Unmasking Of A Lady: A historical regency romance, perfect for fans of Netflix’s Bridgerton!

by Sophie Dash

‘a hell of a lot of fun and exactly the sort of comfort read you need on a rainy Sunday afternoon.’ – Perks of Being a Bookworm

A woman is revealed…By day Miss Harriet Groves is a highly respectable lady, and a darling of society with her quick wit and blonde beauty. But by night Harriet dons a disguise, riding out into the countryside as the feared – and often revered! – Green Highwayman.

A life of crime was never the plan, but saving her family from ruin keeps Harriet riding into danger under the cover of darkness. A danger made all the more acute by the arrival of Major Edward Roberts, the man commissioned to unmask Harriet’s legendary highwayman and bring him to justice!

Harriet’s far too clever to fall into any trap the Major sets to capture her alter ego. Understanding it’s best to keep your enemies close, she sets out to thoroughly distract the Major from his duty using all of her womanly charms.

Only allowing Edward closer has unexpected consequences for Harriet. How could she have guessed that time spent sparring and flirting with Major Roberts could inspire an excitement in her equal to the adrenaline surge she experiences on her night-time adventures? It seems the dashing Major is a danger to her life, and to her heart…

Don’t miss the brilliant new historical romance from Sophie Dash, To Wed a Rebel out now!

Genres: Historical Fiction

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 23, 2015

About the author

Sophie is usually found chained to a laptop in her David Bowie pyjamas, with a spaniel dribbling on her feet, a pen in her hair and biscuit crumbs across her keyboard. She has a cardboard cut-out of Spock in her basement, knows all the words to Disney’s The Little Mermaid and has seen Pride and Prejudice more times than you.

Reviews

[Verity W · Rating 2 out of 5]

***Copy from NetGalley in return for an honest review*****

Ho hum. So, I picked this out because I really like The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer and I haven't really read a lot of Highwayman novels* so fancied something with a bit of peril and girls in trousers and a more modern take.

But I think this just has too much going on - there is plenty in the girl turns highwayman plot on its own, but the author just keeps adding layer on layer of peril - until it all gets a bit much. I would've liked a bit more explanation of why Harriet had decided on holding people up as a solution to her problems - and how she managed to fence everything. I also think this would really have benefited from some sections written from Edward's behalf.

Not dreadful, just not brilliant. Perhaps my love of Masqueraders set the bar too high.


*Now I have a bit of a glut of them

[ᑭᑌᑎƳᗩ [Punya Reviews...] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unmasking of a Lady by Sophie Dash was "read now" in netgalley. I was looking for a new author to try and this seemed up my alley. I went in completely blank, not knowing the author or reading any review prior to it. In a nutshell, here's what I found:

The heroine, Harriet, is from a good family though her family is now on the verge of financial ruin. I think her father and younger brother, Giddeon, the heir, both had a hand in this. They have a very wealthy, widowed maternal aunt who loves them like her own, yet Harriet won't take any 'charity' from her. So she comes up with the idea that she needs to be a highwayman to save her family from the financial ruin.

Yeah, that.

Now, you may ask, why not marry well and do the same? Harriet is quite attractive and has had proposals in the past, yet she seemed very oddly reluctant to marry. She, plainly put, abhorred the notion of being leg-shackled. She hated the fact that some man would control her life. She loves her independence a bit too much (all that highwayman business couldn't have been concocted without it). After her mother's passing, Harriet has been the head of the family, or so to speak, since her father wasn't up to the task all that much. She took care of everything. Yet, Giddeon went spoiled, piled up more debt and almost ruined the family name in the process. Then Harriet took it onto herself that she must mend the financial ladder of the family. She won't accept any help from anyone, not even Giddeon when he finally came to his senses and wanted to help.

It should've been admirable but for me, it wasn't. First of all, the idea of being highwayman as the 'only' solution to their financial problem. It seemed quite farfetched to begin with! And I tell you that this brought numerous problems, life-threatening dangers, to their doorstep. Then Harriet's refusal to accept their aunt's help. How is it exactly 'charity' when a loved one is more than willing to help? I had no doubt that Aunt Georgia cared for them all very much. In the end, Harriet was forced to take the help anyway when all her plans failed miserably. Then I thought, she treated Giddeon too much like a kid instead of a grown up in his early 20s. She was forever unhappy about Giddeon's irresponsible behavior, yet when he wanted to help, she won't let him. She couldn't rely on him at all and let it show every step of the way. That alone can derail a person who is trying to get back in track. I didn't like it, especially in the light that none of Harriet's own plans to salvage their finance and reputation worked perfectly. Not at all. Had it not been for Major Roberts, our Knight in Shinning Armor, she would've been caught, tried and hanged for her crime. Harriet was quite prepared for it too, but how would that have helped mending their family's reputation? I have no idea.

