Kyahgirl

4.5/5; 5 stars; AThis book was recommended to me by my GR friend, Werner, who manages one of the groups I belong to, Action Heroine Fans. I loved the protagonist in this story, Sarah Tolerance, and she is definitely a worthy character for the Action Heroine Fans to admire! I really enjoyed this book, even despite that fact that I've been resistant to reading historical fiction in recent months. Once I got going on the story, the characters really pulled me and kept me there, for the duration. Many other reviewers have talked about the plot and story line so I won't say much there. I will just mention, in passing, the mystery and intrigue were engaging throughout the book and comprised a solid regency era detective story. What impacted me more in the book was the people and the sense of 'the time', from a female perspective. I felt a great deal of admiration for the fortitude and character displayed by Sarah Tolerance, in making her way in a world that was completely hostile to any female falling outside the accepted roles for females (limited as they were to married woman, respectable daughter, tradesperson/apprentice/servant/, or whore). The other characters were well drawn and seemed realistic.This heroine has her share of courage, ingenuity, humility and kindness. It was sad to see her fall in love and ultimately have to let that go in order to do the right thing, but I think the saddest thing was the betrayal by her aunt. Of all the people in Sarah's world who should have been solidly in her court, Aunt Thea, should have been the most reliable. You would think a family member and a female to boot would have made her the one solid gold ally in Sarah's world. I am definitely going to read the other two books in this series.