The Perfect Mistress
*Starred Review* For Lady Julia Winterset, the choice was simple: publish and be damned. After her husband’s death leaves her in restricted financial circumstances, Julia has no choice but to profit from the one thing of value she has left, her great-grandmother Lady Hermione Middlebury’s scandalous memoirs. Once Harrison Landingham, Earl of Mountdale, hears from his sister-in-law Veronica that her friend Julia is in negotiations with a London publisher over the manuscript, which includes several spicy references to Harrison’s father, he is equally determined that Julia will not drag his family’s good name through the mud. When Harrison’s initial attempt to coerce Julia into selling the manuscript fails, he vows to take a different tack and charm her into surrendering it. With a delectably dry sense of humor that rivals Oscar Wilde at his best (and a delicious dash of the paranormal in the form of the ghostly Lady Hermione), Alexander fashions the perfect romance, featuring two splendidly matched protagonists engaged in an exceptionally entertaining literary and romantic battle of wits. --John Charles