Now, I really liked Major Roberts, Edward. He was all that you'd call a gentleman. An ex-solder who is also a fearless leader of men. He was initially appointed to catch the elusive Green Highwayman (aka our h) because he was good at his job. In that ball, where this was announced, is where Harriet also met Edward for the first time. Meeting him almost shook her resolve to stay a spinster, until she knew he'd be the death of her-- quite literally!

The whole book was riddled with either one of Harriet's farfetched plans -- some of those either went wrong or she blundered through -- or mountains of misunderstandings between her and Edward. She pushed him away at every step of the way, which she thought was for the best. Well, she was hiding this colossal secret from him to begin with; another reason why she couldn't contemplate marriage. This time, the irony was that she wanted, craved, Edward, who returned that affection. He's just the type of man she could dream of being with. Since he didn't know the exact reason for Harriet's rejection(s), Edward repeatedly got hurt. And when he finally learned the truth of her connection with the Green Highwayman, he was just devastated. He felt betrayed, and I couldn't blame him. Gradually he decided to stay away from her. Gosh, I was so frustrated since Edward was the one who confessed his feelings first, not the other way round. Even till the last chapter Harriet had a problem confessing her feelings. She was very distrustful, then scared of what's to come. She didn't want Edward involved in her business, yet he got involved anyway.

It was also Edward who finally rescues Harriet from another of her mess and caught a bullet in the process. And it's not the first time he got hurt in the story while saving her. He didn't need to jump in after the way she kept pushing him away, yet he did. Because of that, I had no doubt of his feelings. There was one scene where he even questions his own sanity; of doing things he would have never done before meeting Harriet. But I guess falling in love does that to people. He even made sure that someone else takes the blame for the crimes of Green Highwayman so that no one connects anything with Harriet, ever. Harriet is one lucky girl!

I didn't dislike the book per say. I wanted a few more chapters of Harriet and Edward together because they barely got any chance of romance. However, Harriet was exasperating; she would be the reason why it took me a long time to finish this book. I tried to like her, but I kept shaking my head at each of her "plans". It's not that she was featherbrained. In fact, she was quite serious in her quests. She, indeed, believed she could help her family; save her brother from a certain death and her sister from a certain ruination. But she didn't think before leaping. Didn't think twice about the ramifications of her actions, and those were quite massive. People got hurt and killed for crying out loud! That she acknowledged that fact later in the story told me she was smart. Just not prudent enough. Maybe if I knew what drove her to think that becoming a highwayman was the only solution, I may have been able to justify her activities. But since there was no explanation, I couldn't. She put people in danger and it was not funny. I wanted to applaud her courage but I got caught up in every blunder she made along the way. And I couldn't agree more with Edward when calls her actions "idiotic" somewhere in the story. He knew Harriet better than anyone by then.

I liked Sophie Dash's writing, and I thought she brought a good spin by giving us quite a different heroine. She did a great job IMO at portraying Harriet's character, faults and all. Only it wasn't my cuppa, hence the 3 stars. Saying all that, I do want to see if Giddeon gets his own book or not, even Ellen, their youngest sister.

This ARC was set as "read-now" via netgalley, thanks to Carina UK, which didn’t influence my review and rating in any way.

[Nikki · Rating 2 out of 5]

How many dumb men can we fit in one book?! The heroine is very foolish too! She didn’t make a right choice from the jump. Kinda fluffy, but didn’t really come to care about any of the characters or their stupid decisions. I say skip.

[Mojca · Rating 1 out of 5]

***copy provided by publisher through NetGalley***

By day, she’s Miss Harriet Groves, a blonde beauty flitting through society, currently pretending not to hear the gossip about her family’s monetary troubles. Come night, she don’s man’s clothing and a green velvet mask, robbing the rich on the winding roads of southern England as the Green Highwayman. You see, her family’s financial troubles are real and Harry, abhorring taking “charity” from her aunt, feels this is the only way to get her family through the tough times.

