Review: Good, but could have been better.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 11, 2014
For the most part The Masked Heart follows the Regency romance formula: dashing, but jaded hero plus beautiful girl with a secret multiplied by familial obligations and complications = convoluted action leading to the inevitable HEA.  The exception in TMH is the unusual career choice of the heroine, Blaine, to become an actress to support her family.  Admittedly, I raised my eyebrow when reading this as acting would likely have been the next to last choice of a lady of quality in the Regency era.  To her credit the author, through Blaine's own ruminating, acknowledges this and still manages to make this plot device work.  Because of this I almost gave this story a 4 star rating.What earned it three instead of four stars is the authors tendency to have sticky and potentially dangerous situations work out too neatly and too easily with no attendant consequences.  I would have liked a little more tension.  I also felt that the author's choice of names for her central characters, Blaine and Drew, seemed a little too modern.  I realize that this may be a picky criticism, but I had that thought several times as I was reading.  All-in-all, it's not a bad read, it's just not a great read.