Review: Traipsing Through Victoriana
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 3, 2013
Keegan Lace presents a debut novel that is a bit difficult to label. She obviously loves historical romance and has a flair for unveiling the inner feelings and thoughts of her otherwise loquacious characters.Placing her story in Victorian England MADAME’S DOUBLE LIFE speaks clearly of the double standards of surface presentation and emotional culpability – those secret feelings that in those times would alter a character’s position in society were they to become known – another way of saying that in the fixed societal norms of the times there simply could not be a ‘free spirit’. And yet that is exactly what the heroine Lady Victoria is – a dreamer at age 17 who would rather respond to her sensual needs than the dictates of society when it comes to choosing a life partner.  It is this dichotomy of thought that drives the tale of a woman doomed to an arranged marriage to an older gentleman of stature while longing for a handsome lothario her senses inform her to prefer. How Lace manages this sparring of opposites who have the opportunity to defy society for the sake of lust or make internal changes and discover a possible honest love is how the story comes to an end.Lace will in time, most likely, find a more extensive vocabulary to match the periods about which she will choose to write. The prose flows smoothly but further writing will bring more polish and sincere involvement in her characters. This is a fine start for a new writer. Grady Harp, November 13