S.D. Grady’s latest offering is the story of the upbringing and courtship of highland beauty Fiona Fairweather. Orphaned Fiona is raised in a unique manner by her spinster aunt, learning to be an “accomplished” noble lady and an involved highland landowner. Fiona’s dual training is to make her a competent English baroness, as she was betrothed in the cradle to her parents’ friends’ heir Roger Ranly. But in addition to her training she has learned another lesson from her cynical aunt and from the buffets of fate that conspired repeatedly to take her loved ones while leaving her alone, not to trust easily.

Now where Fiona is high-spirited and “AN ACCOMPLISHED LADY,” her fiancé Roger, despite being the fond playmate of her childhood years in England, has become a stuffed shirt with a vastly different mentality. That’s when the tale twists. Seventeen-year-old Fiona makes the acquaintance of Lord Walter Reginald Pettigrew, the earl of Rocheford. He is a young friend of her father-in-law-to-be and the young earl renders an invaluable service to the young debutante.

Roger, meanwhile, getting town polish in London, realizes he needs a more docile wife than his betrothed. But fate steps in and after losing her aunt to a long illness, marriage is imminent for Fiona and her the childhood companion despite their differing tastes. Even as Roger falls in love, the earl of Rocheford is dispatched to escort Fiona to her fiancé’s family in London.

What then follows is the most romantic part of the book. Circumstances en route to London reveal to Fiona what a “prince among men” her escort is, while Lord Walter too is charmed by the fortitude of the young girl. And in an near-Arthurian twist, in spite of falling in love, Fiona is conned by interference of the Dowager countess of Rocheford to stand by her parents’ promise rather than taking a chance with love. But the unexpected events in London allow the earl a second chance to win the young maid’s bruised heart. To know what those circumstances are and to find out what obstacles they must cross to find love again…pick up S.D. Grady’s AN ACCOMPLISHED LADY today! 

 The book is filled with unexpected twists, and Fiona, with a little help from Lord Walter, comes through her trials a brighter gem and a prize wife for many a reason. But the main lesson this tale offers is that sometimes a leap in the dark is the only obstacle between a life well-lived and mere existence. I give this story and its charming characters a seven on ten and recommend it as an entertaining read. Happy Reading all!

November 27, 2007