Barely a Lady

Starred review from May 17, 2010
Romantic suspense author Dreyer (Nothing Personal) makes a highly successful venture into the past with this sizzling, dramatic Regency romance. Olivia Grace is the betrayed, disgraced ex-wife of Jack Wyndham, the earl of Gracechurch. When Olivia finds Jack on the battlefield at Waterloo, inexplicably dressed in a French uniform and missing his memories of the past five years, they are taken in by Lady Kate, a dowager duchess who is no stranger to scandal. To aid Jack's recovery, Olivia must bury her own anguish and anger over their divorce and pretend to still be his loving, passionate wife. Readers will love the well-rounded characters and suspenseful plot, and will cheer on intelligent, resourceful Olivia and Lady Kate as they take on disparaging men, backstabbing relatives, and stealthy assassins in their quest to protect Jack and create their own happiness in the midst of war.

June 15, 2010

With her reputation destroyed five years earlier when Jack Wyndham, Earl of Gracechurch, divorced her, Olivia Grace has lived quietly, guarding her privacy and her secrets. But when she finds Jack near death on a Belgian battlefield in a French uniform, she knows she must help him, never thinking that when he recovers, he will have forgotten the past few years and believe they still are happily married. Someone is a traitor, though, and it isn't Jack. As they sort out the missing years, uncover the truth, and track down the real blackguards, Olivia and Jack find that repairing their own broken relationship might be the hardest task of all. VERDICT Vivid descriptions, inventive plotting, beautifully delineated characters, and stunning emotional depth ensure the success of Dreyer's historical romance debut. Dreyer, who also writes as Kathleen Korbel (Deadly Redemption), is a member of the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame. She lives in the St. Louis area.

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 1, 2010
Five years ago Olivias husband, Jack, nearly destroyed her life, and now he is about to do it again. Accepting scurrilous rumors as fact, Jack divorced Olivia early in their marriage, leaving her destitute. She has finally rebuilt her life, and now all her hard work is threatened when Jacks old valet suddenly turns up and insists that Olivia accompany him to Waterloo, where Olivia discovers that Jack is badly wounded and attired in a French officers uniform. Helping her ex could very well destroy Olivia, but she knows Jack is no traitor. Dreyer, who earned a coveted space in the Romance Writers of Americas Hall of Fame writing contemporary romances as Kathleen Korbel, presents her first historical romance, and the results are well worth the wait. Barely a Lady is addictively readable thanks to exquisitely nuanced characters, a brilliantly realized historical setting, and a captivating plot encompassing both the triumph and tragedy of war. Love, loss, revenge, and redemption all play key roles in this richly emotional, superbly satisfying love story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)