Unmasked [Mass Market Paperback]

Nicola Cornick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2008

Wickedly handsome Nick Falconer would stake his life on it! He's been sent from London to the tranquil English village of Peacock Oak to solve the murder of his cousin Rashleigh and unmask this female Robin Hood. But Nick never expected that Mari would be so intoxicatingly beautiful or so disturbingly luscious. Determined to have her—body, soul and secrets—at any cost, Nick sets out to seduce her with a passion that inflames them both.

But Mari holds much deeper, darker truths than Nick could ever imagine. Despite her fierce resistance, she can't stop her body from yearning for his touch. Can she hide her sinister past from him much longer? Or will trusting the one man she so desperately wants lead her straight to the hangman's noose?

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

It isn’t that Mari Osborne didn’t want to kill Lord Rashleigh; it’s just that someone else beat her to it. Rashleigh had summoned Mari to a notorious tavern in London to discuss blackmail terms, but before they have a chance to talk, Rashleigh is found dead. Major Nick Falconer also happened to be at the tavern for a chat with his disreputable cousin Rashleigh, and when he sees a disguised Mari with Rashleigh mere moments before his cousin is found stabbed to death, he assumes she is the murderer. Nick traces the card left on the body to Yorkshire, where he discovers that Mari just might be “Glory,” the notorious leader of an all-female band of highway robbers. Nick is determined to seduce the truth from Mari, but he didn’t wager on matching wits with a women who has perfected the art of keeping secrets. RITA Award–nominated Cornick deftly steeps her latest intriguingly complex Regency historical in a beguiling blend of danger and desire. --John Charles

Review

Nicola Cornick brings the sensual and elegant world of the Regency to vivid life. -- Anna Campbell, bestselling author of Claiming the Courtesan

Nicola Cornick joins the ranks of Mary Balogh and Jo Beverley writing with passion, wit, charm, humor and suspense -- Cataromance

One of the best Regency romance authors on today's market. -- Writers Unlimited

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: HQN Books (July 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 037377303X
• ISBN-13: 978-0373773039
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #836,550 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #86 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > British > Historical

More About the Author

I started writing when I was about fourteen. I had read all the romance books in my local library and the librarians were growing tired of me asking when the new books would be coming in so they suggested I should write one of my own. I think they were only trying to get rid of me but I took their advice seriously.

Sixteen years later, True Colours was published. It took me that long because it wasn't very good to start with! I rewrote it three times, went to college, got married, moved house and changed my job several times in between trying to write!

These days I am a full time writer and spend lots of time on the creative process, which involves drinking coffee with my writing friend Sarah Morgan and scandalising the staff in the caf' where we meet because they think we are talking about real life not fiction.

In my spare time I work as a guide at Ashdown House, a fabulous and romantic seventeenth century hunting lodge just down the road from here. It has a fascinating history and one day I will get around to writing about it.

My writing inspirations are my grandmother, with whom I used to watch all the BBC costume dramas on a Sunday night ' Robin of Sherwood, Poldark, Pride and Prejudice (the 1970s version); my English teacher Mr Conway (I'm still worrying about correct grammar and punctuation); my husband because he is decidedly a hero, Jane Austen, Alice Chetwynd Ley and many, many romance authors who have given me so many hours of reading pleasure. Thank you!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A romance novel almost as good as Lisa Kleypas, October 14, 2009

By 

Cara K. Smith "Georgia Garderer" (Jackson, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Unmasked (Mass Market Paperback)

I was bored and had ordered a triogy novel with Cathy Maxwell and Nicole Cornick had a section of the book. I read it and I liked it so I ordered more of her books. Now she in on my preferred list of Author's. Well written,fast read and chacters are well developed, plus she had several charters with teasers for a sequel. Now I search her books for these characters so I can read their stories.The only regative is NO PROLOG and I love the prolog.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars merry Robin "Hood-ettes" regency romance, July 2, 2008

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Unmasked (Mass Market Paperback)

In 1805 the Home Secretary loudly orders Major Nick Falconer to investigate the murder of his odious cousin and to go to Yorkshire to destroy the infamous Glory Girls gang. Nick prefers to do neither, but immediately races off for Yorkshire before his superior rips more skin off his back.

In Yorkshire, Nick meets Widow Mari Osborne; whereas he swears they met in London on the same night his cousin died, she insists they never met before. A bit taken aback as he knows she has no twin or doppelganger, Nick concludes she is lying although he cannot fathom why. He decides to make her his priority as he is attracted to her, but he remains unaware that the two other cases his superior has made Nick's will soon tie together through the woman he loves.

Robin "Hood-ettes" inside a regency romance make for a merry tale filled with suspense and murder. The story line is fast-paced from the moment that the government operative and the widow meet and never slows down as he investigates her secrets while she tries to nudge him onto false trails filled with red herrings. That passion called love makes for strange bedfellows as Nicolas Cornick provides an enjoyable historical cat and mouse tale.

Harriet Klausner

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Story, October 30, 2010

By 

Book Worm "book worm" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unmasked (Kindle Edition)

This is the first book I read from Nicola Cornick. I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you like Lisa Kleypas and Mary Balogh, you will love this book.