Reluctant Masquerade by Henrietta Reid

 

For about half of this book, I thought this was going to be great. It had a modern feel for something published in the 1960s and I thought the heroine had a nice bit of attitude to her. The premise is super silly, though, and as one reviewer pointed out, it would never work in the age of the chronically online. Basically, the heroine likes to play dress-up in upscale department stores by trying on clothes she can't afford. The hero sees her in her favorite shop and is shocked that she looks like his dead fiancee; so he frames her for shoplifting so he can blackmail her into posing as said fiancee so he can inherit the fiancee's money.

A quick Google search could have fixed that.

I don't care that it's dated. I care that it feels... very unromantic. This is one of those books where the H and the h have zero chemistry. Even twenty pages from the end, Rex still felt incredibly patronizing towards Della. I would probably honestly give this a one for the romance, but I'm boosting a star because of the gothic-adjacent vibes, the Irish castle setting, and the beautiful writing. I love a book that delivers on the weird family drama, as you probably know if you're familiar with my work, and this book had that in spades.

Also, it's the sixties so everyone's smoking left and right LOL.

1.5 to 2 out of 5 stars