The Reluctant Reformer

by Lynsay Sands

Previously published as The Reluctant Reformer

Lady Maggie Wentworth must support herself as an investigative reporter. Writing under another name, she’s been exposing the notorious scandals of the ton—this time it’s the “working girls” of London. While interviewing the women, a client enters, and Maggie is shocked to see her beau. She changes clothes with one of the girls and flees out the window, only to be whisked away by a stranger.

Lord James is honoring a deathbed promise: watch over his late friend’s sister. Following Maggie to a house of ill repute, he’s stunned to see her emerge dressed as the notorious Lady X! Hard times must have driven her to such a desperate act, and he is intent on reforming the wanton chit. No amount of protest will stop him from saving her reputation. Now if only he can hold his own desires in check—and keep himself from falling in love.

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical, Historical Fiction, Regency, Audiobook, Fiction

371 pages, Paperback

First published February 3, 2002

About the author

LYNSAY SANDS is the nationally bestselling author who is known for her hysterical historicals as well as the popular Argeneau/Rogue Hunter vampire series. With her witty and charming personality, Sands describes books as, “Waking dreams or stories, tales to amuse, entertain and distract us from everyday life.” She’s been writing stories since grade school and considers herself incredibly lucky to be able to make a career out of it. Her hope is that readers can get away from their everyday stress through her stories, and if there are occasional uncontrollable fits of laughter, that’s just a big bonus. Visit her official website at www.lynsaysands.net.

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read: 2013
Reread: 3019
A cute LS book! The h sneaks into a bordello house at day, so she can interview the woman. Unfortunately, she's caught by her brother's friend. He kidnaps her so they can talk about her new profession. It takes awhile before he believes the truth.

The story has funny misunderstandings and a very sexy H. This book was a fun story.

[Cheesecake · Rating 2 out of 5]

.
There is another title for this one; 'The Reluctant Reformer'.

I must admit, I am skimming a fair bit of this one.
I wish Maggie would just give him a good slap... she's a bit too doormattish.

OK, so I did finish it. I did skim A LOT though.
Too bad, as I love a story where the H thinks the h is a tramp and has to grovel for his idiocy.
But in this one, he was just an idiot, and well, so was she.
Too many TSTL moments for both of them.

Maggie is on her own after her brother dies over seas saving a friend. She decides to help her income by writing more articles under the pseudonym he used. This leads her to be at a brothel dressed in a negligee and mistaken for an infamous courtesan. The man who does the mistaking, is James who is also the man her brother died saving. He has promised to keep Maggie safe.
He does this by abducting her to his country estate where he can teach her not to be a slutty tart. He of course finds it impossible to do this without wanting to sample her wares himself.

It was just too OTT ridiculous and overdrawn.
When the truth does come out, it was pretty darn delicious. But that was the highlight of the book and yet, it just kept going, and going and going.
Complete with the silly inept villain.

I gotta say, James does a shit job protecting her.

The last part of the book was James being lead around by the nose til he realized his feelings for Maggie, 'cause he's too much of an idiot to figure it out on his own.
I don't mind heroes who are blind to their feelings but James takes it to a whole new level of stupidity.

safety is good he's not really a manho. But he's had temporary flings/mistresses in the past. She is a naive virgin.

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was in the mood for a Historical Romance, and enjoyed many of Lynsay Sands novels so I figured I was safe. I was right! Sure there were times where I thought the Heroine got into trouble just for fun, and it seemed a bit unrealistic that she could so many times, but then I thought, this was a different time, and it was different for woman, so sure, it could happen! lol

As characters go, I really enjoyed Maggie. Her personility was sweet yet strong. She was strong willed and kind. A true lady. It was fun reading along with her.

James was a hit for me. I think I have a thing for strong, mysterious older(not too old! lol) men. When the character is a strong, stern man, and the woman helps him break free, but only for her. I think it's sweet.

