AMBERSLEY by Amy Atwell is a regency romance with the flavor of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and champions the virtue of honesty in all relationships. I give it four stars, even though I struggled with a few credibility issues.
In AMBERSLEY, Amber Johanna Vaughan, the four year-old daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Ambersley, disappears after a suspicious fire kills her entire family and destroys her home. She is not actually lost, though. She was found some distance away from the house by head gardener Thomas, who, fearing for her life, takes her home. As Amber has no memory of who she is or what happened to her family, Tom and his wife, Martha, raise Amber as their adopted son, Johnny. As soon as Johnny is old enough to work with Tom, she tends her mother's rose garden and becomes a beloved part of the Ambersley staff, who all believe she is a boy.
The search for the new Duke of Ambersley takes a long time and finally concludes in locating Derek Vaughan, who has also recently inherited a barony. He, his stepmother and stepbrother all move to the Ambersley estate, and Derek's stepmother does her best to undermine his claim to the title, attempting to coerce Derek to give the title to his half-brother on the grounds that Derek is illegitimate and not the true heir to either the barony or dukedom. While keeping his vulture of a stepmother at bay, Derek works to rebuild the estate, thereby befriending Johnny, who is eager to help him in any way she can.
The truth will out, though, and after thirteen years, through a bizarre series of events, it becomes known that Johnny is really Amber Johanna Vaughan. Derek is crushed, feeling betrayed by the one person he thought he could count on to be honest with him. Amber is also feeling betrayed by her closest friend; meanwhile, she must be re-invented and take her rightful place in society. Danger still lurks at Ambersley, though, and history begins to repeat itself. Will Amber discover the truth behind the attempts on Derek's life in time to save him and their relationship?
I enjoyed this complicated novel with its apparent myriad of subplots, even though in order to do so I had to accept the fact that Amber was able to hide her femininity from the ENTIRE staff as well as Derek and his family. That was a bit of a stretch for me. I also had to overlook the glaring error of how Amber is titled in the novel -- as "Miss" Amber. As the daughter of a duke, she would have been referred to as "Lady" Amber, even from infancy. Once I stopped trying to figure out the technical details of how Amber remained disguised as a boy and stopped reading the word "Miss" before her name, I was able to enjoy the plotline.
This most important character development in the book is how Derek begins to think of Johnny as Lady Johanna. This part was very well done; there were no cut corners or sacrifices of pages. Essentially, Johanna had to cut Derek out of her life and then be introduced later on. Of note is the particularly emotional scene where Johanna begs Derek to let her return to Ambersley. She says that she misses Johnny and would happily return to Ambersley as Johnny forevermore, and Derek says, "I miss him, too." But life goes on, and they both have to come to grips with their new reality.
The romance is hot, even though relatively short in comparison to the length of the book. Still, the book is appropriate for those 18 and over.
The plotline has so many delicious little subplots, too. I liked the mystery behind the assaults on the Duke of Ambersley, the role of Derek's "frenemy", the Marquess of Worthing, and the growth of the half-brother, Curtis.
Overall, AMBERSLEY was intricate, well-crafted, and will keep any historical fiction lover entertained.
**Review shared with The Romance Reviews.com at http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooks.php?bookid=5874.
