Review - - Against the Wind

Against the Wind
Agents of the Crown - Book 2
By Regan Walker
Publisher:  Boroughs Publishing Group
Release Date:  March 29, 2013

Returning to London in 1817, Sir Martin Powell is ready to put a life of political intrigue behind him but the Prince has one more assignment before he can do that.  He's sending Sir Martin to the English Midlands to investigate rumors of an uprising against the Crown.  Before he leaves London, at the urging of a friend, Martin pays a visit to an exclusive brothel.  Still grieving the death of his beloved wife and unborn child on the streets of Paris during the war, he has no interest in a romantic entanglement but one night in the arms of a skilled courtesan will help him forget, if only for a few hours.  It should have been that simple, but when Martin confuses the brothel owner's directions and opens the wrong door, what he discovers is a woman who will challenge everything he thinks he wants...and does not want.

Life has not been easy for Katherine, Lady Edgerton.  The daughter of an earl, Kit is married off to a man old enough to be her grandfather who then dies shortly after their marriage, leaving her with very few resources.  She moves in with her ailing sister and brother-in-law to care for her sister but cannot help but be wary around her sister's cruel husband, the Earl of Rutledge.  Her sister has barely taken her final breath when the man tries to force himself on Kit, telling her she was the one he had wanted all along and now meant to have.  Escaping, Kit takes refuge with the only person she can trust, her former nanny, now the owner of an exclusive brothel.  When Martin accidentally enters her room, Kit is intrigued by the handsome man with the gentle manner.  Still shaken from her earlier encounter with the Earl, she's soothed and intrigued by this man who treats her with reverence and makes a decision that will change the course of her life.

Regan Walker once again seamlessly blends together real events and people with fictional characters and her own imagination in a book that flows beautifully from beginning to end.  Following the war with France, England enters a period of social unrest and economic change, a tumultuous time into which Walker's characters are plunged.  Danger surrounds them as Martin, who marries Kit to keep her safe, works to prevent a revolution while at the same time nurturing a relationship with his new wife while keeping her in the dark as to the reason they are really in the Midlands.  To the passion that flares between them from the beginning, they slowly forge a friendship that gradually deepens into love.  Danger, Martin's secret life and a nasty villain bent on revenge against Kit, combined with the peaks and valleys of a marriage of convenience that is evolving into something more, give us a story that's sure to keep readers, as it did me, flipping pages late into the night to find out what happens next.

Walker's books are impeccably researched, immersing the reader into the time and place in which they are set.  Her characters are well formed and believable.  Kit and Martin had me rooting for them from the beginning.  Martin, in particular, won my heart with the way he treated Kit.  Secondary characters add to the richness of the overall story with those from the first book in the series giving readers a peek into their post-HEA lives and introducing Martin's brother, the hero of the next book, an intriguing privateer I can't wait to visit again.

While this book stands on it's own, if you're like me, once you finish Kit and Martin's story you'll be off to pick up a copy of the first book in the series, RACING WITH THE WIND as well as counting down the months until the publication of the next one, WIND RAVEN.  In the meantime, why not pick up a copy of AGAINST THE WIND.  I highly recommend it.

~PJ

Today's Special - - Regan Walker

We're happy to welcome Regan Walker back to the blog today.  I recently read Regan's latest historical, AGAINST THE WIND, second in her Agents of the Crown series, and enjoyed it a lot.  Regan joins us today to answer some questions about both this book, her Agents of the Crown series and other things going on in her life.  Please join us!

Welcome back, Regan!  Congratulations on the recent release of AGAINST THE WIND, the second book in your Agents of the Crown series.  Please tell our readers what they can expect from this series and this book.

The idea for the trilogy came from my early love of mysteries and spy stories and my knowledge that all branches of government have their own agents. It wasn’t much of a stretch to conceive of the Prince Regent asking a few of his subjects to take on “special assignments.” Kings have been doing it for centuries. Hence my trilogy features heroes who have been asked by the Prince Regent to take on unique tasks. First there was Racing With The Wind, and the British Lord who masqueraded as the Nighthawk, the thief of Napoleon’s secrets. Next is my latest release, Against the Wind, the story of Sir Martin Powell, the agent for the Crown in France who has come home to England for one last assignment. The 3^rd in the trilogy—Wind Raven—takes place on a schooner and in the Caribbean in 1817 and features a rakish sea captain and a pirate who plied the seas around Puerto Rico at the time.

In Against the Wind, Sir Martin returns from ten years in France during Napoleon’s reign and before he begins his last assignment for the Prince Regent, he decides to have one night of pleasure in the most elegant bordello in London, Willow House. It is there he meets a beautiful redhead name Kit, never knowing she is the daughter of an earl, and a dowager baroness. While still knowing little about each other, he will sweep her away to the Midlands—and into the storms of revolution.

I fell in love with Martin and was firmly in Kit’s corner from the beginning.  What one thing do you want readers to understand about these two characters?

