Customer Reviews

The Counterfeit Countess (Zebra Historical Romance)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Edward, the Earl of Warwick, awakened to shouting in his home. Upon locating the source he met Maggie. She claimed to be the widow of the Earl of Warwick, just arrived from America. Edward gently informed Maggie that her late husband, Lawrence Henshaw, had never been a titled gentleman. In fact, Lawrence left England just in time to avoid the hangman's noose. Lawrence had been a traitor to the Crown. Edward informed his superior, in the Foreign Office, about his unexpected visitors and was instructed to keep an eye on Maggie at all times. After all, Maggie could be a spy or Lawrence may have left her something of importance to England.

Maggie Peabody Henshaw had no idea that her countess title had been yet another lie by "The Scoundrel". This bit of news implied that she was now penniless, stuck in London, and responsible for the welfare of her sister and maid. She had no choice but to accept the Earl's help. Maggie needed to marry well, and quickly, if they were to survive. Edward persuaded Maggie to stay at Warwick Manor. Her story was to be that she had married the old Earl shortly before his death and was staying with the new Earl for awhile. During that time, she could search out a husband. She did not know that Edward was only helping her so he could keep an eye on her.

Both Maggie and Edward were attracted to one another. However, Edward was already pledged to Lady Fiona in Yorkshire and Maggie had several men vying for her hand in marriage. Then the attacks on Maggie began...

***** Readers, that is as much as I can say without giving anything vital away. This story is full of romance and suspense. The author, Cheryl Bolen, has added some enticing sub-plots that kept me glued to the book. Within this pages you will find danger, betrayal, many suspects, romance, and some delightful secondary characters that I pray to see have their own stories told someday soon.

Once again the author has proven herself to be one of the best authors in the Regency Romance field today! No one can resist a novel written by Cheryl Bolen. Her writing talents charm all readers. Highly recommended reading! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Edward needs to go back to spy training; he can't be much of a spy to have missed so many obvious questions and dangers. But he's very honorable, refusing to break his almost engagement to Fiona even though he falls for Maggie.

I liked Maggie's occasional outbursts of thinking out loud, but she could also be quite manipulative. It took me a long time to warm up to her, and even at the end, I liked her sister Rebecca better. I really liked Fiona, too.

Much of it seemed to contrived to me. It was an okay book, but I was a bit disappointed in it. Unmasking the traitor was pretty good though (except for Edward's poor spying and the ever-annoying heroine taking off without telling anyone). I found the book average; maybe 3.2 stars.

The stunningly beautiful Maggie Henshaw doesn't do anything in half measures. Believing herself to be the Countess of Warwick, she invades Lord Edward Warwick's house with her full entourage -sister, maid, cat and fourteen trunks. Edward immediately becomes suspicious about Maggie's involvement in her deceased husband's traitorous activities. When someone breaks into Warwick House while they are out and steals all of Maggie's deceased husband's effects, the intrigue begins in earnest.

After several more incidents, it becomes clear that Maggie's life is danger. The threats against Maggie trigger Edward's protective instincts and draw him to her. Plot twists keep the reader guessing right up until the end.

I enjoyed Maggie, a bigger than life character who blurts out her thoughts with refreshing, if unintended, candor, and who knows she's beautiful, but has no pretensions. She fills the pages with the drama of her personality. She is everything that Edward's almost-betrothed Lady Fiona is not, everything that he thought he did not want or need. What fun to watch Edward struggle with himself and his denial of his true feelings! Once Maggie enters his well-ordered world, his life will never be the same again.

As with Cheryl Bolen's Brides of Bath series, I found this book impossible to put down. The mystery kept my mind engaged, while the romance kept my heart engaged. Best of all, Cheryl's characters are fully developed, complex and delightful. It is no wonder that Cheryl Bolen's Regency romances get rave reviews.

This book catches your interest from the beginning and keeps it.
It has intrigue, suspense, humor, and of course romance. It is well written and very enjoyable. For those who like romance with intelligence this book is for you. The characters and sub characters weave a wonderful story together, and I love the touches of humor throughout. Great work Cheryl Bolden.

I truly enjoyed The Counterfeit Countess. Bolen's characters come alive, her dialogue sparkles, and the romance delivers. The mystery kept me guessing and the story kept me up well past bedtime. I'll look for more from this author.

Arriving in the middle of the night, Maggie, the countess of Warwick descended upon the Warwick London house, along with her younger sister, a maid, fourteen trunks and one huge cat. Edward, the Earl of Warwick, roused from his bed by the noise all the ruckus found a beautiful woman, most definitely a diamond of the first water, ordering all his servants around.

Maggie looked up to see a gorgeous alpha male standing bare-chested on the stairs, and demanded to know who he was, just as he was demanding to know who she was. Discovering that her dead husband, `The Scoundrel', had lied by passing himself off as the Earl of Warwick and that she was `not' the countess, Maggie promptly dissolved into tears. [A very useful ploy - as she tried to think what on earth she would do next - having little money and no where else to go.] Naturally, the one thing Edward couldn't abide were the tears of a woman, realizing that her dead husband had been the traitor, Lawrence Henshaw, who had been leaking information to the French, Edward allowed them to spend the night. Reporting the next day to the Foreign Office he was ordered by his superiors to keep the widow close in order to discover if she could lead them to whomever her husband had been selling his information to.

