Ten years ago, lies destroyed Lady Margaret Neeley's
reputation. Even the man she loved and thought she would
marry, Simon Barret, Earl of Winchester, turned his back
on her in her time of need. Maggie, shunned by Society
then dubbed the Half-Irish Harlot, married a much older
man with whom she was not happy. During her unfortunate
marriage, she cultivated her talent for drawing and
painting. Simon, now a successful politician, sees his
political future compromised by caricatures from a
certain Lemarc. Lemarc is Maggie's nom de plume; she has
been successful at hiding her secret identity and has
even managed to build quite a reputation as the elusive
Lemarc, the mysterious male artist whose secret is known
by only three people. Throughout the years, Maggie has tried
her best to avoid Simon, and as they did not frequent the
same circles, it was an easy task as polite society
never readmitted Maggie in their midst.
THE HARLOT COUNTESS is book two in the Wicked
Deceptions series, and although characters and
events from the first instalment are mentioned, THE
HARLOT COUNTESS can easily be read as a standalone. Ms.
Shupe has crafted a compelling study of Regency mores in
THE HARLOT COUNTESS, and made Maggie's bitterness and
anger ring so true it hurts. Maggie is a wonderfully
complex and interesting character, and I thought it was
easy to understand her attitude, unfortunately so was it
for Simon. Ms. Shupe's prose is elegant and refined and
her attention to detail is superlative.
THE HARLOT COUNTESS is a very entertaining book, fast-
paced and well-researched, but however much I liked
everything else, I found the rekindled romance a tad hard
to digest because of Simon's behaviour, past and present,
towards Maggie. Do not let not a legendary pet peeve of
mine deter anyone from reading THE HARLOT COUNTESS. The
story is captivating, the writing is superlative, and I
much appreciate Ms. Shupe's perceptive understanding of
what women had to endure in those times.
Maggie, Lady Hawkins, had a debut she'd rather forget--along
with her first
marriage. Today, the political cartoonist is a new woman. A
thoroughly
modern woman. So much so that her clamoring public believes
she's a man...
FACT: Drawing under a male pseudonym, Maggie is known as
Lemarc. Her
(his!) favorite object of ridicule: Simon Barrett, Earl of
Winchester. He's a rising
star in Parliament--and a former confidant and love interest
of Maggie's who
believed a rumor that vexes her to this day.
FICTION: Maggie is the Half-Irish Harlot who seduced her
best friend's
husband on the eve of their wedding. She is to be feared and
loathed as she
will lift her skirts for anything in breeches.
Still crushed by Simon's betrayal, Maggie has no intention
of letting the ton
crush her as well. In fact, Lemarc's cartoons have made Simon a
laughingstock...but now it appears that Maggie may have been
wrong about
what happened years ago, and that Simon has been secretly
yearning for her
since...forever. Could it be that the heart is mightier than
the pen and the
sword after all?
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