Fate soon throws a wrench in her plans, in the form of Major Edward Roberts, tasked with apprehending the highwayman and see him hang. Harry knows she should hate the guy for wanting to kill her, but she can’t...Because he’s just so hot.


This story started off great...And ended up a disaster thanks to the heroine who was an utter mess. She was all over the place, her schemes always failed, although she considered herself so intelligent, she had no idea how to plan for any contingency, she was self-absorbed and selfish (despite her protestations she was donning the guise of a highwayman for her family, she was actually doing it for herself in a rather foolish quest of asserting her independence—what would’ve happened to her family if she got caught? Oops, she didn’t think of that.), and in the end not that likable because of her volatile behavior and emotional games she played with the dashing Major.

Yes, emotional games, because the blurb got the part with her using her womanly charms to distract the guy. She didn’t use her charms, she didn’t flirt with him, plainly, she was an utter bitch to the poor man, her moods flipping in a blink of an eye, and I’m surprised the poor bastard didn’t get whiplash.

Speaking of the poor bastard. There wasn’t really much of him to speak of, since the story was told from Harriet’s point of view (albeit in third person POV). Some insight into the Major would’ve been appreciated, especially once his “feelings” toward the heroine were revealed, because they weren’t believable. I couldn’t believe or understand just why he’s fallen for her, because I didn’t see it or shared his opinion.
Neither did I buy her returning his feelings in the end. All I’ve read were two people attracted to each other. She to him because he was hot, he to her for some unknown reason. And because I didn’t buy the deeper connection between them, I couldn’t buy the story from the point (around 30%) I realized the heroine was an annoying bitch forward.

Also, the story was definitely too long, piled with layer upon layer of “conflict”, while just the first one (the highwayman thing) would’ve worked best in a shorter “setting” (and with a differently characterized heroine and a better developed hero). But no, we had to have another villain, granted, a pretty good one to add to the conflict between Harriet and her family, Harriet with Edward, and add to Harriet’s misguided martyr’s complex and her views of herself as some sort of hero.

Overcomplicated, overwhelmed with too much conflict, with an overly-annoying heroine, and a bland, under-developed hero.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn’t the sort of thing that I would normally go for, but honestly, it was one of the most entertaining things I’ve read all year.

By day Miss Harriet Groves is a highly respectable lady, and a darling of society with her quick wit and blonde beauty. But by night Harriet dons a disguise, riding out into the countryside as the feared—and often revered!—Green Highwayman.
A life of crime was never the plan, but saving her family from ruin keeps Harriet riding into danger under the cover of darkness. A danger made all the more acute by the arrival of Major Edward Roberts, the man commissioned to unmask Harriet’s legendary highwayman and bring him to justice!
Harriet’s far too clever to fall into any trap the Major sets to capture her alter ego. Understanding it’s best to keep your enemies close, she sets out to thoroughly distract the Major from his duty using all of her womanly charms.
Only allowing Edward closer has unexpected consequences for Harriet. How could she have guessed that time spent sparring and flirting with Major Roberts could inspire an excitement in her equal to the adrenaline surge she experiences on her night-time adventures? It seems the dashing Major is a danger to her life, and to her heart…

Yes, it’s a romance. Yes, it is a trope that has been done before, but no one else has told told it quite this way before. I’ll be honest, period drama romances really don’t do it for me, but as this was recommended from a very reliable source (I know the author) I thought I’d give it a whirl. Btw, just because I know the author doesn’t mean that I am tarting this review up or anything. Like, this was genuinely enjoyable. No, it isn’t the best thing I have ever read, but it is fun, it is well paced and it is nothing if not entertaining.

I’ve never read any Highway Man style hi jinx before, but I do love a good bit of period drama ladies swapping corsets for breeches and thundering about town doing what needs to be done to make ends meet. Badass ladies doing badass things. Wonderful. That pretty much is the premise of this book. Harriet’s brother is useless, so she decides to don a mask and steal things from rich idiots that she learns about in all her society circles. However, her reputation begins to proceed her, a major is bought in and fun and games ensues. It’s a cat and mouse game of Darcy and Lizzie proportions.