This book was an enjoyable read for a winter evening. There was mystery, romance, a bit of horror and many good twists. As historical romances go, it was good. I would have liked another book with the same cast, but this is a stand alone novel, so all is well that ends well, I suppose! If your in the mood for a good historical read, I'd check this book out!

[Addie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Farcical and entertaining comedy of errors

2.75 stars

[Desi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Endearing characters, far-fetched plot with absolutely no regard for the proprieties, kind-hearted relatives and affectionate servants. TSTL heroine who was still likable and a lovely beleaguered hero. Slow in parts but many laugh out loud totally nonsensical situations. A good read.

[Karina Webster · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up.

I enjoyed this but it took a little too long for the ‘secret’ to be revealed and then she hit too many scrapes (near death experiences) for it to be anywhere near realistic 😂🙈

Will try another of her historical romances though :D

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give this one 3 stars. There wasn’t really anything wrong with it and I liked both the hero and heroine, but the romance was a bit lackluster. Not bad, but not really racy either. The characters all behaved very anachronistically and the “mystery” was easy to figure out, but on the whole it was an enjoyable read.


As the book blurb says, James was a friend of Maggie’s late brother. On his deathbed, the brother asked James to look out for Maggie and he agreed, but for some reason when he got back from the war James didn’t actually make contact with Maggie. This was an area of the book that didn’t make a lot of sense, and could have made for some great drama if it had been explored.

Maggie’s brother died saving James’s life, so you’d think that James would feel some amount of survivor’s guilt over this. That could have been a reason why he didn’t seek Maggie out, but rather preferred to watch her from the shadows as a way of fulfilling his promise….but it’s not. Nowhere in the story do we see James feeling any kind of real guilt for the brother’s death. So that went unexplored. Likewise, it would have made perfect sense for Maggie to hold a grudge against James. Her brother was the only family she had left in the world, and now he’s dead in James’s place, leaving her struggling financially. I would expect her to have some misplaced anger toward James for that….but she doesn’t. So the fact that the brother died saving James doesn’t actually have any bearing on the story, which makes me wonder why LS included it at all.

James came back to London and set a PI to follow Maggie around, but the PI apparently doesn’t do a very good job. See, we’re told that Maggie’s brother was an infamous gossip rag writer. Using a pseudonym, he dished all the salacious details on London society in a regular column in the paper. He gave names of people involved in scandalous affairs, uncovered unsavory business practices, and just in general stirred up a hornet’s nest for people.

Maggie inherited her brother’s townhouse in London and all his servants, whom she thinks of a family. She could live comfortably enough in the country if she sold the house and dismissed all the servants but she doesn’t want to do that. So when she learns of her brother’s writing career, she decides to take over his pseudonym. Then, apparently without any trouble or misgivings at all, she just starts dressing like a man and infiltrating men’s clubs and brothels and things in order to get the dirt on people. And the PI had no clue she was doing any of this so he doesn’t really seem to be worth whatever James is paying him.

When this book opens, Maggie is in a brothel, being hidden in the armoire of a prostitute named Maisey. She had apparently been there interviewing all the working girls who happily dished on all their important clients. Maggie is apparently great friends with the Madame, which…how did that happen?? I know the Madame knew Maggie’s brother, but it's not like he introduced them or anything…

Maggie has been dating a Pastor and expects him to propose any day, which she plans to accept. This too, gave me questions, since I had to wonder how Maggie saw her life working out if she married this guy. Would a Pastor’s salary be enough for her to keep the London townhouse and all the servants? Doesn’t seem like it. So, was she expecting to be able to continue her paparazzi activities once she got married? I don’t see how that could possibly have worked out for her. But we’re not supposed to think about that.

