New Book Alert: The Awakening of the Lost Baroness by Hazel Linwood; Sharp Brisk Plot Driven Regency Era Romance

 

New Book Alert: The Awakening of the Lost Baroness by Hazel Linwood; Sharp Brisk Plot Driven Regency Era Romance

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Regency Romance #2 is The Awakening of The Lost Baroness by Hazel Linwood. Similar to The Heiress of Epsom by Hedley J. Huntt, both take great detail to explore the Regency era with its elegant style, rigid class snobbery, and literature that explored both the witty and passionate sides of the people that lived within it. 

However Huntt and Linwood differ in their approaches. The Heiress of Epsom had a few bursts of plot but brimmed with a pair of likeable characters. By contrast, The Awakening of the Lost Baroness had characters who are less defined but are surrounded by a plot that is a lot more engaging, sharper, and has a few interesting twists.

Amanda Jonson lived her life as a commoner until on her mother's deathbed, the older woman revealed the truth: She was once a maid who was secretly engaged to a Baron's son. When the family found out, the Baron was forced to end the marriage and marry a more acceptable woman. Amanda was finally welcomed into her father, the Baron of Foley's family and is accepted by him, her grandmother, and younger half-sister, Patricia.

She also attracts the romantic attention of Lord Henry, the Earl of Sutcliffe. Unfortunately, Patricia is also in love with him, much to the delight of his mother, and Amanda's grandmother wants to set Amanda up with the Duke of Avery.

The plot moves along at a brisk pace,so brisk that we don't always get to know the characters. The revelation of Amanda's family ties are revealed before the events of the book, so we don't get to know what her former life was like, her mother as a person (besides Amanda remembering her after death), how she feels about her sudden windfall, or the family and Henry's initial reaction about her and vice versa. 

The book is set five years after the reveal and Amanda is already settled into the family. A couple of early chapters or a prologue would help to establish her as a character.

However in this case, the plot moves the characters rather than the other way around. When Amanda's father is taken ill, the question of her marriageability becomes important. She is taken to London to meet Avery. Meanwhile, Henry has made his choice to wed Amanda and he will disinherit himself to do it. He also moves to London to make his own way in the world, either through the army or investing in other friend's businesses.

 It is a bit contrived that both would find their way to London, but since they live in a rural area and London is the central hub of contemporary life at the time, it makes sense.

There are some pretty tense scenes that reveal that in a Regency Era Romance, all is not necessarily fancy dress balls and invitations to tea with Grandmama. Amanda, Patricia, and their grandmother are invited to the opera and Amanda is invited to sit in Avery's box seat. It is in Avery's box seat that he attempts to rape her. Only Amanda's fast feet save her from becoming victimized by the Duke's brutality.

 Besides the deplorable actions of the Duke, even worse is the behavior of her Grandmother who still wants her granddaughter to go through with marrying Avery even after Amanda tells her what he did. ("He is not….the gentleman that he should be, but we are doing this for your own good," Grandma says like a "loving" grandmother should.)

The only one who will defend her is Henry and he is prepared to do so with pistols during a duel. The duel chapter captures how high the stakes can be in such a potentially dangerous situation. It also fortunately takes the romance out of such a conflict by revealing it for the bloody destructive mess that it is, even when both parties survive.

There are some points that leave one scratching their heads especially when it's revealed that much of the plot was orchestrated by some scheming characters. In reality, such characters would be revealed as sociopaths and certainly deserve to be estranged from the others or punished more than they are, but that does not happen. Retribution is cast aside for Happy Ever After.

Where The Heiress of Epsom takes a meandering time where the Reader gets to know the characters, The Awakening of the Baroness speeds through so the Reader can see the world around the characters. Both offer loving tributes to an era that is worth exploring again and again through literature.