cover image The Wicked Wedding of Miss Ellie Vyne

The Wicked Wedding of Miss Ellie Vyne

Jayne Fresina. Sourcebooks Casablanca, $6.99 mass market (416p) ISBN 978-1-4022-6600-3

Until its final quarter, this English historical romance, set in 1822, from Fresina (The Improper Miss Sophie Valentine) shines. James Hartley and Ellie Vyne share a magnificent kiss while in disguise during a masquerade ball. He doesn’t recognize her, but she knows him as a heartless Hartley, whose family has feuded with hers for a generation. The free-thinking Ellie has a partly undeservedly fast reputation, although she does gamble disguised as a French count to fleece the gentry and pay the bills. When she wins the Hartley diamonds from James’s mistress, a romantic farce begins, complicated by a man also masquerading as Ellie’s French count. James and Ellie banter and quibble with comic perfection, and his wry valet and a 13-year-old titled lady. with a flair for the dramatic add more humor. But as the book nears the conclusion, issues of trust vex the couple. Their sexy to-and-fro turns tedious and the narrative becomes workmanlike. (Jan.)