It turns out Maisey’s next customer is Maggie’s Pastor. And he likes for the prostitute to pretend to be Maggie during their sex play. He wants to practice his proposal on Maisey, and then afterward likes for her to flog him hard enough to leave welts on his back. He also wants Maisey to dress like Maggie. So Maisey convinces him to leave the room, then asks Maggie if she’d mind switching clothes with her. Maggie wants to get out of the building and for some reason agrees to give Maisey her modest dress in exchange for one of Maisey’s see-through ones. Maisey also gives her a red mask to wear. Then Maggie climbs out the window and shimmies along the ledge to the next room, which is supposed to be empty. Except once inside, Maggie locks eyes with a random woman, then leaves without a word.

Meanwhile, James’s PI has tracked Maggie to the brothel and decided that she must be the infamous Lady X. A mysterious prostitute who is in extremely high demand and always wears a mask during her sessions. Rumor has it that she’s actually a lady from an aristocratic family that has fallen on hard times, forcing her to anonymously sell her body, while she tries to maintain her public respectability. James has the PI grab Maggie and then spirits her to his estate in the country. Then we get a few rather eye-rolling days of conversations where everyone talks about things without anyone making any clear statements so that the Big Misunderstanding can go on. Maggie assumes that James has discovered that she’s this gossip writer, which is reputation-ruining if anyone were to find out. Especially considering all the things she’s done in order to get her gossip. But she feels like he’s being overbearing about the whole thing and that, as an adult, she has the right to do what she wants. And, she tells James, she actually finds the work to be exciting and enjoyable.

James, meanwhile, thinks that she’s discussing prostitution all throughout this and is completely astonished at how shamelessly she describes having sex with random men for money as being exciting and enjoyable. He has trouble reconciling these statements with the woman he thought her to be, based on her brother’s opinion of her and the letters Maggie used to send her brother during the war, which he read aloud to his friends. But at the same time, he’s also cripplingly attracted to Maggie and desperate to get her into bed, though he tries to restrain himself.

Meanwhile, James and Maggie discover that they have a lot in common and bond over a shared love of books. Then passion gets the better of them and they start making out in the library with James gushing over how she’s so talented even though she’s got no idea what she’s doing. Just as things are getting going, however, James’s aunt walks in. She accuses James of taking advantage of an innocent and James protests that she’s not innocent…just as his PI runs in and explains that he got it all wrong and Maggie is not Lady X after all.

Maggie is outraged and storms out. She’s hurt that James thought she was a prostitute, though she admits that it was a forgivable conclusion for him to reach, given how she was dressed when they met. But she’d started to have feelings for him and now realizes that he was just looking for a good time. The aunt give Maggie a ride back to London and they bond on the trip.

Back at home, Maggie’s Pastor proposes but she rejects him, now that she knows what he gets up to in the brothels. James is trying desperately to apologize to her and resorts to stalking her after she returns all his letters. On one occasion he has to yank her out of the way of a speeding carriage that almost runs her over. But after saving her life she still slams the door in his face, so James resorts to deception and sends her an invitation to visit his aunt. She accepts and heads over but then someone pushes her in front of another carriage and she cracks her head on the street. Lucky for her, the carriage manages to stop in time and they carry her to James’s aunt’s house. Once she comes-to she realizes that James lied in order to get her there and takes off. He follows her and then they hear a shot. James tackles her and says that someone just tried to kill her. She scoffs at this, even when he shows her the bullet hole in her hat.

He insists that she’s in danger, and most likely because of her work as the gossip writer, so he wants her to stop. She tells him where to jump, but does more or less forgive him for the Lady X business. A few days later, Maggie is home alone when she’s attacked by a burly man with a scar on his face. He beats her unconscious, then sets fire to the house and leaves. Lucky for her, James had set his PI to following her again so the PI saves her.

