Fool's Masquerade

I've read the other reviews and have to agree with them both, more or less. What makes this book and story stand out as one of the better Regencies to me is the characters. I like them both very much. I like their innate honesty when dealing with each other (the disguise aside) and I like that Valentine is the first to be aware of her feelings and not the other way around. It's very refreshing to have a hero that is not enthralled with the heroine in a Regency. It's like a breath of fresh air since, to my mind, that is the way that life is as well. The fact that her grandparents actually doted on her was a bit of a stretch to the storyline for me, but didn't detract much. I highly recommend this story because of it's freshness and overall happy tone. No major mysteries here, but a good solid romance nonetheless.

When Valentine's father dies, rather than go to her estranged grandparents she prefers to hit the open road (in disguise as a boy, naturally, thus the title) relying on her talent with horses to get by. She winds up working for Diccon Leyburn, an extremely charismatic and feudal-type lord and it is there that our story really begins. While this is the usual girl-disguised-as-boy type romance that we have seen since Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (which is quoted as chapter openers throughout the book), Joan Wolf does a great job re-telling this type of tale. Valentine doesn't lose her sense of humour or, more importantly, her backbone although she has come down with a serious case of hero-worship. Diccon, despite the feudal tendencies and some idiosyncrasies regarding Richard III, can also display quite a sense of humour himself and is more than adequate as our hero. One of my favorite Joan Wolf regencies, I highly recommend this one.