"Regency gowns, murder most foul, and a fabled author come together to create a dandy read."
A Jane Austen festival held in England attracts Elizabeth
Poppering as a potential market for her Regency-era
costumes. She arrives at the Festival with luggage full of
her costumes, prepared to network her heart out and to make
a go of her business. There is a small problem with her
reservations - there aren't any - so she agrees to take the
room no one wants: a haunted spot near the top of the Inn.
Haunted it certainly is, by sisters Diedre and Mina, who
try to convince her to go back in time to save their
brother from death with a bribe that they will introduce
her to the real Jane Austen, and also bring her back once
Teddy is saved. Meet the real Jane Austen? Oh, heck, why
not?? In 1814, there were no microwaves, no indoor plumbing and
NO espresso! However, there Elizabeth awoke. She meets
the living Diedre and Mina, a houseful of guests as well as
the soon-to-be-dead brother Teddy. She also meets one of
Teddy's friends, Lord Shermont whom the sisters believe
kills him in a duel. Shermont is not what he seems. He
is actually a spy for the Crown who was adopted as an adult
when found in a gutter with loss of memory. Elizabeth tries her best to figure out all the goings,
comings and come-ons with a houseful of guests who live in
the period, and know far more about court intrigue and how
to behave than she does. To top it all off, the ghosts are
miffed and let her carry on alone. She learns a lot about
Regency fashions, customs and that in 1814 jealous females
act just as they do today. This will be a boon to her
costume business if she can get back to the twenty-first
century to start it! After all, what would Jane Austen
do? This was a fascinating story of Regency England, ghosts,
mystery and murder most foul. I whipped through it and
will be looking for more novels by this author. If you're
close to one, this would be a great beach book!
Reviewed by Nancy Eriksen
Posted May 2, 2009
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**A PNR REVIEWER TOP PICK** Surely Jane Austen would know how to handle such a rake... From the author of Hundreds of Years to Reform a Rake, a new time travel romance featuring a modern day career woman swept back in time to Regency England, where she thwarts a Napoleonic spy, chats with Jane Austen, and falls in love with a notorious rake. Eleanor is a costume designer in England for the Jane Austen festival, where her room at the inn is haunted. In the middle of the night she encounters two ghost sisters whose brother was killed in a duel over 200 years ago. They persuade her to travel back in time with them to prevent the duel. Eleanor is swept into a country house party, presided over by the charming Lord Shermont, where she encounters and befriends Jane Austen. But there's much more to Lord Shermont than the ghosts knew, and as Eleanor dances and flirts with him, she begins to lose her heart. Genre: Paranormal Romance, Time Travel, Historical
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