Maggie is taken to James’s aunt’s house to recuperate. After a few weeks she’s feeling better and then accidentally drops her brain out the window because she gets a letter from Maisey, the prostitute from earlier, letting her know that there’s a scandalous sex party happening later that night and she’ll get some great gossip if she goes and she doesn’t even hesitate. At the party, she’s met by a masked woman claiming to be Maisey, but then locked in a room. Then through the keyhole Maggie sees the scarred man approaching and grabs a heavy object and bashes him over the head with it when he enters. Meanwhile the PI has tipped off James and he helps her escape. Once back at the aunt’s house, James starts berating Maggie for being so careless with her life. This turns into them having sex on the library desk. They’ve only just finished and are still, erm, engaged, when the aunt bursts in with one of her friends.

James says that he’ll marry Maggie, but she protests that she doesn’t want that. She’d hate for him to marry someone he didn’t love. James scoffs and says that love doesn’t exist but they have shared interests and passion which makes them better off than most couples. Maggie is depressed but not really given much of a choice. A few weeks go by with wedding plans being made but Maggie feels separate from it all. Then she decides to seduce James in the library again, so next time he comes over she just pounces on him. He resists for half a second because his sister is there to meet Maggie but then just gives in. And, since this pair have apparently never heard of door locks, they get walked in on again, this time by the aunt and the sister. But don’t worry, everyone’s fine with it and afterward Maggie goes and has tea with the sister where they become fast friends.

Moving on, one of the first thing James does as her fiance is to force her to resign as the gossip writer. He also has the PI post guards on her, to keep her from getting herself killed. So naturally that means Maggie has to misplace her brain again and sneak out. What was so pressing that she had to run off even after 4 increasingly violent attempts on her life? She wants to talk to the Madame to find out whether what she felt towards James is actually love. Why she thinks an elderly prostitute would be the perfect person to discuss this with I can’t guess, but LS needed a way to get Maggie back into danger so this is it.

The Madame tells Maggie that she IS in love with James and that he’s probably in love with her too but just afraid to admit it. Maggie feels better but then decides to dash on up to Maisey’s room to explain why she’d disappeared the night of the sex party, which didn’t make any sense to me. Why wouldn’t she have assumed that it was Maisey who was trying to kill her? Or at least an accomplice to the attempt? But, like I said, Maggie misplaced her brain before leaving the house so she can’t be held responsible. Anyway, Maisey tells her that she’s nuts, she didn’t send her a letter about a sex party and didn’t meet her anywhere.

Maggie leaves and then gets snatched into a carriage and rendered unconscious for the fourth time in the book so far. Lucky for her, her butler has been following her. He saw her get snatched and followed the carriage to the docks, then sent a boy off to tell James of the location before getting caught himself. So just as James arrives at his aunt’s house and is told that Maggie is missing, the boy turns up with the info they need. He sets off with the PI and one of his men and there are 3 buildings to search so they split up.

Inside, Maggie’s kidnapper is revealed to be the infamous Lady X, who happened to be that woman Maggie locked eyes with that first night in the brothel. She was afraid Maggie would reveal her identity in her gossip column so now Maggie has to die. James arrives and Maggie’s afraid he’ll get hurt so she lunges for the gun and is shot in the chest. James is devastated and takes her to a doctor-friend. She tells James she loves him, then passes out. Days later she wakes up, apparently having come through a fever. James isn’t there because the friend forced him to go home to sleep and eat. The friend tells Maggie that James loves her, but that she should be aware that he might not be ready to admit it.

Two weeks later, Maggie has apparently made a frankly astonishing and miraculous recovery because she’s showing absolutely no signs of being weakened by her recent ordeal. They’re standing before the preacher saying their vows and Maggie is thinking about how cold and aloof James has been. He’s hardly spent any time with her since she woke up, and when he did he was distant. She feels miserable and he looks miserable. So when she’s asked to say “I do” she instead says that no, she won’t marry him. She loves him too much to make him miserable for the rest of his life. James is shocked and thoughtlessly announces to the whole church that she could be carrying his child at that moment. Then she runs out and he pulls her into a carriage. There he finally admits that he does love her. That he’d been so terrified of losing her and the pain it would cause him that he’d been trying to hold himself separate from her but when she refused to marry him just now, he realized how stupid that was. Then they start having sex in the carriage, even though there’s a whole church full of people looking on. The end.

