Lydia is a widow who has felt inadequate for most of her life. She helps release a man from prison who helped her husband to fulfill a promise and that is where all her problems begin. While on her way to London to assist her family for the Season, she is confronted by a man who blackmails her into helping him infiltrate Society to discover if there are traitors there.
Christien is a Frenchmen, which doesn't automatically appeal to anyone at this time in England, but he claims that he is loyal to England. His father was murdered due to the way the country is being run. When Lydia sets him free from prison, he goes back to playing spy. He has to work pretty hard to get Lydia to trust him.
Once Lydia believes that Christien is trying to help her and the country, they have to work together to discover who the real blackmailer is. Lydia is trying to survive the Season with her sisters' reputations intact, which proves to be more difficult than she thought. One headstrong, independent sister ends up breaking off her engagement and wanting to fly in hot air balloons, the other ends up preferring gentlemen best left alone.
I actually was pleasantly surprised by this book. After mucking through my first try, I found myself enjoying the interactions between Lydia and Christien a lot. The whole spy aspect of the book was a little confusing as I wasn't sure exactly what the point of infiltrating Society would be. Nevertheless, I was glad to get back to reading it, not a chore at all.
The series title, The Daughters of Bainbridge House, leads me to believe that there are plans to write about Cassandra and Honore, Lydia's sisters, but I can't see any evidence that they are being written at present. The author has published two more books since this one, but they aren't part of the series. If she ends up writing them and I see them pop up for free, I'll snatch them up. I will simply avoid the Midwives series. A Necessary Deception - Good Book!
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