There are very few writers who can say that they weren't influenced by Heyer in some way. Each of her dozens of historical romances laid the foundations of typical romance plotlines today.

THE MASQUERADERS, my favorite of all her titles, is an absolute gem to hold in my hands. The trade paperback sized volume, with new cover artwork, is gorgeous and suits the story well. This is a classic tale of genderbent comedy and misdirection along the same vein as Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT.

Prudence and Robin, fearing for their lives after the failure of the Jacobite Rebellion, decide that the best plan lay in disguising themselves. Taking it one step further, they disguise their genders as well, pretending to be the opposite sex, to doubly fool anybody searching out for them. The two of them see this as a lark—they've spent the better part of their lives hiding who they are, thanks to their scapegrace adventurer father, and it's nothing more than a fun game for them.

This novel is filled with historical data pertaining to the aftermath of the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745—the sort of topical information you'd hear in society being discussed because it's still such a new occurrence. I found the exchange between Prudence and Anthony to be the funniest moments, though any time that Prudence is in her male disguise is full of hilarity. She'll often use subtle little quips or witticisms about the fact that she isn't the man they think her to be.

Her brother Robin also made quite a spectacular female. It's unusual to see a guy parading about in petticoats and dresses in historicals—almost all the genderbent romances I've read have involved just the girl becoming a boy—so that's a lovely surprise. At the end, when they're both being confronted by their respective love interests, I found it hilarious that Robin was at pains to reassure his love interest that he was just as charming as a male as he was female! Then also, Anthony's private ruminations over Prudence were also rather amusing.

The only downside to reading a Heyer is that often she'll use speech idioms that aren't used any more, even in modern historical romances. Heyer was very big on keeping things as accurate as she could, and with the speech of Prudence and Robin's time being nearly 260 years out of date, it can be quite confusing at times. Still, if you are new to Georgette Heyer, I recommend reading THE MASQUERADERS first. I still find it to be one of the most amusing, romantic, and entertaining reads yet!