Overall it was decent, if a bit predictable and light on emotion. James’s character seemed kind of ill-defined to me. He didn’t show any signs of being affected by his time in the war. Not the death and killing that happened around him, nor his best friend taking a bullet meant for him. You’d expect that kind of stuff to have a lasting impact on a man, but it wasn’t even a blip on his radar. Likewise, we weren’t given much in the way of background to explain why James would be so convinced that love didn’t exist. It was mentioned once or twice that his parents had died and that had been the last time he cried, but it didn’t really get explored or fleshed out into something you could believe was a driving force in his life.

Maggie was a bit unbelievable too, with how completely cavalier she was with her reputation in a time where she’d have found herself a complete outcast who couldn’t even earn a living if she’d been found out. And she really ought to tie a string around that brain of hers so she doesn't lose it so often...



All in all, it was a fun, if rather safe and predictable beach read that didn’t get too caught up in exploring drama or deep feelings.

[Ashton Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve learned to go into a Sands book knowing it’ll be ridiculous and the heroine will probably be TSTL. Now that I have those expectations, I know what mood to be in when picking up her books so that enjoy them rather than be annoyed.

[Candace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lady Margaret "Maggie" Wentworth is also known as G. W. Clark, the adventurist writer for the Daily Express. The article she is researching is about the working girls at a London brothel. Madame Dubarry gets a crazy idea. Maggie can witness for her article Maisey (prostitute) and her customer. Maisey's customer is none other than Pastor Frances, the man Maggie thought would propose to her. She climbs out of the cabinet, switches dresses with Maisey, then climbs out the window and walks along the ledge toward Lady X's (supposedly a member of the nobility turned prostitute) window by mistake. Entering through the window, Maggie puts on the red mask Maisey gave her and exists the room. A hand covers her mouth. Her assailant lifts her off her feet and carries her out of the brothel.

James Huttledon, Lord Ramsey, is interrupted from his reading by Johnstone, a Bow Street runner. Johnstone tells him that Maggie has entered a brothel. Furthermore, Johnstone hypothesizes that it would explain how Maggie got her money. After all, Lady X is reported to be a member of the nobility who has fallen on hard times. James is shocked and determined to rescue the girl from a life of prostitution. He promised her dying brother he would look after her. Arriving at the brothel, Johnstone arranges a half-hour session with Lady X. While they wait, James and Johnstone concoct a plan to get Maggie out of the brothel. Satisfied with their plan, James enters the hallway. He turns when he sees Lord Hastings coming down the hallway. Learning earlier that Lord Hastings had been with Lady X, James walks down the hall just in time to see Lady X back out of her room. James clasps his hand over the woman's mouth and carries her out of the brothel and into his carriage.

This is a case of misunderstandings. Maggie and James think each other's assumption is correct. Luckily, James's aunt, Lady Barlow, straightens out the misunderstandings. Then there are the accidents happening to Maggie, and after each one Maggie says to herself, "Only you, Maggie." A comment her brother, Gerald, would say to her after each mess she would get herself into. The subplots are neatly tied into the plot. The mystery of who the villain is keeps the reader's interest. Of course, the romance between the hero and heroine takes center stage. The growth between the main characters is satisfactory. Another good read by Lynsay Sands.

[Johanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was really pleasant and easy to read. Nothing extremely special but still entertaining.

Characters had their own voices but I can't say if Maggie was really realistic. I like historical books and that was the thing I liked most in this book. I felt the atmosphere and the writing made it alive.

There was also a tiny mystery as a side plot but it wasn't extremely brilliant. It wasn't really intriguing or believable.

