[This review is kind of pointless, because the e-book appears to no longer be available and is essentially "out of print." But reviewing it made me feel a bit better, and now I can move on to something else.]

The writing was okay, if bland. I only noticed a couple typos/misused words. Unfortunately, this still managed to be a completely and utterly terrible book.

When Lady Annabella's mother tells her that she's being sent to her stepbrother, Grey, the Sixth Duke of Wyndham, in order to spend the Season in London and find a suitable husband, Annabella throws a fit (no, really – despite being almost 21, she has a tantrum and breaks things). Later, Annabella concocts a plan to send Juliet, her maid, in her place. Grey hasn't seen Annabella since she was a child, but Juliet does such a terrible job of pretending to be Annabella that he realizes something's going on almost immediately. Since Annabella's great aunts insist that Juliet is who she says she is, Grey sends a friend to investigate the situation and find the real Annabella. This frees him up to take “Annabella” to parties and give her presents and to look into troublesome evidence that Annabella's mother is siphoning off the family's money.

There are two ways that some parts of this story might have been saved, or at least made less horrible, and both would have involved changes early on in the book.

One, Juliet could have been much better at pretending to be Annabella, good enough to truly fool Grey. Although this wouldn't have been very believable, at least Grey's later anger at Juliet's deception would have made more sense.

Two, Juliet could have told Grey her true identity early on. The authors would then have had to figure out a reason for Juliet to continue the ruse. Perhaps she had already been introduced to several nobles as “Annabella,” and Grey didn't think he could send her away without embarrassing his family. I don't know – every explanation I can think of is pretty flimsy. But it would have allowed Grey and Juliet to fret about their cross-class romance without the enormous unresolved issue that was “Juliet might be a con artist.”

Unfortunately, Springsteen and Bowman tried to combine elements of both paths, and it just made the characters look stupid. Juliet spent most of the book thinking that Grey really did believe she was Annabella, even though he told her several times that he did not. Grey knew early on that Juliet was not Annabella, but he did almost nothing to try to find out her true identity. Grey's inaction became even harder to believe once he learned that Annabella's mother might be stealing from him, since, for all he knew, Annabella and Juliet were part of the plan. And yet, instead of confronting Juliet, he continued to marvel over her beauty, take her to parties, and give her several expensive dresses and his mother's pearls. That doesn't even vaguely make sense.

By the end of the book, Annabella is still missing. I'm guessing this was meant to inspire readers to race to pick up the second book, Something Like a Lady, which tells her story. Even if it were still available ($43 to get the paperback edition via Amazon Marketplace doesn't count), I wouldn't touch it. Annabella was a spoiled little monster who, when she was ten years old, bit Grey's finger at their parents' wedding. At nearly 21 years old, she threw a tantrum worthy of a toddler. She left Juliet to be found out and possibly fired, even though she and Juliet were supposedly best friends. Why in the world would I want to read a romance novel starring someone like that?

I wasn't expecting much from A Lot Like a Lady. I'm not a history buff, and I can put up with a certain amount of silliness. However, I at least expect the main characters to be able to follow along with the story and react in ways that make sense. This book was a complete failure in that regard.

Extras:

An author's note, which discusses the historical basis for the dancing portions of the book. The references section includes seven resources, two of which were books (Jane Austen for Dummies and Georgette Heyer's Regency World) and five of which were websites (including Wikipedia and a free online dictionary). I was not impressed.

(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

Author: Kay Springsteen and Kim Bowman
Published by: Astraea Press
Age Recommended: Adult
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Book Blog For: GMTA
Rating: 5

Review:

"A Lot Like A Lady" By Kay Springsteen and Kim Bowman was like a true story coming to life in this Regency, mystery, historical and romantic setting between Juliet and Grey along with characters that were so well developed and the humorous cast of secondary characters were simply off the chart good. We find this story is in the 19th century English where it seems like everything comes to life in this read. These authors really knew how to present the reader with some well written material that only made this novel a excellent read. This is very interesting read with the maid is pretending to be someone she is not and the Duke fall madly in love with her...and so the story only picks up giving you a very good style of read. I really enjoyed how the authors were able to put together this male's emotional journey for a woman that was outside of his social class. This was simply a fascinating story that will keep you turning pages until the end.

If you like historical romances with some mystery you will enjoy "A Lot Like A Lady." Would I recommend this novel? YES! ( )