REVIEW: The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right by Suzanne Allain
When a young woman trades places with her noble cousin, their innocent ruse leads to true love in this sparkling new Regency-era romantic comedy of manners from the author of Mr. Malcolm’s List.
When Arabella Grant’s wicked aunt dies suddenly, both Arabella and her cousin Lady Isabelle cannot help but feel relieved. She’d made their lives miserable, and now Lady Issie is free to read to her heart’s content, and Bella is free from taunts about her ignoble birth.
Their newfound freedom is threatened, however, when Issie’s great-aunt commands her to travel to London for a come-out Issie has never wanted. Issie, who is in poor health, is convinced she’ll drop dead like her mother did if she drops into a curtsy before the queen. So when her great-aunt turns out to be nearsighted and can’t tell the noble Lady Isabelle from her commoner cousin Arabella, Issie convinces Bella to take her place. Bella can attend all the exclusive entertainments that her lower birth would typically exclude her from, and Issie can stay in bed, her nose in a book.
Bella agrees to the scheme for her cousin’s sake, but matters turn complicated when she meets the irresistible Lord Brooke. He begins courting her while under the impression she’s the rich and aristocratic Lady Isabelle, who, unlike Bella, is a suitable bride for an eligible young earl. And Bella, who is convinced that she has met “Lord Right,” worries what will happen when she reveals that he’s actually fallen for…the wrong lady.
Dear Ms. Allain,
I was intrigued by this delightful cover which, although it’s a “cartoon” one, captures the froth as well as a plot point of the novel. Namely, Bella trying to hide her real identity. “The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right” has a few things that made me question how historically accurate the novel intended to be but the lovely relationship between the two cousins – Bella and Issie – and the intricacies of the impersonations more than made up for this.
There are good, solid reasons for why cousins Bella and Issie fall into and then decide to continue being each other during a London Season. Issie hates the idea of being on display as she’s known nothing but pain from her mother over her looks and personality and also felt rejected by a young man she met years ago. Bella is the “poor relation” who thinks it will be lovely to experience a Season that she would never have any other way and if she meets a man, on the fringe of Society, who doesn’t sneer at her birth but sees the person she is, so much the better. But if not, then she and Issie will return to Issie’s country estate and happily live there.
So of course things go differently. Issie is reduced to a quivering mess at the thought of a Court presentation, Bella steps in and dons the requisite Court dress (look for drawings of these, they’re hideous) and then literally runs into a handsome young man who is astonished when he discovers the name of this lovely young woman. Now trapped in the switch, Bella decides to enjoy “her” Season while Issie perks up due to the handsome Doctor who is called to treat her palpitations. True love ensues but true love never runs smoothly.
Yes there are miscommunications and misunderstandings but with the cousins hiding their real identities for, as I said, solid reasons, and the young men having their own ideas about the women they do and don’t want to marry, things get complicated.
I was amused that there is actually a Gretna Green marriage of two people who do not have carriages and curricles full of the ton madly racing after them. There are two clues about Something that is revealed later that gives one cousin a bigger place in Society so this isn’t totally out of the blue. I thought it unrealistic that two young women would be left alone during Issie’s mourning year after her mother’s death with no chaperon or allowed to travel without one to London but that was the gimme for the novel. A nod is made to calling out the nobility for doing things which aren’t noble and the fact that Issie’s father, an abolitionist, never had any dealings with the slave trade. Issie intends that her fortune will indeed be devoted to Good Works while Lord Brooke makes a stand against arranged marriages. Of Issie’s mother and great-aunt, the less said the better.
The last section of the story dragged just a bit for me. Props for having Lord Brooke make up his mind before the Something I alluded to above, becomes known to him. There is a third couple, who make a match, whom I liked. And Bella’s grandfather is a delight whom I wish we’d seen more of. Readers looking for a more old fashioned Regency might want to check this one out. B
~Jayne
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