Masquerade by Nancy Moser

At the age of 19, Charlotte “Lottie” Gleason is spoiled, rich and nearly engaged to Conrad Tremaine, the son of a wealthy merchant in America. Lottie openly acknowledges that she likes her self-centered lifestyle, but desires true love over an arranged marriage to a wealthy young man. When Lottie and her maid, Dora Connors, travel from Wiltshire to America for the purpose of Lottie meeting Conrad, Lottie convinces Dora to swap places with her. Lottie will go to Dora's distant family relation and Dora will masquerade as Charlotte Gleason. But the plan does not go as smoothly as Lottie anticipated and soon Lottie is destitute with no job and no family. All of the sudden, marrying Conrad Tremaine and all of his money does not sound like such a bad idea. But what about Dora? Does she truly love Conrad Tremaine? What will become of her and Conrad if her true identity is revealed?

Overall, Masquerade was an entertaining book to read. The plot moved at a good pace and some of the twists were pleasantly unexpected. The depictions about the lives of the immigrants and the poor class of people were intriguing and seemed realistic. However, I did not like the character of Lottie Gleason from beginning to end. I suppose that in the beginning, she is not meant to be likeable, but even as she went through her change of heart, I still did not like her. As she was one of the main two characters, this meant that a substantial amount of the book was about her. On the other hand, Dora, Conrad, Sven, Dr. Greenfield and the Scarpellis were very likeable and entertaining. This is, of course, a personal preference about characters. I would not discourage anyone from buying the book based on this, but I would suggest renting it from the library first.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."