Historical Fiction > England
16th-19th Centuries
Leading Lady
Back of the Book:
Bethia Rayborn, soon to be betrothed to her childhood beau and happily employed as the wardrobe mistress at London’s Royal Court Theatre, is quite certain all her dreams have come true. But then the drama unfolding in her own life begins to overshadow that of the actors and actresses onstage. When a distant relative misinterprets her intentions and sets his affections on Bethia, pursuing her with unrelenting persistence, she must take drastic measures to ward him off. Her pursuer does indeed disappear, but Bethia is left as the unsuspecting victim in a plan for revenge that will threaten her love and her livelihood.
My Review:
Wow. This book was all over the place. It was very intricate, with at least four story lines going on at the same time. They all intertwined in the end, like you would expect, but I didn’t expect the story to have such a huge scope. It was an enjoyable read, though.
I liked that Lawana showed how revenge can be harmful to the person giving it as well as to the person receiving it. She also covered important things like equality of people, selfishness, the rose-colored love glasses, gossip, and so many more. I was reminded of some things I need to be doing as I saw them played out in the character’s lives.
However, if you are looking for a heart-warming love story, this is not it. I don’t want to go into details of why it isn’t, because that would give important aspects of the story line away. There are actually three love stories going on, but other, overarching, plot lines take the lead. I enjoyed reading it and did get attached to the characters, but I was left sorely disappointed as it felt like things were cut off, suddenly, at the end.