The Duplicitous Debutante by Becky Lower – a Review

The Duplicitous Debutante Cotillion Ball Series – Book #6 by Becky Lower Release Date: September 1, 2014

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DESCRIPTION: In 1859, ladies of New York society are expected to do three things well: find a husband, organize a household, and have children. But despite her mother’s best intentions, making her debut is the last thing on Rosemary Fitzpatrick’s mind. Writing the popular Harry Hawk dime novels as F.P. Elliott, she’s too busy hiding her female identity from her new publisher, Henry Cooper. To protect her clandestine career, she ends up posing as the enigmatic author’s secretary. Henry is not the typical Boston Brahmin, nor the typical publisher, and Rosemary entrances him from the moment they meet. As they work together and grow closer, he wonders how his traditional-minded father will react when he brings her into the family, because Henry firmly intends to marry the working-class woman. But when her deception begins to unravel at the cotillion ball, will Henry be able to forgive her or has deceit cost her the man she loves?  

REVIEW: 5 out of 5 for this reader folks! Oh Becky Lower! I have been with you from the start of the Cotillion Ball series and I am determined to make sure that you find long lost family members of the Fitzpatrick family to add to this series because not only can I NOT get enough, but cannot image this series ever concluding. Perhaps the children of all our couples??

LOL So YES I LOVED THIS BOOK. I was anticipating Rosemary’s story and boy did you ever deliver. Rosemary Fitzpatrick is the spitfire of this family. Truely, they all are in their own ways, but she held a special place in my heart. Who would possibly tame this free thinker, or better yet, who would possible just “get her” and realize she is brilliant just the way she is and is in no need of taming. Rosemary is a dime novelist .. FEMALE novelist in the 1850’s of a popular action and adventure series called Harry Hawk. Very “NO NO” of this time, she writes under a MALE name F.P. Elliot. When a new owner takes over her contract, Rosemary must actually meet her publisher and face the fact that she may lose everything when it is discovered she is.. well .. a SHE.

Henry Cooper has a point to prove to his father. He can run this publishing company.   Henry is a liberal thinker of his time (as opposed to his father’s stuffy traditional views), believing that gender should have no place if their is talent and money on the line. When he meets Rosemary, she is posing as F.P. Elliot’s secretary (who just so happens to know all the details of the Harry Hawk series as she transcribes for her employer), and he is instantly captivated. Rosemary is everything that he wants in a wife. Wife she will be … especially if Rosemary’s parents have anything to do with it. You see, Rosemary is about to come out as a debutante at the Cotillion ball and Harry is a guest of the Fitzpatrick family.

A web of deceit is weaved but with true feelings, parental influence on both sides and potential future’s on the line, the truth has to come out. When it does, will it be all too much for our couple? Can the lies be overcome, and will Rosemary’s coveted career have to be put aside for a dream at true love?? Boy did I laugh, sniffle and cringe so much reading this book. These two are so well matched, and they are so stubborn in their own thoughts.

As a reader I felt like yelling at them “You can have it all if you just lay it all out CLEARLY” and “You guys really need to get it together already”. The pacing, writing, character build up was bang on and the fact that we visit other family members just bring this all together brilliantly. I adore this series and if you are historical romance lover, you will appreciate that this is set in US as opposed to Europe like most HR books are. I personally find that refreshing! So yes, I gushed .. it was a worthy gush and I can’t wait for more!

HAPPY READING! 🙂

Reviewed by Rachel

Copy provided by Author

Cotillion Ball Reading Order:

The Reluctant Debutante
The Abolitionist’s Secret
Banking on Temperance
The Tempestuous Debutante Blinded by Grace
The Duplicitous Debutante  

I have traveled the country looking for great settings for my novels, which I’m pleased to say have become Amazon best-sellers. I love to write about two people finding each other and falling in love, amid the backdrop of a great setting, be it present day middle America or on a covered wagon headed west in the 1850s. Contemporary and historical romances are my specialties. I am a PAN member of RWA and is a member of the Contemporary and Historic RWA chapters. My degree is in English and Journalism from Bowling Green State University, and I live in an eclectic college town in Ohio with my puppy-mill rescue dog, Mary.

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