Book: Born of Persuasion

Born of Persuasion

The year is 1838, and seventeen-year-old Julia Elliston’s position has never been more fragile. Orphaned and unmarried in a time when women are legal property of their fathers, husbands, and guardians, she finds herself at the mercy of an anonymous guardian who plans to establish her as a servant in far-off Scotland.

With two months to devise a better plan, Julia’s first choice to marry her childhood sweetheart is denied. But when a titled dowager offers to introduce Julia into society, a realm of possibilities opens. However, treachery and deception are as much a part of Victorian society as titles and decorum, and Julia quickly discovers her present is deeply entangled with her mother’s mysterious past. Before she knows what’s happening, Julia finds herself a pawn in a deadly game between two of the country’s most powerful men. With no laws to protect her, she must unravel the secrets on her own. But sometimes truth is elusive and knowledge is deadly.

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I'm so unsure of how to write this review... all I can say is wow!  Equal parts suspense and romance I literally could not have predicted the ending to this one.  AND, this is only the first in a series and the next one doesn't come until next spring!  I hate that!

Julia is a bit (okay, way more than a bit) naive about life and it gets her in way over her head.  These two most powerful men... only one of them is trustworthy and she can't figure out which one it is.

There are a LOT of details to keep straight in this one, hints and foreshadowings of the story that you try to remember as you read and figure out who's telling the truth. 

I think I'll be reading this one again just before the next one comes out...

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If you would like to read the first chapter of Born of Persuasion, go HERE.

Born in the wrong century – except for the fact that she really likes epidurals and washing machines – Jessica Dotta writes British Historicals with humor like an Austen, yet the drama of a Bronte.

She resides in the greater Nashville area – where she imagines her small Southern town into the foggy streets of 19th century London. She oversees her daughter to school, which they pretend is an English boarding school, and then she goes home to write and work on PR. Jessica has tried to cast her dachshund as their butler–but the dog insists it’s a Time Lord and their home a Tardis. Miss Marple, her cat, says its no mystery to her as to why the dog won’t cooperate. When asked about it, Jessica sighs and says that you can’t win them all, and at least her dog has picked something British to emulate.