Proof by Seduction

Historical romance fans will celebrate Milan's powerhouse debut, which comes with a full complement of humor, characterization, plot and sheer gutsiness. The setting is 1836 London, where fortune teller Madame Esmerelda, née Jenny Keeble, plies her dubious trade at the fringes of respectability. She draws the ire of Gareth Carhart, marquess of Blakely, when his young cousin and heir falls under Madame Esmerelda's spell. Socially inept scientist Gareth wants to prove that Jenny is a fraud, leading to some delightful nonsense as Jenny inventively complicates the terms of Gareth's “proof,” but the more these two tangle, the more they come to see each other's attractive qualities among the flaws. If too much psychoanalysis sometimes gets read into a single heated gaze, such freshman flaws barely distract from the joy of watching the characters develop amid delightful plot twists. (Jan.)