[Billie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, gracious. The cliches were thick on this one. We have:

1. A big misunderstanding that could be cleared up with a conversation.

2. A heroine who is constantly putting herself in dangerous situations and who sustains a head injury just about every other page.

3. A childless, slightly eccentric, beloved aunt.

4. Lots of dead parents.

5. A villain with questionable motivations. (Like, really? That made you murder-y?)

But, it was fun, in a throwback kind of way.

[Danielle Levi · Rating 1 out of 5]

This lady is an idiot.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maggie's brother died at war, leaving her a house but not enough income to support it and all the servants she considers family. To earn money, she continues writing his investigative articles for the newspaper. While interviewing prostitutes at a brothel she sees the man she expects to marry. So that he doesn't see her, she escapes out the window wearing a mask and one of the prostitutes gowns. James promised her dying brother to look after her. He thinks she's the notorious prostitute, Lady X, so to save her from gossip he kidnaps her to his country estate. She's scared and furious but soon realizes James is a friend of her brother's and has good intentions. But what about the attempts being made on her life? Who wants her dead? There are many funny moments but also some strange ones too. First having to get over that James KIDNAPS HER TWICE, also he seems to think it's normal to have his penis out in front of his aunt. It happens more than once. He needs to learn to lock the door. Another is the poor girl hits her head/gets slammed in the head A LOT. After all this they take an inordinate amount of time to decide that they're in love.

[Juliana · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok. This book was published in 2002, so it has some problems but nothing crazily major. I liked the character, but I had a problem with the pacing. I don't know why but I was boring for a good part of the book, and I think that some parts were irrelevant to the main plot.
In terms of the romance, I enjoyed the relationship that was developed. Also, I really loved the ending, which made this a 3 stars book. I like the uniqueness of every character, and how the two main characters learned to love each other. But I would have enjoyed it a little bit more if they had spent more time alone, just talking to each other. It felt similar to an instant-love story, where the romance and relationship were unnecessarily rushed.
I loved how it was explained that prostitution isn't something that should be solely blamed on women, but it's a social issue. The fact that at that time (and now), many women were pushed into prostitution to make a living, is more a reflection of the type of society that they were living in and nothing to do with their individual character and decisions.
I love the writing style of this author, so I'll be reading more of her books. Perhaps something more recently.

[Севдалина · Rating 5 out of 5]

Лейди Маги Уентуърд и Лорд Джеймс

📣🚨🛑РЕВЮ СЪДЪРЖАЩО СПОЙЛЕРИ🛑🚨📣

Тази книга я четох под името:A Lady in Disguise

След смъртта на брат й на бойн��то поле, Лейди Маги Уентуърд губи парите и дома си, които са обвързани с титлата на брат й. Единственото което й остава е огромната му къща в най-скъпият квартал на Лондон, и огромна прислуга, която е служила на семейството й откакто се помни. Малкото наследство оставено от майка й, не е достатъчно да подържа дома и прислугата, а тя отказва да ги уволни, затова щом разбира, че брат й е водил двойнствен живот и е пишел статии за вестник под чуждо име, тя решава, че да се представя за него. Когато обаче решава да пише статия, за най-известният публичен дом в града, няма представа колко коренно ще се промени живота й.

Лорд Джеймс е дал клетва. Когато близк негов привтел умира, спасявайки живота му на бойното поле, той се заклева да защитава и закриля сестрата на приятеля си. Скоро след като се връща в Англия, той наема детектив, който да разбере, от къде лейди Маги печели пари, за да издържа огромен дом и куп прислуга. Резултата то разследването на бегача от боу стрийт е ужасяващо. Лейди Маги, е известната проститутка Лейди Х. Жена от висшето общество, която носи маска и си изкарва прехраната с най-древната професия. Джеймс смята, че е негов дълг да спаси Маги от грешните избори, които е направила, и разбира се, най-логично му се вижда това, да я отвлече от бордея.

