Masque of Enchantment

Scottish Heroes #1

by Charlene Cross

Accused of murder, actress Alissa Ashford fled London for Scotland in the drab garb of a prim governess. Her employer, Jared Braxton, was supremely masculine and imperiously attractive, with a manner that sorely tested proud Alissa's assumed meekness. Yet despite their clashes of will, they were one in their devotion to Jared's little, girl whose soul was wounded by her mother's shocking death.

For the mahogany-maned beauty was not the only one with a secret within Hawkstone's magnificent walls. Jared, too, kept his brooding counsel. Driven by the passion that burned between them, he seized on an unforeseen discovery and forced Alissa to become his wife. Still they denied the tenderness that charged their desire until they were enmeshed in a deadly intrigue that threatened all they treasured!

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Scotland, Historical

310 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1990

About the author

In the early 1990's, Charlene Cross wrote seven historical romance novels.

Reviews

[Izzah ꒰Duchess of Cabria ಇ ⭑✧ ᴏɴ ᴘᴀᴛʀᴇᴏɴ ✧ ⋆꒱ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great moments, some dull moments

I think the only reason I enjoyed this as much as I did was because it wasn't written post-Bridgertons.


~○• The secrets, the lies, the misunderstandings •○~

The very premise of the book requires deception. You can't pick a book with the blurb "Accused of murder, actress Alissa Ashford fled London for Scotland in the drab garb of a prim governess" and be annoyed she's lying to the hero.
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🕮⋆˚࿔✎𓂃 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
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[Ririn Aziz · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

I have read 2 books previously by this same author and I loved them both. But I just stretched my patience with this one. I don't know why. Was it because I've read those 2 some times ago? Maybe not, because I think they are really good. Or maybe because this was her debut.

The story was too simple. And I think stretched the boundary of the timeline quite a bit, and this spoiled the smoothness of my reading.
The emotion was bland, and this affected the story for me. Can't feel the wow effects, nothing to pull me into the depth of the story.

Too many ideas, but the execution was not done neatly.

[Ms. Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was surprisingly good. More plot than I've come to expect in historical romance. I felt like I was invested in the main characters from the beginning. The hero was the usual incredibly handsome, brilliant lover who can't recognize true love when it hits him over the head. The heroine a wide eyed, innocent virgin with little or no control over her own destiny. Luckily, happily ever after is almost guaranteed in these books, otherwise I wouldn't be reading them!

[Nadine Augustyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Too many minor, almost rambling, little storylines to try and create one solid plot.