Review: An Elegant Facade

An Elegant Facade by Kristi Ann Hunter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I very much enjoyed the first book in this series, A Noble Masquerade (Hawthorne House, #1). Hunter points out in the beginning that you don't need to read the first to enjoy the second, and she is absolutely correct. This is a great stand alone book. I enjoyed getting better acquainted with the characters that were in supporting roles in the first book.

Hunter did an excellent job in writing these two books the way she did. It had to be incredibly hard to mingle and entwine them, but to also make them stand-alones. It takes an incredible writer to be able to do this, and Hunter is superb at it.

The characters are fascinating, and the research is spectacular. You'll understand and appreciate that understatement when you get to know Georgina, and Colin, and all the others.

This is an excellent Regency novel with all the fol-de-rols of society that are melded so believably with the characters. No modernisms at all, praise the Lord. And the faith factor is ever so tenderly applied. What I find so wonderful is how masculine Hunter makes Colin's faith, and Griffith's, and the others. No namby-pambies here. It is solid reading pleasure.

Another pleasure is there are no ad nauseum repetitions or character agonizing over some problem. Yes, the problems are agonized over, but in such different ways that it seems so fresh like a fresh, sweet orange peeled--nothing dried out, but fragrance surrounding you--ready to be enjoyed.

Five of five stars. Definitely one of the best reads this year.


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