A Beautiful Disguise by Roseanna M. White: Book Review

  Book received for consideration. All thoughts are my own.

In Edwardian London, not all that glitters is gold as a lady and an intelligence officer's secret mission take them from the city's dazzling ballrooms to its covert intelligence offices.

Sir Merritt Livingstone has spent a decade serving the monarch in the field, but when pneumonia lands him behind a desk in the War Office Intelligence Division just as they're creating a new secret intelligence branch, he's intent on showing his worth. He suspects an aristocrat of leaking information to Germany as tensions mount between the two countries, but he needs someone to help him prove it, so he turns to The Imposters, Ltd. No one knows who they are, but their results are beyond compare.

Left with an estate on the brink of bankruptcy after their father's death, Lady Marigold Fairfax and her brother open a private investigation firm for the elite to spy on the elite. Dubbed The Imposters, Ltd., their anonymous group soon becomes the go-to for the crème of society who want answers delivered surreptitiously. But the many secrets Marigold learns about her peers pale in comparison to her shock when she and her brother are hired to investigate her best friend's father as a potential traitor.

Lady Marigold is determined to discover the truth for her friend's sake, and she's more determined still to keep her heart from getting involved with this enigmatic new client . . . who can't possibly be as noble as he seems.

Roseanna M. White (roseannamwhite.com) is a bestselling, Christy Award-winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. She pens her novels beneath her Betsy Ross flag, with her Jane Austen action figure watching over her. When not writing fiction, she's homeschooling her two children, editing and designing, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of numerous novels, ranging from biblical fiction to American-set romances to Edwardian British series. Roseanna lives with her family in West Virginia.

Roseanna M. Wright does such a wonderful job of creating stories that are rich in history with intriguing plots that will draw readers in... and A Beautiful Disguise is such a wonderful example of just that. With spies, acrobatics, romance and a pet lion, well, this one certainly captured my attention at least. Lady Marigold was such a unique character that I couldn't help but to enjoy her. I often find that while I can be a little pickier about historical reads set earlier in history, it is those that have heroines who are unconventional for their time that tend to appeal to me most and that was certainly the case here. I just found her character so well done and couldn't help but want to read on. I loved how well the romance was blended with the intrigue and generally just found this to be a very enjoyable story. 

This is the first book in the new Imposters series and it most certainly has me looking forward to reading more. I cannot wait for the next one.