Audiobook12 hours
An Elegant Façade
Written by Kristi Ann Hunter
Narrated by Charlotte Anne Dore
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
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.
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.
Author
Kristi Ann Hunter
Kristi Ann Hunter is the author of the Hawthorne House series and a 2016 RITA Award winner, an ACFW Genesis contest winner, and a Georgia Romance Writers Maggie Award for Excellence winner. She lives with her husband and three children in Georgia. For more information, visit www.kristiannhunter.com.
More audiobooks from Kristi Ann Hunter
Pixels and Paint Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Return To Hawthorne House Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to An Elegant Façade
Titles in the series (4)
A Noble Masquerade Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Elegant Façade Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Uncommon Courtship Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Inconvenient Beauty Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related audiobooks
A Noble Masquerade Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love for the Spinster Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5His Bluestocking Bride: A Regency Romance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Stranger at Fellsworth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yours Truly, Thomas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road through Rushbury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Uncommon Courtship Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Inconvenient Beauty Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Winning the Gentleman Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Vying for the Viscount Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Return of Devotion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Defense of Honor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enchanting the Heiress Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Pursuit of Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Lady of Esteem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Search for Refuge Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Twilight at Moorington Cross: A Regency Romance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Faithful Proposal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Regrettable Proposal Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love at the House Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5After a Fashion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Elusive Miss Ellison Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Change of Fortune Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love in the Wager Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Marrying Miss Milton Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Earl and His Lady: A Regency Romance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Daring Proposal Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gentleman of Her Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Courting the Vicar's Daughter: A Regency Romance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dishonorable Miss Delancey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Royalty Romance For You
Red, White & Royal Blue: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5To Sir Phillip, with Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Viscount Who Loved Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Duke and I Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Romancing Mister Bridgerton Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scales and Sensibility Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Offer from a Gentleman Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Woo and to Wed: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Queen Charlotte: Before the Bridgertons came the love story that changed the ton... Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pack Up the Moon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Have and to Hoax: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5First Comes Scandal: A Bridgerton Prequel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Swoon and to Spar: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Like Heaven Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Smallest Man Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Happens in London Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twelve Days of the Duke's Disguise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Marry and to Meddle: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Of None Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Running from Royalty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wallflower Wager: Girl Meets Duke Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Love and to Loathe: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Accidental Countess Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sleeping with the Enemy: The Soldier's Forbidden Lover Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Too Suitable Duchess Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Second Life of Mrs. Charlotte Collins Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When a Scot Ties the Knot: Castles Ever After Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Other Dashwood Sister Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for An Elegant Façade
Rating: 4.3354430379746836 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
79 ratings11 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My favorite part of this book was the end and the “All is right with the world” feeling it gave me. I had tried to listen a year ago and found the American reader greatly lacked the fluency of English accent that made the story listenable...so I quit before finishing. This year, wanting to complete this part of the saga of this interesting family, I decided to speed the reading up and found the stilted flow to be tolerable...barely. Love the author but she should stick with native-born Brits to read!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The narrator was a bit annoying - stilted and over enunciated. The book content was fantastic
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Chapter 17 was missing from audiobook. CD skip apparently. I had to go to the book for 17 and return to audio at 18.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great story and characters even if the main premise is a little far fetched. Her mother would know. Audiobook is missing chapter 17. Have to find book on Scribd to read that chapter but do so because it is an important one.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Let me start by saying I listened to the audio version. I wasn't sure about this book for the first dozen or so chapters. If you read the Noble Masquerade and then this one, you you will understand. Perhaps if it had been the same person reading both of them, it would have been better. The voices of the characters here make them appear to be elderly smokers. I kept trying to make them fit with the voices in the previous book. It was very distracting. The story itself is not bad. Just don't listen to it .
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Elegant Façade by Kristi Ann Hunter is the second novel in her Hawthorne House series set in the early 1800’s London. Young Georgina is desperately trying to find a proper husband, a duke, to secure her place in society before her secret is exposed and makes her a laughing stock.
Collin McCrae is a gentleman with no title but is wealthy due to his successful ability to seek out business deals at the right time. He is invited everywhere but would never make a proper husband to a lady high in society.
When their paths cross they are both faced with a difficult decision, their dreams or their happiness.
This took me a little while to get into this book. The story was good but there wasn’t a hook, so to speak, in the beginning. I found myself putting it down to do other things and then picking it back up. The farther it got into the book however, the more interesting it got. I finally got to the point, after about 100 pages, that I did not wanting to put it away.
This is a Christian romance novel but the religious aspects of the book are not thrown in your face like some are. They are subtlety place throughout the book so that it is not all at once and overbearing. The characters are well developed and relatable. This is the kind of story you can get lost in for a while.
This book was fun to read and had points to ponder. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction.
*I received this book from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my honest review. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I had some reservations about the last book in this trilogy, which was the story of Miranda, the eldest sister of the four aristocratic Hawthorne siblings, story although I enjoyed it overall. This was less about the espionage, and more about the young debutante trying to hide a secret which would make her out as a social failure. She had dyslexia, which prevented her from reading more than a few sentences, or being able to write legibly.