Казвала съм го преди, ще го кажа и сега, Линзи Сандс пише адски забавни книги. Представете си следната ситуация. Джеймс говори на Маги, колко грешна професия си е избрала, като се старае да не изрича на глас думата проститутка. Обяснява й, как може да направи куп други неща, че не бива да се принизява, все пак е дама, и че със сигурност не може да й харесва да върши това, което върши. А през това време, Маги си мисли, че Джеймс знае, че е писателка на колконка във вестник, милата няма и идея, че той я мисли за проститутка и му обяснява, как се чувства задоволена от това, което върши. Как да, понякога й е трудно, и да понякога й идва в повече, но все пак обича да върши работата си. Имаше една сцена, в която Маги се превъзнасяше, че в началото й било трудно, но все пак свикнала, как харесвала различните аспекти и предизвикателствата на работата... Джеймс буквално беше пред инфаркт. И като страничен наблюдател, който знае че говорят за различни неща, без да ги осъзнават, просто се смях до сълзи.

Откаченото държание на героите в различни моменти, също допринасяше за цялото изживяване по време на книгата. Героите ни попадаха в какви ли не комични ситуации. От висене на перваза от третия етаж на къщата, през доста компрометираща ситуация в която главния бе забелязан скрит под полите на главната героиня, до спипването им в доста сюблимен момент. Типично за Линзи имахме и враг, който опитваше да убие Маги. Почти на края се досетих кой е убиеца и какви са подбудите му. Тъй че това беше типичната страхотна книга от Линзи Сандс и съм супер доволна, че можах да й се насладя със страхотен дублаж от Джъстийн Еър. Препоръчвам горещо. <3

[Anne Z. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed loudly in my car while listening to this a few times and again when I walked into work listening its very last 3 minutes. A book that can keep you entertained throughout most certainly deserves praise. I LOVED this one!

A Lady in Disguise had everything I was looking for in a book, a little it of adventure, some mystery, some suspense, a swoon worthy romance, and some very steamy scenes.

Maggie is not what she appears to be or you would expect. She has seen a lot by masquerading as someone else and writing risque articles. Obviously she has to research for those and she puts herself in quite a bit of trouble and some hilarious predicaments while doing so. James and Maggie's paths cross in one of those said predicaments. It was bad enough he thought she was working as a prostitute.

James is a noble man, even if a bit uptight. When he meets Maggie he is so focus on protecting his dead friend's sister he doesn't stop to ask or wonder if she is actually working as a prostitute. All he sees is a problem he has to fix even if she drives him mad with desire.

I seriously could not stop listening to this. The banter going on between them, the chemistry, the side characters... all of it was absolute perfection. And the ending? the ending was perfect, swoon worthy, and hilarious!

And as a closing note--> I have never been a big historical romance reader, but now that I get a few goodies with Libro.fm I might just turn into one. It is so much easier to listen to them than it is to read. Keep that in mind if you are new to sub-genre!

"Hmm. Love of books, love on books, love among books."
will just leave this here... use your imagination! :)

[Britta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maggie is just doing her job. She's a journalist. Well ... she has been ever since her brother died and left her the pen name of G.W. Clark.

Maggie's latest article is a piece on the working girls of one of London's houses of ill repute. Maggie is interviewing one girl when a client of that girl comes in. It's Maggie's beau and the local pastor. In an attempt to get Maggie out of the room (and the wardrobe she's hidden in), the girl changes dresses with Maggie and gives her a mask. Maggie sets off on the outside ledge of the building and hops into the next window she comes across.

There she is accosted by a stranger, bound up in his cape and stolen away from the brothel.

James has rescued Maggie at last. After having her followed for days, he has discovered that she is Lady X (a well-to-do Lady about the ton who has fallen on hard times). Now he must save her from herself. He had, after all, promised her ding brother (his companion in war) to watch over the chit.

But what will happen when they get back to his home in the country? And what will Maggie think of him when she realizes who he thinks she is? Will Lord James ever find out if she is in fact Lady X?

