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A Grand Deception
LOVE'S BOLD DISGUISE
Miss Georgy Verney doesn't wish to upset her mother, but she can't bring herself to flirt with the gentlemen of the ton--much less accept a marriage proposal based solely on social status or financial gain. Then she finds herself attracted to the most handsome, eligible catch of the season...
Anthony Maitland, Viscount Ivers, wants nothing more than to return Georgy's affections--then the spirited girl runs away. Desperate to avoid scandal, the girl's mother concocts a bold and daring masquerade, but the viscount's heart is not easily fooled. Amid a flurry of mistaken identities, Anthony embarks on a deception of his own, determined to bring Georgy back home and into his arms...
Miss Georgy Verney doesn't wish to upset her mother, but she can't bring herself to flirt with the gentlemen of the ton--much less accept a marriage proposal based solely on social status or financial gain. Then she finds herself attracted to the most handsome, eligible catch of the season...
Anthony Maitland, Viscount Ivers, wants nothing more than to return Georgy's affections--then the spirited girl runs away. Desperate to avoid scandal, the girl's mother concocts a bold and daring masquerade, but the viscount's heart is not easily fooled. Amid a flurry of mistaken identities, Anthony embarks on a deception of his own, determined to bring Georgy back home and into his arms...
304 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
11 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Mansfield
59 books61 followersElizabeth Mansfield is the author of numerous regency romances. She is an intelligent and thoughtful writer, a hidden gem whose novels deserve to be more widely read and enjoyed.
Elizabeth Mansfield is the pen name of the talented Paula Reibel Schwartz. Ms Schwartz also wrote different genres under the pen names Paula Reibel, Paula Reid, and Paula Jonas.
Elizabeth Mansfield is the pen name of the talented Paula Reibel Schwartz. Ms Schwartz also wrote different genres under the pen names Paula Reibel, Paula Reid, and Paula Jonas.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 14, 2015
Miss Georgy Verney wants to be independent. It is the early 1800's and she is limited in what a respectable single woman can do. Along comes Anthony Maitland, Viscount Ivers, who is THE catch of the season and who does he fall for? Miss Georgy Verney, of course. Her mother is ecstatic and pursues the match against Georgy's wishes. So what does Georgy do? She runs away to become a teacher in a poor village.
In the meantime, Jeremy Verney comes home, after serving in the war with France. He is expecting his first love to be waiting for him and finds out that things have changed. Before arriving home, he avoids a conflict and comes into contact with a young woman who saved him from being victimized. Homeless and in dire straits, he brings Peggy to meet his family. His mother has other ideas and decides to have her take over Georgy's identity, while awaiting her daughter's return, to make a match with Maitland.
I know, I know, too much? Be aware that you will see very little of Georgy and Maitland together. As for Jeremy, I wanted to rap him on the head to knock some sense into him. Early on, you know Peggy will fall for him. And we are to believe that Maitland won't know Peggy is not Georgy. In the intervening time, Georgy has her hands full with a vicar of the village and the parents of her potential students.
I realize others may enjoy this farce but I did not. I felt bad for Peggy who had a heart of gold. She was in precarious circumstances not of her choosing. All she ever wanted was for someone to love her and vice versa. I also felt bad for Maitland because people were taking him for a ride. Because of these two characters I am rating this story as 'OK'. I felt the Verney family deserved their comeuppance because none of them could see goodness in front of their own faces.
In the meantime, Jeremy Verney comes home, after serving in the war with France. He is expecting his first love to be waiting for him and finds out that things have changed. Before arriving home, he avoids a conflict and comes into contact with a young woman who saved him from being victimized. Homeless and in dire straits, he brings Peggy to meet his family. His mother has other ideas and decides to have her take over Georgy's identity, while awaiting her daughter's return, to make a match with Maitland.
I know, I know, too much? Be aware that you will see very little of Georgy and Maitland together. As for Jeremy, I wanted to rap him on the head to knock some sense into him. Early on, you know Peggy will fall for him. And we are to believe that Maitland won't know Peggy is not Georgy. In the intervening time, Georgy has her hands full with a vicar of the village and the parents of her potential students.
I realize others may enjoy this farce but I did not. I felt bad for Peggy who had a heart of gold. She was in precarious circumstances not of her choosing. All she ever wanted was for someone to love her and vice versa. I also felt bad for Maitland because people were taking him for a ride. Because of these two characters I am rating this story as 'OK'. I felt the Verney family deserved their comeuppance because none of them could see goodness in front of their own faces.
April 13, 2010
A Grand Deception is a fun and light story. It's about two couples, Anthony Maitland, Viscount Ivers, and Miss Georgy Verney, to whom he is greatly attracted the night he meets her at a ball but who decides to run away to be an independent woman; and Georgy's brother Jeremy and Peggy, the girl he finds to replace his sister and hold Maitland's affections while they all attend a house party at Maitland's estate in the country.