Honestly, I loved this book quite a lot more than the first. Georgina, the female protagonist is like marmite- you either love her or hate her, and I absolutely loved her! Yes, she was mercenary, manipulative and shallow, but there was something endearing about her. Perhaps it was her vulnerability or determination. Perhaps because I have some experience of dyslexia I sort of identified with Georgina's eccentricities and frustration.
The story follows Georgina's attempts to find a husband, and how her path crosses with Colin McRae, the Scottish businessman who has dealings with her family, and just does seem to keep appearing. As motives and social engagements clash, Colin and Georgina motives, personalities and secrets must be confronted so they can face their families, and discover the true meaning of love. The banter and rivalry between the two of them provided plenty of humour and character exploration, and when voice of Georgina's conscience manifesting as a 'Tiny Colin in her head' was a stroke of genius.
There was romance, inevitably, but it was not too mushy. The characters don't really even confront their feelings for each other until the end. Perhaps it was a bit forced, as some have suggested. The religious content was not overdone (again a little bit forced at the end), and Georgina's struggles to work out how she felt about God seemed credible enough.
My only real complaint is that as with the last book, there were a lot of Americanisms in the character's speech and the narration. Not as many as last time admittedly, and 'biggies' seem to have been avoided, but some did annoy me. A character at one point said 'Should I write him back’? when a native Brit would have said 'Should I write back to him'.
It might seem like nit-picking, but phrases like that just don't fit into the settings, and make the writing seem clunky and unnatural.
Also, the characters seemed to be continually eating their breakfast with just a fork, like Americans, rather than a knife and fork as would have been normal in polite British society, and is still the norm over here.
This complaint aside, An Elegant Facade was a pleasant and cleverly written Regency, exploring some interesting and unusual subjects, and important themes with sensitivity. At the same time, it was not too deep and the tone remained witty and light-hearted for the most part. Recommended for Regency fans.
I received a free e-book from Netgalley, and a print copy of this book from the publisher and their UK distributor for the purposes of writing a review. I was not required to write a positive one and all opinions expressed are my own. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Best-laid Plans of Mice and Men and GeorgianaI really enjoyed reading An Elegant Facade. It has a lot of the same characters that are in A Noble Masquerade. The main character of the story is youngest sister Georgiana. The way she presents herself makes her very easy to dislike. Through circumstances and a relationship with Colin McCrae, a friend of her brothers, her secret is found out and her true nature comes out in the end. I found the characters all to be well developed. I found it to be an exciting and fun read. Can't wait for Kristi's next book An Uncommon Courtship due out in January.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is the second full length book in the Hawthorne series. It was wonderful. It is best to read A Noble Masquerade first to understand some of the characters. I loved Lady Georgina and Colin McCrae. Lady Georgina has a secret that she doesn't want anyone to know and feels she must marry a rich man To hide it. Can Colin change her mind? I received this from Bethany House for a fair and honest opinion.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thursday, August 18, 2016An Elegant Façade by Kristi Ann Hunter, © 2016Hawthorne House series, Book 2If you have read the author's previous stories ~ eNovella A Lady of Esteem, introducing you to her full-length novel, A Noble Masquerade, you will have already met younger sister Georgina trotting behind her sister, Miranda. Perhaps you haven't liked her too much. Now she has a chance to redeem herself ~ maybe ~ as she speaks for herself in book 2, An Elegant Façade. Could it be her story may not match what others see ~ when she has something hidden from view ~ except her close maid and confidante?You may also be aware, or unaware ~ of Colin McCrae. He is a friend of Ryland, Duke of Marshington. There are business adventures and secret meetings going on and a continuation of a little spying it seems. What a fun game for Colin ~ that is until he comes across Lady Georgina Hawthorne at the masquerade opening of her debut to society. She has her "dance card" hoping for a well-planned Regency Season. With Colin volleying in the middle, there are a few snippets of "honest" conversation, should either of them pick up on it.Learning to trust and get beyond the plan to be herself, Georgina may find her sister Miranda has never been an obstacle, but rather a true friend.The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. ~ Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14The unraveling of true self and direction change courses of lives. What is hidden will be known from the rendering of the heart. From all of the speculation between men and women, known to be known is the best find of all.I always anticipate with them, who will come calling? Having to make small talk and a line forming at the door. Previously giving a signal that you would like to be called upon, and you wait for them to have gotten the clue and arrive on visiting day. Do they know and use the fan language? The Regency era gave way to misinterpretation without being forthright. Colin and Georgina don't seem to have a problem being heard if... they listen.***Thank you to Bethany House for sending a review copy of Kristi Ann Hunter's An Elegant Façade, Book 2 in the Hawthorne House series. This review was written in my own words. No other compensation was received.***
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I liked the characters in An Elegant Facade and how they were not perfect. They each had their issues and has to learn to work around them in order to do what is really best. Georgina is trying to find a rich husband without really worrying about who is is and her attraction to him. Colin is trying to become more accepted as he doesn't have the right background to go with his money and business status. I liked how the characters seemed to learn to work together for their common goals. This is the second book in the series and it does help to have read the first one although many things are in the second book as well to help you out. I received a copy of the book from the author to read and review.