Miss Angela Lacewood had resigned herself to a quiet, solitary life in the country before Lord Lucius (also known as Lord Lucifer for his quick temper, solitary nature, tendency to stalk around at night, and the black mask that covers most of his face) strikes a deal with her. In exchange for a much-sought after commission for her brother, Angela will pretend to be Lucius' fiancee to please his dying grandfather, of whom Angela is also quite fond. To make the old earl happy in his final months (Angela initially rejects the commission for her brother), Angela agrees to carry off the charade with the intent of breaking off the engagement after the earl has passed on. As Angela and Lucius grow to know one another, however, will they want to break off their engagement?
What can I say, I have a suddenly intense weakness for scarred heroes. I therefore liked the character of Lucius, although I wish that he would just tear off his mask once in a while if not for anything more than dramatic effect! Having never seen his wounds, I have no idea how horrible they might be, but as one reviewer mentioned, so many soldiers were returning with scars, missing limbs, etc, and non-combattants also had pock marks, missing teeth, etc. Perhaps the mask was a reflection of his vanity - after all, he had been exceptionally handsome before Waterloo, and perhaps he did not want others to see how much he had changed in regards to looks. Perhaps the mask was a way of escape - perhaps his soul was tortured enough inside to want to block out the world in any way possible, including putting on a mask. I don't know, but the mask thing gave the book a mystery about it that I enjoyed. I, for one, have no qualms about a heroine potentially falling in love with a masked man - it's rather dashing, in my opinion. If the hero is masked, then the heroine has no choice but to fall in love with the person, rather than the looks! :)
At any rate, I liked the character of Angela. She was sweet and kind, although a bit too meek for my tastes. Angela and Lucius went well together, sparring and all. In his heart, Lucius wanted Angela to find happiness, even if that meant she didn't end up with him, and that was noble, if not frustrating to some extent. For the last 50 pages, I really just felt like thwacking Lucius on the side of the head. The story could have wrapped up 50 pages or so before it did, and I would have been happy, but there was yet another subplot to rear its not-so-attractive head. Sometimes there felt as if there was too much going on at any particular time, as if additional subplots were thrown in to keep the story going.
Nevertheless, I did enjoy this book greatly, so much so in fact that I stayed up late to finish the book because I couldn't bear to put it down! Despite a few minor flaws, the plot was good, and I never get tired of another retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast story, especially when it involves engaging characters such as Angela and Lucius. This book earned four stars in my opinion, and a place on my "keepers" shelf!