I thought it was great fun how Georgy and Jeremy's mother was so keen on her making a grand marriage that she doesn't even let her disappearance stop her. When she sees Peggy and her resemblance to Peggy she immediately concocts a scheme in which Peggy will pretend to be Georgy and conquer Maitland till they can find the real Georgy and convince her to return and marry him.
Although Maitland and Georgy's story is supposed to be the main romance I confess that I was more interested in Peggy and Jeremy. They spend more time together and we see their feelings develop while Maitland and Georgy only have that one ball and then she leaves for the country. Georgy's idea was actually an interesting one and I really enjoyed reading about her and her pupils but I couldn't help feeling that first she was attracted to Maitland but never acted on it and then she refused him despite that attraction without really strong reasons... I found her a bit irritating at times and in the end when faced with a real obstacle she gives up and goes back home...
The best part was watching Peggy fool Georgy's friends and her relationship with Jeremy but also Allie's witty conversations. Allie is Georgy and Jeremy's younger sister and she seems just the right kind of girl to give a hero a lot of headaches, I wonder if there is a book about her?
Grade: 4/5
I thought it was great fun how Georgy and Jeremy's mother was so keen on her making a grand marriage that she doesn't even let her disappearance stop her. When she sees Peggy and her resemblance to Peggy she immediately concocts a scheme in which Peggy will pretend to be Georgy and conquer Maitland till they can find the real Georgy and convince her to return and marry him.
Although Maitland and Georgy's story is supposed to be the main romance I confess that I was more interested in Peggy and Jeremy. They spend more time together and we see their feelings develop while Maitland and Georgy only have that one ball and then she leaves for the country. Georgy's idea was actually an interesting one and I really enjoyed reading about her and her pupils but I couldn't help feeling that first she was attracted to Maitland but never acted on it and then she refused him despite that attraction without really strong reasons... I found her a bit irritating at times and in the end when faced with a real obstacle she gives up and goes back home...
The best part was watching Peggy fool Georgy's friends and her relationship with Jeremy but also Allie's witty conversations. Allie is Georgy and Jeremy's younger sister and she seems just the right kind of girl to give a hero a lot of headaches, I wonder if there is a book about her?
Grade: 4/5
May 18, 2015
Strange. There was little to no interaction between the H and h for the majority of the book, and then the h's brother becomes enamored of a girl who looks so much like his missing sister that his family tries to actually pass her off as the missing sister. What dude is going to dream about a woman who looks just like his sister?? A little too Oedipus for me.
February 19, 2011
Fun farce of hidden identities, though you've to suspend disbelief at times. It did go down the road of "love at first sight", which is not a favourite trope of mine, but oh well. I liked the charity schoolmistress aspect - with the caveat I'm not a stickler for historical accuracy.
October 28, 2025
Good story, some drag
Bluestocking Georgy and wealthy Tony had a problem that could easily have been resolved early on, but to drag out the plot to full novel length, the obvious solution had to be held off till the end. Add to that the whole chapters of ruminations, and you end up with a skimmable situation. Not her best but not her worst either.
The writing does, however, continue to be plagued with odd mistakes that indicate poor proofreading and editing, such as mania for mama, stem for stern, and a for at, just to name a very few of the many I encountered.
Bluestocking Georgy and wealthy Tony had a problem that could easily have been resolved early on, but to drag out the plot to full novel length, the obvious solution had to be held off till the end. Add to that the whole chapters of ruminations, and you end up with a skimmable situation. Not her best but not her worst either.
The writing does, however, continue to be plagued with odd mistakes that indicate poor proofreading and editing, such as mania for mama, stem for stern, and a for at, just to name a very few of the many I encountered.
March 31, 2018
Fun, sweet, complicated and very much inspired by Georgette Heyer (mistress of the Regency romance). What a pleasant read! Loved it!
February 27, 2025
Really slow for me. It came around in the end, but just a bit tough to get through.
October 21, 2025
A cute story of two couples actually! Of course, there were some improbable scenarios, but it IS a work of escapist fiction/romance after all! I will read again someday!
November 27, 2010
From the back cover:
Love's bold disguise...
Miss Georgy Verney doesn't wish to upset her mother, but she can't bring herself to flirt with the gentlemen of the ton--much less accept a marriage proposal based solely on social status or financial gain. Then she finds herself attracted to the most handsome, eligible catch of the season...
Anthony Maitland, Viscount Ivers, wants nothing more than to return Georgy's affections--then the spirited girl runs away. Desperate to avoid scandal, the girl's mother concocts a bold and daring masquerade, but the viscount's heart is not easily fooled. Amid a flurry of mistaken identities, Anthony embarks on a deception of his own, determined to bring Georgy back home and into his arms...
