An Elegant Façade by Kristi Ann Hunter

An Elegant Façade by Kristi Ann Hunter ISBN-13: 9780764218255 Trade Paperback: 368 pages Publisher: Bethany House Released: July 5, 2016

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Lady Georgina Hawthorne has worked tirelessly to seal her place as the Incomparable for her debut season. At her first London ball, she hopes to snag the attention of an earl.

With money and business connections, but without impeccable bloodlines, Colin McCrae is invited everywhere but accepted nowhere. When he first encounters the fashionable Lady Georgina, he's irritated by his attraction to a woman who concerns herself only with status and appearance. What Colin doesn't know is that Georgina's desperate social aspirations are driven by the shameful secret she harbors.

Association with Colin McCrae is not part of Georgina's plan, but as their paths continue to cross, they both must decide if the realization of their dreams is worth the sacrifices they must make.


My Review:
An Elegant Façade is a Christian romance set in 1813 in England. This is the second book in the series, but you don't need to read the first one to follow this one. The first part of this book retold some events from the first book (from a different perspective), so you may wish to read them in order.

Georgina deliberately acts like a spoiled child whose only thought is a good marriage, but she does it to hide her shameful secret. She doesn't like the deception, but fear prevents her from getting help outside her loyal lady's maid. Her overriding goal is to make a good match before her secret gets out and ruins her chances. For Georgina can't read and write (due to severe dyslexia), one of the major requirements for a useful Lady. She believes that God must have cursed and abandoned her for some reason.

Colin is driven to accumulate wealth due to worries that his father will gamble the family business away. He's now a wealthy man, yet he hasn't let go of that fear.

The author created complex characters who kept my interest and sympathy. I understood why the two main characters fell in love after they started to really know each other. There was plenty of running around on adventures in addition to balls and such. The historical details were a backdrop for the story.

The Christian element was Georgina realizing that her goals and behavior were ultimately not going to get her the security she craved and that God didn't abandon her. There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting romance.

Side note: Most authors who write a character with dyslexia don't really understand what it's like, so I appreciate that this author did the extra work to accurately portray it. While my dyslexia is not as bad as Georgina's and I did get help for it when I was young, I actually picked up a few tips that have made reading easier for me. Thank you!


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.