Lady in Disguise

This one had so much promise but fell short. For me, the story got off to a rocky start with several instances of "as you know" dialogue which felt unnatural and ham-fisted as a way to insert backstory. No one talks like that in real life. "As you know sister, our cousin left us penniless after Father died" etc etc. So on to the story itself... We start with 3 sisters who have been left penniless by their aforementioned villainous cousin who inherited their parents' estate. The two eldest turn to highway robbery to make ends meet, which is where my first conflict started. While I'm certainly sympathetic to their plight and there's something interesting about highwaywomen, to resort to robbing people at gunpoint to keep up appearances and not have to let on that you're poor creates a questionable morality compared to, let's say, stealing so you don't starve. They could easily have gone to the Duke, William's brother, who is a close family friend, but they have their pride you know. I feel like that whole highwaywomen plot point got relatively short shrift in the story and is a missed opportunity to explore an interesting premise more deeply. Olivia often annoyed me - she was frequently independent to the point of stupidity and talk about sending mixed signals to Lord Ryder. Still she had determination and grit, which is refreshing in a time period when women were expected to be docile and biddable decorations. I think I liked Phoebe the most out of the 3 sisters but I don't think I'll continue the series to the next book to read her story. The cousin is a mustache-twirling paint-by-number villain. He leaves the sisters alone for a long period of time after he inherited the estate and title, despite Olivia's repeated pleas to support them. It's only when Olivia goes to London to visit him that he (view spoiler)[lets her in on his plot to marry her youngest sister to "breed an heir", sell Phoebe off to the highest bidder, and keep Olivia as his whore or else reveal the fact that her father killed himself, thereby ruining all 3 sisters. (hide spoiler)] He apparently has some fairly extreme (view spoiler)[sexual appetites and has decorated his house with lewd paintings and sculptures, al the better to set the mood for the orgies he hosts. (hide spoiler)] After he almost (view spoiler)[rapes Olivia and leaves bruises and a bite mark on her breasts, (hide spoiler)] Olivia decides that she and her sisters must resort to a more extreme plan and so she and Phoebe concoct a plan to (view spoiler)[either kidnap the cousin and do I-don't-know-what with him or flee to Scotland or elsewhere where they can make a fresh start and be free of his nefarious plans. (hide spoiler)] Once they decide on this course, Olivia realizes that not only does she love Will, but this will mean she can't have a future with him - far be it to appeal to him for help since his money and influence could solve all of her problems. So she (view spoiler)[allows them one night together at the London hotel, where he takes her virginity but doesn't notice the bruises or bite mark, which I found very implausible. He also doesn't notice the knife wound (yet) she got when she robbed his coach at the opening of the story. He also doesn't notice it days later when they have sex again in the daylight in the stable. It's only when he's taking care of her after a fall from her horse that he sees it and connects it to his suspicion that she is the highway robber. (hide spoiler)] The plans are rather far-fetched and Will finally breaks her down to reveal her circumstances and the situation with the cousin. From there, he takes over and this is my other moment of wtf with the story. Will has his man investigate (view spoiler)[the cousin and finds out not only has he gambled away most of his inheritance, but he's also been linked to the murders of 2 young women/girls. So Will buys up his debts and orders him to move to America, presumably where he can prey on other helpless victims without the baggage of his potential crimes in England catching up with him. (hide spoiler)] Overall, this was an OK read that for me missed the mark in several key places and missed an opportunity to make something more interesting of the highway robbery angle.