And my review:
I discovered Elizabeth Mansfield when I picked up one of her books off a discount table at my local department store. Since then, I've snapped up everything of hers that I can get my hands on. Her writing is delightful. Her prose flows easily, is fun to read, her characters are well drawn, and her dialogue witty and fun. Her stories are also clean; no sex, just kisses.
This story was enjoyable as a work of historical fiction, but I think the romance aspect of it was rather poorly done. The hero falls in love with the heroine almost at first sight. However, she runs off, and they are seperated for 2/3 of the book. I read romance to watch the sparks fly as hero and heroine interact; but that can't happen when they aren't even in the same room for more than half the book! Then, when they do meet up again, they are in love almost instantly. The author then has to contrive something to keep them apart, and unfortunately, I felt that it fell flat. The heroine kept refusing the hero because he had money. Huh?
The heroine has promised never to marry for money. So even though she is madly in love with Anthony, she keeps refusing him. It got very grating, very fast. I'm all for having principles, but the heroine was so rigid about it that she drove me insane. And for no good reason. Since she loved the guy, it seemed like a very weak excuse for repeatedly rejecting him.
I actually enjoyed the secondary romance of Peggy (the heroine's look-alike replacement) and the heroine's brother Jeremy more than I enjoyed the relationship between the lead characters. I felt that Peggy and Jeremy's romance was much better developed. For one thing, they didn't fall in love instantly. Instead, their love grew slowly over time--my favorite kind of love story.
Apart from the sometimes irritating heroine, the rest of the characters in this novel were wonderfully drawn. Did this author ever write a book starring Allie, the heroine's younger sister? Because I would love to read it if she did. Allie was enchanting.
All in all, this was an enjoyable read. The only drawback was the primary romance. I think that this book needed another hundred pages to show Anthony and Georgy falling in love more gradually, and to have them spend less time apart, it would have been a five star read. I recommend it if you like this author's other works, or if you want to read a Regency novel, and especially if you like clean romances. This is the kind of book you could lend to your teenaged daughter with no qualms.
Love's bold disguise...
Miss Georgy Verney doesn't wish to upset her mother, but she can't bring herself to flirt with the gentlemen of the ton--much less accept a marriage proposal based solely on social status or financial gain. Then she finds herself attracted to the most handsome, eligible catch of the season...
Anthony Maitland, Viscount Ivers, wants nothing more than to return Georgy's affections--then the spirited girl runs away. Desperate to avoid scandal, the girl's mother concocts a bold and daring masquerade, but the viscount's heart is not easily fooled. Amid a flurry of mistaken identities, Anthony embarks on a deception of his own, determined to bring Georgy back home and into his arms...
And my review:
I discovered Elizabeth Mansfield when I picked up one of her books off a discount table at my local department store. Since then, I've snapped up everything of hers that I can get my hands on. Her writing is delightful. Her prose flows easily, is fun to read, her characters are well drawn, and her dialogue witty and fun. Her stories are also clean; no sex, just kisses.
This story was enjoyable as a work of historical fiction, but I think the romance aspect of it was rather poorly done. The hero falls in love with the heroine almost at first sight. However, she runs off, and they are seperated for 2/3 of the book. I read romance to watch the sparks fly as hero and heroine interact; but that can't happen when they aren't even in the same room for more than half the book! Then, when they do meet up again, they are in love almost instantly. The author then has to contrive something to keep them apart, and unfortunately, I felt that it fell flat. The heroine kept refusing the hero because he had money. Huh?
The heroine has promised never to marry for money. So even though she is madly in love with Anthony, she keeps refusing him. It got very grating, very fast. I'm all for having principles, but the heroine was so rigid about it that she drove me insane. And for no good reason. Since she loved the guy, it seemed like a very weak excuse for repeatedly rejecting him.
I actually enjoyed the secondary romance of Peggy (the heroine's look-alike replacement) and the heroine's brother Jeremy more than I enjoyed the relationship between the lead characters. I felt that Peggy and Jeremy's romance was much better developed. For one thing, they didn't fall in love instantly. Instead, their love grew slowly over time--my favorite kind of love story.
Apart from the sometimes irritating heroine, the rest of the characters in this novel were wonderfully drawn. Did this author ever write a book starring Allie, the heroine's younger sister? Because I would love to read it if she did. Allie was enchanting.
All in all, this was an enjoyable read. The only drawback was the primary romance. I think that this book needed another hundred pages to show Anthony and Georgy falling in love more gradually, and to have them spend less time apart, it would have been a five star read. I recommend it if you like this author's other works, or if you want to read a Regency novel, and especially if you like clean romances. This is the kind of book you could lend to your teenaged daughter with no qualms.
September 25, 2009
Regency
April 13, 2017
Unbelievable, but a pleasant ending.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews