A Grand Deception - Elizabeth Mansfield

LOVE'S BOLD DISGUISE


Miss Georgy Verney doesn't wish to upset her mother, but she can't bring herself to flirt with the gentlemen of the ton--much less accept a marriage proposal based solely on social status or financial gain. Then she finds herself attracted to the most handsome, eligible catch of the season....

Anthony Maitland, Viscount Ivers, wants nothing more than to return Georgy's affections--then the spirited girl runs away. Desperate to avoid scandal, the girl's mother concocts a bold and daring masquerade, but the viscount's heart is not easily fooled. Amid a flurry of mistaken identities, Anthony embarks on a deception of his own, determined to bring Georgy back home and into his arms....

A Grand Deception is a fun and light story. It's about two couples, Anthony Maitland, Viscount Ivers, and Miss Georgy Verney, to whom he is greatly attracted the night he meets her at a ball but who decides to run away to be an independent woman; and Georgy's brother Jeremy and Peggy, the girl he finds to replace his sister and hold Maitland's affections while they all attend a house party at Maitland's estate in the country.

I thought it was great fun how Georgy and Jeremy's mother was so keen on her making a grand marriage that she doesn't even let her disappearance stop her. When she sees Peggy and her resemblance to Peggy she immediately concocts a scheme in which Peggy will pretend to be Georgy and conquer Maitland till they can find the real Georgy and convince her to return and marry him.

Although Maitland and Georgy's story is supposed to be the main romance I confess that I was more interested in Peggy and Jeremy. They spend more time together and we see their feelings develop while Maitland and Georgy only have that one ball and then she leaves for the country. Georgy's idea was actually an interesting one and I really enjoyed reading about her and her pupils but I couldn't help feeling that first she was attracted to Maitland but never acted on it and then she refused him despite that attraction without really strong reasons... I found her a bit irritating at times and in the end when faced with a real obstacle she gives up and goes back home...

The best part was watching Peggy fool Georgy's friends and her relationship with Jeremy but also Allie's witty conversations. Allie is Georgy and Jeremy's younger sister and she seems just the right kind of girl to give a hero a lot of headaches, I wonder if there is a book about her?

Grade: 4/5