely childhood and came into his title while very young, but that did not spare him from bullies. Even though he is a peer, he has reformist instincts, yet he is no wild-eyed firebrand. He is loyal to the Crown, even though there are times when it does not deserve his loyalty. But he works for reform, in the hopes that his contributions may change things. As a man, he is a bit of an introvert, fond of order and quiet, and not a womanizer. He is loyal to his friends, enjoys intelligent conversation, and has a nice dry sense of humor.
Clara Simpson is the kind of heroine I love in historical romances. She is intelligent, a reformist, and has a fine sense of outrage at Society’s injustices, but she’s not a pouting hoyden. I can’t imagine her stomping around and acting TSTL; no, Clara is perfectly able to think her way out of situations. She and Dalton share several wonderful love scenes and they are a couple who share a true union of minds and hearts.
2003 has been a wonderful year for me when it comes to contemporary romances. I’ve discovered several new authors who are now on my auto-buy list. While some of my favorite historical romance authors (Liz Carlyle and Mary Balogh) have published some excellent books this year, I had not found a new author to make me sit up and take notice. I have now, and I’m off to the bookstore.
Grade: A
Book Type: European Historical Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 12/10/03
Publication Date: 2003
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.