Book Review: A Novel Disguise by Samantha Larsen (Lady Librarian #1)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Characters and plots that keep the pages flying

Cons: No real cons, disguised or otherwise

The Bottom Line:

A simple disguise

That spirals out of control

Delightful debut

How Long Can Tiffany Disguise the Danger She’s In?

It was about a month ago that A Novel Disguise really came onto my radar.  I’m not sure what made it stand out to me then, but I’m glad it did because I loved this book.

The book takes us back to 1784.  Tiffany Woodall is living in a small English village, keeping house for her half-brother.  That is until the day that she finds him dead in his bed.  Knowing that she has no options and will be kicked out of the cottage they lived in, Tiffany keeps his death quiet and takes on her half-brother’s job as the librarian for the Duke of Beaufort.

But Tiffany discovers that the quick decision to keep her life as she knew it is making things much more complicated.  For one thing, she has to balance being two different people.  It doesn’t help that she is developing feelings for the local bookseller.  Meanwhile, the rector wants her hand in marriage and won’t take no for an answer.

Then there’s the fact that one of the servants at the duke’s castle dies.  The doctor thinks that she was poisoned.  Suddenly, Tiffany wonders if there was more to her half-brother’s death than she realized.  Can she solve the mystery and keep her secret intact?

Quite obviously, there’s a lot going on here.  And, you might normally see me saying that the set up slowed down the mystery.  And it did, if I’m being honest.  But here’s the thing – I don’t care.  I was hooked on this story almost from the first page.  I couldn’t wait to see what complication Tiffany would face next, and there were plenty of them.

Now, this isn’t to say that we don’t have a strong mystery.  It’s very well done, with plenty of twists.  I was impressed with how this book brought everything together at the end in a way that felt completely natural.  I did figure out one plot point early, but the rest kept me guessing until Tiffany figured it out.

Obviously, this means that I liked the characters.  After all, if I didn’t sympathize with Tiffany, I wouldn’t have cared nearly as much as I did.  She is a strong main character, and she is surrounded by a wonderful cast.  Some we love; some we love to hate.  And yes, it is love to hate.  I enjoyed every second I spent with them.

I will say the poison causes the victims to be sick, and we got a little too much descriptions of that for me, but it was a very minor complaint overall.

The time period was brought to life well without slowing the story down in the slightest.

It was with reluctance that I set down A Novel Disguise when I turned the final page.  I’m already looking forward to seeing what happens to Tiffany next.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.

I'm reviewing this book as part of a blog tour.  Check out the tour page for the rest of the participants.

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