LADY SARAH'S REDEMPTION

Author: Beverley Eikli ISBN: 9780709087779 6/2009 HISTORICAL Publisher: ROBERT HALE LTD.
Time Period: Regency 1819

When Lady Sarah Miles becomes the sole survivor of a shipwreck she assumes the identity of her ill-fated travelling companion to avoid an arranged marriage. Masquerading as governess to the daughter of dashing MP Roland Hawthorne, mutual attraction between Sarah and her employer quickly turns to love. But Sarah's past returns to haunt her, revealing more secrets than just her false identity. Determined to redeem herself in Roland's eyes, Sarah unwittingly plays into the hands of an unexpected adversary. With Sarah's honour at stake, can Roland's daring plan succeed? Or will the woman he loves be lost to him forever?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

In many ways I feel as if LADY SARAH’S REDEMPTION was two stories in one. Indeed, roughly halfway through the book, Sarah’s charade is up and the consequences of rash behavior are what drive the last half. Consequently, my enjoyment of my book took a blow.

The first half, when Lady Sarah Miles was acting as Miss Sarah Moreland, the governess, was delightful. Sarah was an odd combination of innocent and flirt that both annoyed and intrigued the cast of characters around her. Of the characters presented, Roland, Caro, and Sarah undergo the most development. Cecily really never alters from her initial bitter, petty self, and her two daughters, both under 12, remain sweet natured and fun loving.

Not to ruin what engineers the second half of the book, but the events twisted my stomach a little bit. The perpetrator of the heinous act was possibly one of the vilest men to ever grace the pages of a Regency set novel I’ve ever read. He gets his, at least, in an amusing and clever turnabout.

The problem is, though, that after the heinous event, things dragged out. Roland was pandering to his male ego and pride, Sarah was morose, and when the two do see each other once more, Roland is convinced she hates him! She’s practically begging him to marry her, and he’s convinced that she has no idea what she is saying, that she needs to let him step aside because he is clearly not manly enough for her. I wonder at Sarah for not smacking him with a heavy book!

When matters of the heart finally come to a head and words are had, the ending is sweet and wonderful. I just wish that it had occurred about seventy pages sooner.

Alexandra Cenni