A Proper Facade by Esther Hatch is a delightful read. At first, I found the pacing to be slow, but it did pick up and became a story that forced me to stay up WAY past my bedtime furiously turning pages to see how things ended for Mercy and Nicholas. Of the characters, Nicholas is my favorite. In his youth, he made some mistakes and those mistakes incurred the disappointment of his father. Nicholas has been working tirelessly for years to make-up for those mistakes and the disappointment he has caused. Nicholas decided that the best thing he could do to make up for his past was to be perfect — follow every rule of propriety and Society to the letter. He decided to suppress his emotions and passions. Besides, all emotions and feelings ever did for him was get him into trouble, so hiding them can only be a good thing, right?! Then Nicholas meets Mercy. In quite the funny meet-cute, Mercy puts Nicholas’s rule following to the test. I love how Mercy and Nicholas meet, I love how she wakes him up from his robotic, stringent rule-following stupor, and I love how she brings out his passions and emotions. It was so much fun to watch! I also loved how Nicholas wakes Mercy up to the fact that love is not all about gushy feelings, gifts, and stolen passionate moments. Rather, it’s about choosing every day to be a constant, stable, dependable support for one another regardless of what life throws at you. It’s about passions and emotions, sure. But it’s also about sharing disappointments, struggles, and frustrations. Love is about growing into a partnership and being part of a team! I really enjoyed this message, and I had so much fun watching Mercy and Nicholas bumble their way to this truth.

A Proper Facade is a fantastic and fun Regency Romance that I highly recommend. It is a well-written Historical Romance filled with unique and endearing characters and timely themes. If you love Historical Romances, this is a story you do not want to miss!