Ruth Axtell's Newest Regency ~*~ Moonlight Masquerade, ©2013

Oh, what an amazing story! I loved Moonlight Masquerade. Very deep and captivating all at once! Waiting for espionage around every corner, it was thick with my very favorite Historical genre. I began reading last evening and throughout the day, as my husband and I traveled an hour and a half to a larger city. I could even be found on a Lowe's bench seat happily waiting for my husband to "take your time, take your time."

It is April 1813 in London. The British Foreign Office receives word young widow Lady Céline Wexham is spying against them and sending information to France. They send one of their men, a decoding clerk fluent in French, as Harrison MacKinnon, nephew to Lady Wexham's elder head butler who is unable to serve because of illness. Rees Phillips accepts the temporary position believing it will forward him in a promotion upon his return, aiding him in his care of his mother and sister.

Lady Wexham. What a strong protagonist. She oversees her household with respect and fairness to those in her service. As Mr. MacKinnon wishes to protect her, I DO TOO! She is so exacting in her every movement.

I liked their growing reliance on God for guidance and the trust building between them even with the certainty of their roles. This is the second novel I have read by Ruth Axtell. She is very thorough. I learned so much with the excellent research. It is a beautiful story. I did not know how it was going to turn out even when I turned the last page. Don't sneak a peek. Enjoy this Regency Romance page by page.

Moonlight Masquerade

By Ruth Axtell
ISBN-10: 080072089X
ISBN-13: 978-0800720896
$14.99
Paperback: 352 pages
Publication Date: March 2013
Now in Stores


Lady Céline Wexham seems the model British subject. French by birth but enjoying life in 1813 as a widowed English countess, she is in the unique position of being able to help those in need–or to spy for the notorious Napoleon Bonaparte. When Rees Phillips of the British Foreign Office is sent to pose as the countess’s butler and discover where her true loyalties lie, he is confident he will uncover the truth. But the longer he is in her fashionable townhouse in London’s West End, the more his staunch loyalty to the Crown begins to waver as he falls under Lady Wexham’s spell. Will he find the proof he needs? And if she is a spy after all, will he do the right thing?

Ruth Axtell has loved the Regency period of England ever since discovering Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer in high school. She knew she wanted to be a writer even earlier. The two loves were joined with the publication of her first book, Winter Is Past, a Regency, in 2003.

Since then she has published several Regencies, as well as Victorian England and late nineteenth-century coastal Maine settings.

With Moonlight Masquerade, her fourteenth novel, Ruth returns to Regency England.

Besides writing, Ruth always yearned to live in other counties. From three childhood summers spent in Venezuela, a junior year in Paris, an au pair stint in the Canary Islands, and a few years in the Netherlands, Ruth has now happily settled on the downeast coast of Maine with her college-and high school-age children and two cats.

Learn more about Ruth Axtell ~ RuthAxtell.com ~ RuthAxtell.com/Blog

***Thank you to Revell Blog Tour for inviting me to post my review in my own words. I received a copy of Moonlight Masquerade for this purpose, and received no other compensation.***

Available March 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.