Lady Sophia Barnes, daughter of a marquess and bluestocking extraordinaire, has made it her life mission to help women without recourse: whether prostitutes or servants, she will do everything in her power to help them, all the while going about her business disguised as a man. One evening of February 1820, after one of her protégées goes missing, she surmises only one man can help her: Damien Beecham, Viscount Quint. It's a bit tricky as she rebuffed him three years previous, but when she hears he is at death's door, she is determined to save his life, which she does, only he never knew. A few months later Sophie, as Lady Sophia is commonly known, again comes knocking at Quint's door, this time with a most outrageous proposal.

THE LADY HELLION is a fabulous, wonderful book! Quint and Sophie have a friendly relationship; both have come to terms that they will never marry, for different reasons, and there lies the beauty of the story and where the remarkable character development plays a significant part. Both Quint and Sophie have secrets which add many layers to the already fascinating main characters. Sophie is a formidable woman: she is a true bluestocking, and not a poor excuse from the author in order to explain her unconventional behaviour. Sophie's heart is in what she does, she is brave, reckless even; she is full of life and ebullient. Sophie is a superb heroine, the kind little girls dream of being. Quint is known as an eccentric; he's a recluse with a brilliant mind and Sophie is a perfect intellectual match for him, which he appreciates. It is also refreshing that Quint is neither a rake nor a rogue, but he is most definitely a brooding hero, and it is totally relevant to the story arc.

THE LADY HELLION is built upon a very clever premise, and Ms. Shupe crafts an exciting and meticulously researched story fraught with suspense, startling plots twists, combined with frissons of sexual tension, and a beautiful, tender love story, and what an ending! The fictional world in which THE LADY HELLION takes place is depicted so realistically that I didn't feel as if I were outside looking in but rather as if I had been transported to 1820. Joanna Shupe's prose is exquisitely simple and quietly elegant, yet very evocative and I'm positive the dialogues reflect precisely how people conversed at that time; the conversations are not stiff but sound entirely natural. THE LADY HELLION is absolutely terrific!