This is not a Regency romance. Rather it is a Gothic novel. All the books in this series have florid, preposterous plots full of mysterious old houses with secret passages, peculiar wills, missing heirs, secret children and crazy women who are (typically not) locked up in attics. If you go in with that expectation they aren't too bad.

Pros: heroines that aren't conventially pretty and accomplished.
Cons: ridiculous plots and rather unconvincing romances (to me at any rate). Also a surprising amount of talk about sex.

Whilst I found the start of this book slow, it did gather speed. There were a few unexpected twists and turns which I really liked. I am enjoying this series so far.

It was refreshing to have two main characters whose personalities sit far outside of what is considered the norm for these types of novels, however, much of the time, I did find Margaret's affliction to be a bit contrived. Other than that, I feel the characters are generally well written. I will complete this series of books, but I don't think I'll be returning for any more works from this author. I love gothic romance novels, but in my opinion the best ones feature a burning passion between the two main characters to counterbalance all of the doom and gloom. Passion, or rather, believable passion, is sorely lacking in this series. Characters will have completely platonic interactions with each other at length, sometimes for weeks or months on end, then all of a sudden observe a few shy smiles or sparkling eyes and declare themselves in love. There is no build up at all. As for the mysteries, here the author truly falters. The mystery aspect of the story is as sophisticated as an episode of Scooby Doo. I was able to work out much of the secret fairly early on.

Too much, too sweet, too long

Another of my guilty pleasures by Mary Kingswood who is an intelligent writer and has done her research into the Regency, but the genre, made famous by Georgette Heyer, and lately by the movie versions of Jane Austen's novels, should be light, bubbly, filled with humor and wit and a wicked uncle or two. Kingswood tries to tell a good story, but needs to aim for a lighter touch. Her protagonists are so serious and so sweetly in love, it's cloying, her villians obvious, and her plotting too long. Having said all that, I still enjoyed the story of how shy, unworldly Margaret manages to find love, riches and her voice. Now for No. 4 in the series.