Sophie Dash is a writer with great potential. I know her and have read her other manuscripts, so I know this to be fact. I also know that Unmasking of a Lady may not be the sort of thing that immediately springs to mind when you tell someone that it has potential, but this is also fact. This book is the kind of thing you want to be curled up with on a rainy afternoon, it’s cosy, it’s comforting. I for one am looking forward to the next thing that Sophie Dash sends our way. Its out now as an ebook and in the kindle store, so if you fancy whiling away the hours with something fun and entertaining next time rain is lashing at your windows, head straight for this one.

[Angel Hatfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harriet's maid servant was Mary who helped her when she rode in disguise at night as the Green Highway Man. Harriet had a younger sister Ellen who was fifteen and an older brother Gideon who was at Oxford but always in debt and asking for more money as he gambled. The estate just didn’t have the money Gideon requested. So Harriet would have to continue with her disguise and illegal ways at night. Harriet went to her aunts in Bath to attend another ball. Already the news of her brother and his gambling was going around. Then a man speaks to Harriet, it is Major Edward Roberts . Harriet found she actually liked the major which went against the promise to herself to not like anyone her relatives choose for her. Then she finds out the major has been brought in to catch the Highwayman. Edward likes Harriet but doesn’t like she is proving to be a distraction. But Edward also senses Harriet is hiding something.
I like the story, the plot was good but at times there was just too much going on. It distracted from the actual story. You knew Edward and Harriet were growing feelings for each other yet they spent very little time together. I think Harriet was a little too independent for the time period she was born in. So this was one of those stories you don’t hate but don’t love either.
I received an ARC of this story for an honest review.

[Amy Alvis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doing what she needs to survive, Miss Harriet Groves rides out at night as the Green Highwayman stealing from the rich so that her family is not ruined. She didn't count on Major Edward Roberts being brought in to bring the highwayman to justice. What makes it even worse is that she finds herself attracted to the man.

Edward has a job to do and doesn't like that he is being distracted my Harriet. He knows she is hiding something, but he can't figure it out. What will he do when he finds out the the woman he is falling for is the person he is charged with bringing to justice?

I thought this book had a lot of potential, but in the end it just fell flat. I liked the storyline. It was different from a lot of the historical romances that I read and that appealed to me. What it lacked was that the H/H hardly spent any time together. The whole point to a romance is to see the characters fall in love with each other. These two didn't spend enough time together to even make it believable.

Dash is a new author so I will check out her next book to see if it is any better. I'm always willing to give an author a second chance...

Thanks go out to Carina UK via NetGalley for a copy of the book in exchange of an honest review.

[Sissy's Romance Book Review · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really great read..and a full size book! I found that I really liked Sophie Dash writing and hope to have more of her books to come. I loved the story that this book had...it is one of my favorite type of stories. Our heroine, Miss Harriet Groves is a lady that is much respected and loved by society. But as with all hour heroines, Harriet has another side to her... she is the "Green Highwayman." Harriet didn't plan on being two people but trying to save her family has put her in this position. She find that our hero, Major Edward Roberts has set to find out who the "Green Highwayman" is and put him to justice. With Harriet feeling she is to smart to fall for his traps but does know that she would be smart to keep him close to her..sets their path to falling in love. I thought this was a nice, easy read that would be good for a rainy day that you want to relax with a good book. Glad to have this book and hope that you will like it too!

[Frank Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an incredibly entertaining story. Two story lines kept the story progressing with insatiable interest. The characters were modernly relatable in a historical setting and this created a fun place for a reader to get lost in. There was a great balance of banter and worry among the characters and the whole story came together as charming and witty. I enjoyed the whole story from start to finish and I wouldn't want to see a single thing changed.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read! Fast paced, adventure filled with some intriguing and very interesting characters. I absolutely adored this and would strongly recommend fans of romance, passion and love to pick this title, you're be thrilled. A must read! A new author to me, but one I look forward to reading more of her stories.

*Received for an honest review from the publisher via Net Gallery*

Rating: 4
Heat rating: Mild
Reviewed by: Reviewed by: April R, courtesy of My Book Addiction and More

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harriet is simply trying to support her family in the only way she can think of by robbing the rich under the mask of the Green Highwayman. When Edward comes to town, he vows to find the thief at all costs. When the two of them meet, there are immediate sparks, but Harriet knows she needs to stay away lest she gets discovered. The book has some good twists and turns which makes for a enjoyable read.

[Playground of Randomness]

So at first glance I thought this plot was cliché. The book itself though is pleasantly delightful. The characters are realistic, the plot is interesting and there is a beautiful romance.