Though Edward had committed to and was in love (or so he thought) with Lady Fiona Hollingsworth, his intended, he was finding this counterfeit countess to have a very disconcerting effect on him. The more time spent with Maggie the more Edward questioned his feelings for his intended and when a thunderstorm drove Maggie into his arms, the tempest of the storm ignited the passion between them from which there was no return.

*** This was a first time introduction to this author for me and it proved to be a very enjoyable and entertaining reading experience. The writing was fresh, the characters a delight, with a fast and lively pace. The sensual buildup and the sexual encounters were tastefully done and the mystery of who the traitor was will keep you guessing right up to the end. Maggie was a wonderfully intelligent powerhouse of a heroine and the buildup of the merging of two souls who were meant for one another was terrific. The secondary characters, including the antics of one very fat cat, only added to the total enjoyment of this highly recommended novel. --- Marilyn, for www.historicalromancewriters.com ---

Set in the late 1700's in London, England.

Hero: Edward, Earl of Warwick

Heroine: Maggie, who thought she was the Countess of Warwick.

Premise: Heroine had thought her late scoundrel of a husband was the Earl but found out after his death he lied. She was in dire financial straits and spent most of her remaining money to book passage for herself and her younger sister for England hoping that one of them could marry well. She shows up at the Earl of Warwick's London home hoping that no one there will realize she isn't the Countess but instead encounters the current Earl of Warwick , our hero Edward.

Her late husband was apparently a traitor and fled to America to avoid being hanged and now that she has shown up in London, someone is out to do her harm, believing that her former husband may have told her secrets prior to his death.

The story goes on to describe how she falls for Edward, the conflict between them getting together and finally, solving who wishes her harm and why.

After reading the blurb on the back of this book, I thought the plot was promising but now that I've read it, I found the book to be fairly dull and did NOT live up to it's promise at all. The conflict between the hero and heroine was silly and contrived, the love scenes (I believe there were only 2) were extremely vague and tepid and the characters in the book were poorly fleshed out. They just didn't seem "real" or believable to me.

I cannot recommend this book. Sometimes it's the love scenes that save a book, sometimes it's the storyline and sometimes, if you are very lucky, it's both. Unfortunately you don't get any of that with this story. I just found it not to my taste at all. I'm very glad I got this book from the Library.

Though this wasn't my kind of romance, I wouldn't be averse to giving this author another chance if I can find more of her work at my local library.

In Cheryl Bolen's "The Counterfeit Countess" poor Maggie arrives in London with her sister, maid, cat, and fourteen trunks to discover that the man she married lied to her and she isn't really a countess. Not only did Lawrence Henshaw lie, but he was also a traitor to the British and barely escaped England with his neck intact. After his death, Maggie is desperate for money and decides to take her sister to England for a season to get her married off, and perhaps Maggie will be re-married as well. What Maggie doesn't count on is the real Earl of Warwick, Edward. From her first greeting of "Who is this handsome creature" you know sparks are going to fly between the two. Unfortunately, Edward is already engaged to Lady Fiona and he thinks Maggie may be a spy. Ordered to keep close watch on her by his superiors in the foreign office, he does his job a little too well. With evidence pointing back to his co-workers in the foreign office, after someone tries to abduct Maggie he takes her and hides her at his fiancée's estate. Will Edward stay true to Lady Fiona, will Maggie end up with one of the numerous suitors vying for her hand? And who is the traitor in the foreign office? My only problem with the story is how inconsistent Maggie is with her behavior, if she is smart and tough and wants to help Edward figure out what is going on why doesn't she just talk to him about what she knows. And why, when Edward is being attacked does she do nothing to help him. All in all, the story is a nice read but not one of my all time favorites.

I would give this book 3 1/2 stars. The main reason being, the heroine. This woman was not what you'd call a caring human being, except for herself, the hero, and her sister. She was somewhat manipulative, very direct, and I got tired of reading about how important her physical attributes were to the hero.

The hero wasn't much better, and I can't say that loving her because of her physical attibutes and having some smarts and a very good math aptitude necessarily made her a good candidate for a wife, but despite everything, these two really did deserve each other & were meant to be together.

The star of the book is the heroine's sister, Rebecca. Rebecca is a gem, and I can see why Fiona (in One Golden Ring, the sequel) really liked her & wanted to present her to London society. I hope Rebecca will get her own book, and I hope that the hero will be Adam Birmingham from One Golden Ring. If he can get the little bookworm's nose out of books long enough, I think they would be great together. If not him, then maybe his brother William or Fiona's youngest brother, Stephen Hollingsworth.

1-10 scale: 9.0

The heroine bounced between being completely manipulative and outrageously "honest" - but instead of being "charming" I thought it was dumb. And jeez, a seasoned "spy" like our hero didn't think to ask basic questions to try to solve the treason - it was just a big muddle. And tell me there is a man on the planet who *voluntarily* brings his lover to stay at his fiancee's house...that one decision made the back half of the book completely ridiculous.