Kit, the beautiful redhead Sir Martin calls “Kitten,” is a wounded soul. When the story opens she and her

sister have already lost their parents, and in the middle of her first Season, Kit was forced to wed an old baron who, though he treated her kindly, was more like a grandfather than a husband. The baron died two weeks into their marriage and Kit went to live with her sister and her husband the Earl of Rutledge. When Kit’s beloved sister dies, her brother-in-law, the earl tries to take her by force. She flees to the only place she can think of…and runs right into the arms of Sir Martin. In Martin, Kit finds a gentle man whose lovemaking stirs her passions and whose words of comfort soothe her wounded soul. But Martin is wounded too, as he saw his wife murdered on the streets of Paris five years earlier. Together they will help each other heal as they become embroiled in the Pentrich Rebellion of 1817.

What one scene would you never cut from AGAINST THE WIND?

The scene in the bordello when Martin first makes love to Kit. It is the point around which their relationship pivots and essentially seals their fate.

I love how you weave the fictional story together with both real historical events as well as real people.  It draws me into the story and when I finish, it’s as if I’ve enjoyed a history lesson without realizing it.  Have you always been fascinated by this period of English history?  Are there other time periods and places we might see in future books?

History and the people who lived long ago fascinate me. The Regency period of history drew me because so much was changing. Wars were ending, industrialization was coming and the common people were no longer content to let the aristocracy decide their future. In the prequel, To Tame the Wind, which I haven’t yet started writing, you will experience France in 1783 before the Revolution. And I have a William the Conqueror medieval romance I started some time ago, The Red Wolf’s Prize, set in 1067. I intend to come back to it when my trilogy is done. I am intrigued by how England changed when the Normans conquered the land. We often forget how much French is at the root of our English language because of that one event. For many years, French was spoken at the English court.

Even though our introduction to him was brief, I was intrigued by Martin’s brother.  I understand the third book in the series is his story.  When will that be released and what can we expect from that book?

That would be Captain Jean Nicholas Powell, Martin’s older brother, a rake, a former privateer and an English merchant sea captain—named for his grandfather, a French pirate, Jean Donet. I’m writing Nick’s story now. There is a lot of research involved in learning all the nautical terminology for a schooner of the period and all that was going on in the Caribbean. (My story will feature the pirate Roberto Cofresi as a character, who was a real historic figure of the time.) The heroine is an American from Baltimore who still remembers the English attacking her city in the War of 1812. I hope it will be out late this year, but I’m moving this summer and that will disrupt my writing.

Just for fun, if you could host a dinner party for up to ten (real) historical figures, who would you invite and why?

Oh, that is a challenge. Let’s see. Off the top of my head, I’d say these: (1) Sir Winston Churchill (my hero), (2) the Apostle Paul (the most quoted author by America’s founders), (3) Abraham Lincoln (not just one of our greatest Presidents but a thoughtful man of faith and integrity), (4) Germaine de Stael (an author and an amazing woman of her time—and a character in Racing With The Wind), (5) William Wilberforce (English statesman who fought against the English slave trade and won), (6) Selina, Countess of Huntingdon (a member of the nobility who became a committed Christian and did amazing work as a widow), (7) C.S. Lewis, (8) Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (Irish born member of the Protestant Ascendancy whose success as a British soldier earned him a dukedom), (9) Queen Victoria and (10) King David (from the Old Testament). How’s that for an eclectic group?

Wow, that's quite a group!  Your books sweep me away to another time and place.  If you could be swept away to any place or time for a romantic evening, where and when would you choose?

Oh, this is fun! Well, it would have to be romantic, and there would have to be stars above and a man, yes a man, who was handsome and strong and who loved me. I think it might take place in a castle, perhaps in Scotland with a Highland laird whose land was at peace (for the moment). There is much to commend clan life where each person had a role and all were part of a large family. If the laird was a good man and a generous leader, his people could thrive. Being his mate could be very challenging—to help care for the people and his lands. To stand on the top of a castle, looking out on a moonlight-bathed loch and feel his arms wrapped around me, ah yes. That would be romantic.

What would people be surprised to learn about you?

I am actually a very serious lawyer, though I have only practiced part time in recent years. My left brain is overdeveloped. Another thing that might surprise people (especially those who know the first thing) is that I am a rank sentimentalist—a complete and hopeless romantic.

I never go anywhere without my camera.  What do you never travel without?

A book. Unless I’m looking at gorgeous scenery or having a good conversation, I detest idle time just staring into space. I like to think, of course, but I really like reading. Since my mother taught me to read at age four, I have been an avid reader. And when people I’m meeting, say for dinner, are late, I just whip out my book or my Kindle and I’m content.

What are you working on now?

Wind Raven. It’s the third in the trilogy and given all that is going on in my life right now, and the amount of research involved, it’s going a bit slow. I’m learning that Nick (Martin’s brother) and Tara (the American heroine) are going to be a challenge. Two stubborn people fighting the inevitable.

Thank you, Regan!  Do you have a question for our readers today?

Yes! What would you like to see me include in Wind Raven? I’ve added a ship’s cat because I know many of my readers love cats, but I’d be interested to hear of any other things you might have in mind…a character’s name perhaps? Here’s your chance to influence the book! If you do, I’ll give you credit in the acknowledgements!