A Necessary Deception

A Necessary Deception 

by Laurie Alice Eakes

Lady Lydia Gale lost her husband, Charles, 7 years ago in the French Revolutionary War. She lives with her controlling father, her sickly mother, and her sister Cassandra, who is near-sighted, bookish, and engaged to Jeffrey Whittaker, and her sister Honore, whose only interest is catching a man during her "coming out" season. 

Christophe Christien de Meuse is the man she helped release from prison. Christien had helped her husband during the war, and Lydia felt she owed it to him to help him. Shortly after helping Christien, Lydia is visited by a stranger who claims that Christien is a French spy. The stranger blackmails her, threatening Lydia's family if she doesn't comply.

I struggled with this book a bit. Though I was really interested in the story and loved Christien's character, I disliked Lydia's character throughout most of the book. Her obsession with keeping her sisters in line and "toeing the line" got old after awhile, and I wanted to yell at her to wake up to discover all the good she had in her life. 

Though I didn't enjoy Lydia's character, I am looking forward to reading Cassandra's and Honore's stories in the rest of the books in The Daughters of Bainbridge House series.

This book is now available at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Company.  

About the author:

Award-winning Laurie Alice Eakes wanted to be a writer since knowing what one was. Her first book won the National Readers Choice Award in 2007, and her third book was a Carol Award finalist in 2010. Between December 2008 and January 2010, she sold thirteen books to Barbour Publishing, Avalon Books, and Revell, making her total sales fifteen. Recently, she added two novella sales to that collection. Her first book with Revell, Lady in the Mist, was picked up by Crossings Book Club, and three of her books were chosen for large-print editions by Thorndike Press. She has been a public speaker for as long as she can remember; thus, she suffers just enough stage fright to make her sharp. In 2002, while in graduate school for writing fiction, Laurie Alice began to teach fiction in person and online. She lives in Texas with her husband, two dogs, and probably too many cats.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Revell Books. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."