Book Review: Seducing the Governess by Margo Maguire

At First Sight: After the death of her parents, Mercy Franklin has no other option but employing herself as a governess to the nice of the Earl of Ashby. On her way to Ashby Hall, she's nearly run over 2, the second time by a young man who starts to tease her even as she tries to assist him back to his horse. 

Upon arriving to Ashby Hall, she quickly realizes that the man was her new employer, Nash,  and that Ashby Hall is a decaying great house, staffed with various of men who served under Nash in the army. Hardly ideal conditions to bring up young Lady Emmaline, but Mercy quickly grows attached to her charge... and to Lord Ashby.

Too bad Ashby Hall is full of secrets, not to mention the secrets in Mercy's past - the bombshell her mother dropped on her before she died - and that might be catching up with her sooner than she expected.

Second Glance: Seducing the Governess is the first book of a pair of stories regarding the Duke of Windermere's lost granddaughters, and at such has sort of 2 plots running through it - one of the search for the lost granddaughters and the other of Mercy's life at Ashby Hall, and the book suffers a bit from, because it's kind of short. I did like Mercy and Emmy, and even Nash, but the book went around in circles a bit too much (and yes, I spotted the bad guy right at the very start of the story). 

Also, I had problems with the very beginning of the story, when Mercy and Nash meet, it was a bit too Jane Eyre for my peace of mind, but not in a nice way - rather in a I've read this before kind of way - and it was sort of hard to put that from my mind.

Bottom Line: I can't really compare this book to other works by Margo Maguire because it's the first one by her that I've read, but I'm not terribly impressed with this one. Tolerable at best, though the characters were nice.