Review: Horses and intrigue - great combo
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 21, 2014
This is not normally a genre I would read, nor have I read anything by Ms Elliott before, and I was pleasantly surprised by this book.Ms Elliott delivers a well-written romance, complete with intrigue, a fabulous horse and a couple of very shady characters, one of whom is most aptly named Uglow.The novel is set in the Foxhall gardens, a  venue of entertainments that includes everything from animal acts to acrobats. When the novel opens, Foxhall gardens is in a sad state, but a new vigorous manager. Mr Wolfson,  has been hired to restore the garden to its former glory, and one of the first thing this manager does is to assess the various acts.Hetty has lived in Foxhall gardens all her life, helping her father with his act starring various horses, a monkey and a dog. But Hetty's father is ailing, Mr Wolfson finds the act lacking, and suddenly it seems Hetty and her father risk being evicted from Foxhall. Hetty comes across as a determined and courageous girl, and when she is faced with the task of somehow supporting her ailing father - and their multiple animals - she rises to the challenge. To reinvent the act, she chooses to present herself in men's clothes, and as Hetty is pretty and curvaceous she quickly attracts a lot of male attention - including that of Mr Wolfson.Wolfson is done with love. Some years back he was cruelly tricked by a woman and has no intention of letting it happen again - until he meets Hetty. Where Hetty is brave, Wolfson is vulnerable, afraid of yet again having his heart broken, and yet he is incapable of fighting the growing attraction he feels for Hetty - luckily reciprocated.Of course, things are not entirely straightforward, and along the way Hetty must avoid the threatening advances of a duke while Wolfson struggles with the duplicity of Uglow, who takes every opportunity to discredit Wolfson to their common employer.Things end with a bang and Wolfson emerges the hero - in many ways. A most satisfactory ending to this entertaining read!