Once Upon a Maiden Lane by Elizabeth HoytMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Poor Mary Whitsun, she grows up in a school for orphans and becomes a nanny to Lord and Lady Caire. Then one day she is minding her own business, browsing a in book store, when a member of the nobility starts calling her sweetheart and mocking her for being in a book store.
It turns out that the noble in question, Henry Collins, Viscount Blackwell has mistaken Mary for Lady Johanna Albright, his fiancee. But here the plot thickens, Lady Joanna had an older sister who was kidnapped and never found, it was this older sister that should have been engaged to Viscount Blackwell.
The Albrights believe Mary to be their long-lost sister/ daughter and quickly bring her under their wings. Her days go from the nursery to learning to dance and being fitted for more dresses than she has ever owned. All the while, the dashing, charming Viscount Blackwell is beside her murmuring that they will soon be wed.
But just when things are looking good for Mary she is the victim of a series of attempts on her life - or is it on Henry's life? And then the unthinkable occurs, another girl appears claiming that SHE is the lost Albright daughter.
Oh, how shallow am I? I complain that all historicals are about lord this and lady that, then when the story is about Mary Whitsun I'm a bit meh, she's a servant. Also, I felt it was vaguely wrong for a member of the nobility to have sex with Mary, especially when it appears that she is not the lost Albright daughter. Not being a virgin would be catastrophic for a young working class woman, especially if she became pregnant, much more than for a woman of rank. It made me uncomfortable.
Anyhoo, a pleasant enough historical romance for Mary Whitsun, full of lost heirs and childhood betrothals.
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