Sandy M’s review of The Accidental Mistress (Mistress Trilogy, Book 2) by Tracy Anne Warren
Historical Romance published by Ballantine 27 Nov 07
I loved the hero and heroine in this book. Before they meet they each have taken steps to insure their futures, one to marry to carry on the family line and the other to never marry and have an independent life. Even their first meeting is fun and humorous and later their love affair is romantic and lovely but doomed to be lasting, but the author keeps everyone’s hopes up in a lively albeit dangerous way.
Lily is quite inventive in getting out of marrying the lecher her stepfather has promised her to. She fakes her death by swimming into the ocean in the middle of a storm, and then, dressed in men’s clothing, makes her toward London. On the way, however, during a stopover at an inn, her masquerade is discovered by Ethan, Marquis Vessy, a handsome man who pays attention and figures out the young boy traveling alone is really a woman, an intriguing woman with an adverturous spirit and courage to boot. I so enjoyed the scenes between these two when Ethan buys “Jack” a meal and keeps pressing food on her, telling her when he was young he never seemed to be able to get enough to eat. She has pluck and keeps shoveling the food in. He even offers her a cheroot when she shows interest as he lights up, and it’s quite humorous to see her try to keep her disguise in place when Ethan is trying to expose her.
They even play a delightful game of guess “Jack’s” real name as they head toward London together due to Lily refusing to tell him anything about herself. Secrecy is utmost in her mind, the only way to insure her stepfather never finds her. When they part ways, they can’t get each other out of their minds and fortuntely fate brings them together again.
Ethan is like a man possessed trying to get Lily in his bed, even going so far as to give her driving lessons and promising to keep their outings platonic, which he does do an admirable job of until her last lesson and then nothing but seduction is on his mind. Things don’t go quite as planned and Lily is then adamant they not see each other anymore, she’s still very skittish about marriage and having someone else, especially a man, control her life. But the time they spend apart is hell on them both, and when Ethan pushes his way into her home to talk and to hopefully seduce once again, the passion between them erupts and flares and eventually leads them into a secret affair that flourishes beyond their expectations. And just when they both come to their own conclusions about what they want from one another, outsides sources from different fronts conspire to keep them apart.
But they bring out the best in each other and Ethan is now as inventive as Lily in ways to get they want and need to be together, coming up with a plan to rid himself of a fiancee he doesn’t want. The scenes between them when Lily finds out Ethan is engaged are heartbreakingly wonderful, as is the scene when he finally rescues her from her fate that’s worse that death.
I’m hoping the other two books in the trilogy are this fun, romantic, and uplifting. It was simply a pleasure to read this one.
Grade: A
From the back cover:
To escape an arranged marriage, spirited Lily Bainbridge has staged her own death and, disguised as a boy, fled to London and a life of freedom. Yet her plans to masquerade as an independent widow are thwarted by an encounter with a powerful and dangerously attractive marquis who wants to make her his mistress. Lily is afraid that if she gives him her innocence, he’ll steal her heart.
Having agreed to a marriage of convenience to honor his family duty, Ethan Andarton, the Marquis of Vessey, has no intention of abandoning his rakish ways. Then fate intervenes in the guise of an impetuous young lady—a woman bold enough to scheme her way to London, who tempts him with her mystery and her sensuality. Kiss after kiss, caress after tender caress, Ethan vows to discover all of Lily’s hidden secrets. For beneath the layers of her clever ruse lies a burning passion that will ignite a tempestuous love neither of them can deny.
Read an excerpt here.
