Lady Jayne Disappears 

Paperback, hardcover, audio, audio CD, ebook

October 3, 2017

by Joanna Davidson Politano

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Revell 
• ISBN-13: 978-0800728755

Lynhurst Manor is a house built on secrets . . . and the arrival of Aurelie Harcourt might reveal them all.

When Aurelie Harcourt's father dies in debtor's prison, he leaves her just two things: his wealthy family, whom she has never met, and his famous pen name, Nathaniel Droll. Her new family greets her with apathy and even resentment. Only the quiet houseguest, Silas Rotherham, welcomes her company.

When Aurelie decides to complete her father's unfinished serial novel, writing the family into the story as unflattering characters, she must keep her identity as Nathaniel Droll hidden while searching for the truth about her mother's disappearance--and perhaps even her father's death.

Author Joanna Davidson Politano's stunning debut set in Victorian England will delight readers with its highly original plot, lush setting, vibrant characters, and reluctant romance.

My thoughts:  Oh, my word.  I did not request LADY JAYNE DISAPPEARS in a case of judging a book by it's rather bland, nondescript cover. Add to the fact that I didn't recognize the author's name so I decided not to take a chance. 

Revell had different plans. I got a copy in the mail. It didn't have  a note to it saying review it, but when a reviewer gets a book in the mail, unsolicited or not, she reviews. Or at least I do. But I did put it off. A dull cover equals a dull book, right? 

Not at all. 

LADY JAYNE DISAPPEARS is seriously one of the BEST books I read this year. Absolutely, positively one of the BEST. It's not even  a genre I'm remotely fond of, a regency. But this is sooooo good. 

Aura Rose is a misfit in polite society having been raised in debtor's prison. Her mother vanished. Her father dead. She is collected at the prison by an aunt she never heard of, but even worse, said aunt had no idea she even existed. And the strong, silent man the aunt sent to pick up the trunks was dreadfully scary.... until he wasn't. 

Silas. Oh what a hero. I am absolutely positively IN LOVE with him. He is a dream come true. I cannot say enough good about him, or this book, and the fact there is a murder mystery involved in this book and Aura Rose is trying to figure it out under the guise of Nathaniel Droll's serial fiction, you are left guessing about so many different things. You don't know who, why, when, where or how at all. Nothing!  And yet at the end it is so heart poundingly obvious...

This book is going on my private list of best books read in 2018 list. 

 I was given a copy free. All opinions are my own.