And who's trying to kill Maggie!?!

Not one of Lynsay Sands's best books (it seems I do not appreciate her Regency London novels as much as other people) but it's a good read. I would have finished it fast (it took me a week) but I had bronchitis and a sinus infection and I wasn't into reading ... I was into sleeping.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don’t judge a grocery store romance by the cover - this was a great read! Honestly this is the first historical romance I could get through, probably due to the freedom Maggie enjoys to move about daily life without escorts and baby sitters - though of course this is because her whole family has died.

Some portions in the beginning seemed repetitive, as both Maggie and James are a bit too hotheaded to just have a conversation thus drawing out their frustration and the case of mistaken identity. Thankfully James has a spunky Aunt Viv who shows up at inopportune times and speaks her mind. Also thankfully before James takes full advantage of her assuming she’s a prostitute.

Because of Maggie’s clandestine reporting, her life is endangered. And despite James ability to discover the details of Maggie’s inheritance and insurance benefits, he and his men are incapable of realizing Maggie is being stalked, much less who is behind the continued threats to her life.

Though the number of times Maggie sustains a head injury is quite disturbing. 😂 Is she ok?

[HR-ML · Rating 1 out of 5]

Regency England. DNF at nearly mid-way. A silly
story. The BIG MISUNDERSTANDING.

Self-righteous Lord James assumed Lady Maggie was
a bawdy woman b/c of the venue where he found her
and her see -through clothing. Maddie had switched
outfits w/ a working girl. Why? Maggie had enough
nerve for 2 woman. But did Maggie have enough 'gray
matter' to investigate social issues & submit articles
to the Daily Express as her late bro had? Her brother,
James & Robert had been soldiers together.

We know her type of h. She ran away w/o a plan, w/o
a direction, w/o provisions, w/o proper clothing (for
the elements), w/o funds. She left her brain behind.
But by gosh she'd use her wits (??!!) to return to
London from the country home of the H.

Perhaps this author & I have a compatibility issue?
I prefer a smart heroine.

[Netha · Rating 4 out of 5]

cerita yg bikin aq gemes2 gimanaaa gitu bacanya...gemes2 ngelus dada
secara ke 2 tokohnya sukanya ngomong pake bahasa isyarat menurut pendapat mereka masing2 yg akhirnya hanya menjadi kesalah pahaman yg panjang karna ditanggap menurut pendapat mereka sendiri2.
makanya kalo ngomong tuhh yg jelas.....sukanya kok ngomong puter2.

[Norma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Lady In Disguise Is a fun and funny read. If you love historical romance novels. Pick up this book and follow Lady Maggie Wentworth and Lord James Ramsey's adventures toward true love and happiness.

[Keri · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few Lucille Ball-esk moments had me laughing out loud.

[Lenna Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF- Tiredly writing this review
First chapter alone we swapped from Maggie to James POV over a dozen of times in 24 pages. Truthfully I love Sands’ Vampire series and have never had a problem reading them but this is the first one I’ve read of her other category of romance and I didn’t get into the story, just no connection for me. I skipped around but it’s not a memorable story.

[Hailey Siedel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Lynsay Sands but this one I just had a hard time connecting to. I didn’t really feel the emotions. I did like the mistaken identity, the drama, the angst, the servants and side characters!

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
🌶️.75/5

[Reni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mmmm, not what I expected of a Lynsay Sands novel. I found it a little boring and repetitive at times.

[Nat · Rating 1 out of 5]

meh

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

read this ironically

[C.W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty cute story. But for a “bright” woman, she made some stupid decisions. Fortunately, there were a lot of good parts and the ending was cute.

[Antonella · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was not bad; the story or characters or writing. I was just not into it. I got bored than I started skipping just to get to the end. Oh well...

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Typical Sands.
Funny beginning. Gregarious characters.
Good rapport b/w Maggie & James.