Much as I enjoyed the writing and the story's first half, I found myself less delighted by the tangled, gratuitous misunderstandings and a plot device that sent the heroine running away in disguise because 1) the hero's failed to mention one word during his proposal and 2) her mistrust of his intentions regarding his surreptitious support. Also the young girl's aunt, a very pivotal character, fades away and disappears in the last third of the book. (There was the potential for two parallel romances to blossom. Auntie gets her man, but it's never much of romance either.)

In the first half, I got a wonderful sense of Julia and her aunt and how they were making their way out of society and then, suddenly, in it. They faced any number of perils given their mysterious elevation but they handled it all with aplomb. Also got to know the hero, though his aloof approach to Julia stymied the developing romance for me. They simply didn't interact much. To me, the revelation of Julia's benefactor's identity and its possible, untoward consequences (in the hands of antagonists) could have been sufficient to carry the plot and create jeopardy. Instead there was an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink series of complications involving bit players that distracted me from the H/h - who were apart for most of it - and it all seemed gratuitous, culminating with Lord Chas. actually wrecking his curricle near the Cit's estate just to see Julia. Finally.

Overall, I wasn't swept up in their tangle, I just felt the urge to cut through it.

Lovely young Julia Edgeworth lost everything except her beauty, her breeding, and her quick temper when her father gambled away the family estate and then passed away himself. Handsome, haughty, and fabulously wealthy Lord Charles Langley had everything a man could desire-except a wife to help continue his noble family line. Only an aristocrat as powerful and imperious as Lord Charles could see a young lady like Julia and exalted social level and then to grant her the priceless privilege of becoming his wife.Only Julia would be so fiercely proud and foolishly headstrong as to say no...
"Vanessa Gray is a sensitive storyteller who always touches readers' hearts." I very much recommend this book to those who love the regency period. A wonderful read and a fine example of regency writing!