A Noble Masquerade | Book Review

"Lady Miranda Hawthorne acts every inch the lady, but inside she longs to be bold and carefree. Approaching spinsterhood in the eyes of society, she pours her innermost feelings out not in a diary but in letters to her brother's old school friend, the Duke of Marshington.  Since she's never actually met the man, she has no intention of ever sending the letters and is mortified when her brother's mysterious new valet, Marlow, mistakenly mails one of the letters to the unsuspecting duke."
Synopsis from back of book
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A mysterious valet, danger, and suspense.  I love a good Regency era romance novel, and this fit the bill perfectly. The plot kept me interested, and I very much enjoyed the setting.

Miranda was a fun character to get to know.  She has a curious mind and a love of fun and I liked her a lot.  Marlow, the valet, is more than he appears.  I leave it at that.  Miranda's family was interesting, although her younger sister quite irritated me (she was supposed to though, so that's alright;), and I enjoyed getting to know them a bit as well.

I will definitely say that the ending surprised me!  Well, the end of the mystery surprised me, not the happily ever after.  I do love a good "happily ever after" ending, as predictable as they are.  I will say that the middle of the book dragged a bit for me.  I got a bit tired of Miranda being in a huff because someone had kept a secret from her.  However, all in all I enjoyed this book and would read it again someday.

What are some of your favorite Regency era historical fiction books and authors? I want to know!

: : I received this book for free from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my honest review. : :

One Year

It's been one glorious year since I said "I do" to my Hank.

It feels like yesterday and also forever, one year ago.

Forever in a comfortable, lived in, way.

I look forward to many more years of loving, living, and learning with my husband.

Thank you Father for a year of this adventure called marriage!

Reader, I married him. | Pt. 4

Before we went in for the reception, we got a picture that I really, really wanted to have...

All of our family members that attended in one picture!  I loved having so much family there!

I'm so glad I had time before the wedding to visit with my family from out of state.  We didn't have much time on the actual wedding day.  It was so special to have so many of them with us.

In addition to family, so many friends came.  There was seating inside for 300 and it looked like almost every seat was taken.  I'm especially thankful for our wonderful church family!

Hank's siblings sang us a song that they wrote.  I honestly don't remember anything about it - everything is kind of a blur - but I'm sure it was funny. :smile:

Signing the wedding license.

The cake was exactly what I envisioned.

This was maybe one of the weirdest things I've every participated in.  Feeding each other cake.  In front of people.  It's weird.  And slightly awkward.  We did not smash the cake in each other's faces.  We are civilized, after all. :wink:  Oh, and Hank says feeding me cake was no weirder than the rest of the wedding.  I still think it was the weirdest.

I love the cake topper that I found on Etsy!

We danced our first waltz to the waltz from the movie The Young Victoria.

We tried to get our niece and nephew to dance together.  They were sure cute!

Then it was time for some swing!!

With my bro.

My mom with her sisters.

Our getaway car.  Some of the guys from church decorated it, and we found toilet paper in some of the oddest places.

And they helped my bro to put the ball and chain around Hank's ankle.

While I tossed my bouquet from the bed of the pick-up, he managed to get it off, despite the fact that he couldn't locate the key. :grin:

And then we drove off into the sunset.
It was the perfect wedding day.
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Start at the beginning with Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of Reader, I married him.