Sable677

While I have read several of Raybourn's short stories in her Lady Julia series, A Curious Beginning is the first full length work of hers that I have read.  A Curious Beginning was an intriguing read that captured my interest in the very beginning and never let go.  Veronica has just lost her spinster aunt and decided to resume her world travels after putting her aunt's affairs to rest.  What she didn't expect was to interrupt a burglary, nearly get kidnapped, and get rescued by a mysterious stranger with ties to her family's past.  Veronica finds herself at the center of a mystery that leads her on a strange journey full of adventure, intrigue, and suspense.

Raybourn does a great job at setting up a good mystery by slowly leading the reader down the journey with Veronica.  The book is full of many twists and turns but the journey is enjoyable because of all the interesting adventures along the way until Raybourn is ready to introduce the truth of Veronica's past.  Veronica is a well developed character who is definitely ahead of her time which makes her so much fun as a leading character.  The reader gets to take this journey with Veronica and gets to see how she changes as she faces each obstacle put in her path.  Stoker is also a great character and proves himself to be the perfect partner for Veronica.  The romantic tension between these two is amazing, and this book does a great job at setting up a potential relationship.  Overall A Curious Beginning proved to be an amazing read that I would most definitely recommend, and I can't wait to check out Veronica's next adventure.

Received a copy of A Curious Beginning through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.