A Lady's Deception

by Jeanne Savery

Tacye Adlington disguises herself as her late twin brother in order to provide a proper escort for her younger sister during Bath's Little Season, but her masquerade is threatened by her attraction to the brooding, reclusive Marquess of Worth. Original.

Genres: Romance, Regency

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1995

About the author

Jeanne Savery has lived and travelled in Great Britain with her spouse, an American Professor of British Politics. An American herself, she is descended from the English (via her father) and the Scots (via her mother).

She first read the Regency Romances of Georgette Heyer while living in Sidcup, Kent. She reread them while living in Whitstable, Kent. The dialogue was charming, but the detail was forbidding: No mistakes! That's the watchword.

For library research, she amassed (and read) a library of diaries, letters, memoirs, yearbooks, etc., from the era. For field research, she (and her spouse) repeatedly crisscrossed the island of Great Britain. Their two daughters fondly recall a family jaunt (with bed and breakfast) in August, 1973: London to Pembroke to Chester to Carlisle to Stirling to Edinburgh to Hawick ... to London.

She published her first Regency Romance in 1991. Since then, she has published more numerous novels and novellas.

She has received the Reader's Choice Award and been awarded the Holt Medallion. She is a member of Novelists, Inc. and Romance Writers of America.

Reviews

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soft and clean novel. I love it!

I love how Tacye sticks to being a man without letting slip that she's a girl. Unfortunately for Aunt and sister didn't. Tacye is hilarious and strong heroine who disguised as a man to protect his/her family. She's awesome!

Lucius Worth ♥️ Tacye Adlington.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, a good book but the very ending (epilogue) was a disappointment.

[_inbetween_]

Supposedly one of the best Regency novels ever, hard to get and acclaimed Savery's best ... *sigh*

She dedicates it to Heyer, the third one who at least does it openly. It started out ok, a girl-dresses-as-boy story without any gender blabla, but the lack of the usual lust-at-first-sight comes hand in hand with the total absence of ANY reason for them to fall in love. In fact when she thinks she loves him it's out of the blue and might as well have been for one of the villains, same about him.

There was one funny line, the kiss had promise, and the unchanged equality, too - but the poor guy seeing ghosts was not funny (and him meant to be such made the author mean to me, as did the "generous gift" of making the maids yellow drasses), and the complete lack of any sort of intercourse, purely in the emotional and intellectual sense, is - incredible.

While better than Chesney (I'm not going to compare her to the sex historicals), Savery so totally relies on the readers to infer "love, lust, longing" from the simple premise of making them hero and heroine that she must have OVERLOOKED she never once even hinted at any reason for love ... just like there is at least one whole paragraph in the action scene missing that are referred to later in the text; and the large quantity of action scenes and nightly tete-a-tetes that are never fully explored, not made use of at all ... at least there was no pregnancy.

If you simply enjoy Regency stories *makes an effort* I can recommend it; the Bath setting is believable. If you're looking for what -i- consider emotion and attraction ... all in all a waste of a story once again, because the heroine was so very capable and remained unvanquished - don't see how Savery's other books could possibly be any better though, esp. since I was only able to get a more recent one, no hope here.

ETA: another instance of this novel confirming to yet confounding romance cliches and conventions was when her aunt told someone that the heroine needed to hear she really was beautiful from the hero (the usual: too thin (yeah right), "blossomed") - but that never actually happens! If there hadn't been the repetitions about how unthinkable it would be if the hero fancied a boy, if there only had been some descriptions and showing of UST, I'd applaud. *ponders daring a third book*incorrigible*

[Lexie · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first read this, a decade or so ago, I read it under the mistaken belief that it would be similar to a manga I adore called Basara. All I really read of the synopsis was 'Young girl masquerades as her late twin brother and gets into trouble'--which is Basara's plot at the most simple. So yes I was mighty surprised and learned the valuable lesson to read the blurb before you read the book to avoid such mishaps again.

Regardless this trope--a lady disguising herself as a guy--tickles me pink every time. Whether made seriously or made as a lark, almost invariably the lady in question gets into some situations that are simply outlandish. I especially love it when the hero suspects the lady and purposely makes her squirm to see if she breaks. Lucius is rather like that, pushing buttons to get to the truth.

Tacye (for the record she and her sister win for exotic names in Regency Romances, at least for this month) is capable, intelligent, quick-witted and has the inner strength to make the charade work. I fully believe if Lucius hadn't become a factor nothing would have gone wrong. Admittedly the time that Tacye spends a female in Lucius' company is far shorter then what she spends with as a guy, but Lucius caught on to the guise fairly quick. So while Tacye was falling in love with him, and wondering how to explain that she isn't a guy, he was wondering how to get her not to be a guy long enough for things not to get really scandalous!

[Linda (NOT RECEIVING NOTIFICATIONS) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tacye Adlington has a beautiful younger sister, Damaris, who required a 'coming out'. Their only brother, Terry, who happens to be Tacye's twin, died a few years before during the war with France. With no living parents and a blind aunt, Tacye becomes 'Toby' and a ruse is on.

This is definitely one of the most unusual Regency romances I have read in awhile. Jeanne Savery manages to blend intrigue with some snarky humor and along for the ride is the Marquess of Worth. He is approached by another soldier who thinks he is seeing a ghost and asks Worth to confirm that Terry is dead. Terry served under the the nobleman and Worth is aware that Terry had a twin sister. He introduces himself to 'Toby'. Following up for a good portion of the book, the gentleman waffles back and forth on whether Toby is a young man or woman. Just when he thinks he has made the correct decision something will change his mind. The author manages to tastefully keep the lord guessing and with plenty of humor on the side. This makes for some very amusing mischief.

A LADY'S DECEPTION is refreshing because the hero and heroine do a great job of communicating with each other. So sit back and enjoy a clean romance with some very funny moments. At 345 pages, this story is longer than most older Regencies but if you like this genre you should enjoy this book.

[Teresa Dowd · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my most favorite regency romances. In spite of the freedom afforded by Tayce's ploy, the usual period limitations are a stronger box on their options than most regencies. They have that slightly different outlook for 1820 that so few more recent books manage. The richness of period detail makes Bath more than a stage for Tayce and Worth, they are part of that society.

I wore out my copy over the years, and got another as a gift. This tale is is clever in the snark, from even the great beauty sister.

[Seema · Rating 4 out of 5]

An old fashioned traditional regency about a young girl who dresses up like a boy and goes with her aunt and younger sister to Bath. It's three romances and though it has an unbelievable plot, the characterization of the main characters was well done. I enjoyed it.

[Sylvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Regency

[Kel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Girl dresses like boy to protect family. Well-done and humorous. An old favorite written before sex was used instead of plot, dialogue and character development.

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best, most witty and well written book I've read in a long time.