Throwback Thursday Review - - Heir to Sevenwaters

Heir to Sevenwaters
The Sevenwaters Series - Book 4
By Juliet Marillier
Published by: Penguin / Ace
Release Date: November 4, 2008
Reviewed by PJ 

For generations, the family of Sevenwaters has protected the Fair Folk who inhabit the vast and mysterious Otherworld that is only accessible through hidden portals in the deep forest on Sevenwaters land.   Their alliance has been beneficial to both, giving neither side reason to break the trust between them, but lately there have been rumblings of a darker presence among the Fair Folk and events soon unfold that will change everything between the two worlds.

Set in ancient Erin, this is the story of Clodagh, third of six daughters of Lady Aisling and Lord Sean of Sevenwaters.  Clodagh is the steady sort who excels in housekeeping and organization and is often a sounding board for her father, the chieftain.  As the story opens her twin sister is getting married and leaving but Clodagh has put her dreams of a husband and children on hold to care for her family and home as her mother struggles through a difficult pregnancy while anticipating the long-awaited birth of her seventh child, the potential heir to Sevenwaters.   When the weakened Lady Aisling gives birth to a boy but cannot care for him she places him in the capable hands of her responsible daughter, Clodagh, knowing no harm will come to him in her care.  But when Clodagh’s attention is diverted for an instant the baby disappears and in his place she finds an ugly changeling made of leaves and twigs that only she can see breathe and hear cry.  The abduction sends her mother into a downward spiral and her father turns cold and suspicious of the daughter he once trusted implicitly, the daughter who was seen kissing a young, visiting warrior at the exact time her brother was being kidnapped.  Unwilling to listen to Clodagh’s suspicions of otherworldly involvement her father focuses all of his attention on the political rivals he is certain have stolen his son and on the young warrior who has conveniently disappeared.  When no one will listen to her Clodagh realizes that it is up to her to rescue her baby brother from the shadowy beings she is certain have taken him.  She sets aside her fears and embarks upon a journey into the mysterious Otherworld to exchange the changeling for her brother, reluctantly allowing the young warrior, who seems to know more about the frightening and dangerous place than a human should, to accompany her.

Marillier’s lushly descriptive writing brings to life a shadowy and perilous Fair Folk realm inhabited by strange creatures and ruled by a handsome but unscrupulous fey prince with no conscience and a very big secret.  The Otherworld and its inhabitants could easily have stolen the spotlight during this part of the story, but the author has deftly painted them as a mystical backdrop with an important supporting cast while allowing the heroine of the story, her quest and the deepening relationship with her hero to take center stage.  (I really liked these two young people and quickly became fully invested in their struggle to find a way to be together.)  Tested at every turn and against insurmountable odds, this ordinary girl with no special powers who has always relied on others to protect her gradually discovers that with the courage of selfless love, the impossible becomes possible and a brave young woman can not only rescue herself but her family and her beloved as well.

This is the fourth book in the Sevenwaters series, coming six years after publication of book #3, but my introduction to the works of Juliet Marillier.  While characters from the three previous books in the series either made appearances or were referenced in this book, reading Heir to Sevenwaters first in no way diminished my enjoyment of the story.  In fact, I enjoyed this book so much that I have already begun looking for the first three books: Daughter of the Forest, Son of the Shadows, and Child of the Prophecy. 

Update: If you're looking for lushly written, historical fantasy, I highly recommend Juliet Marillier. You will happily lose yourself in the mystical worlds of her creation.

The Sevenwaters Series (in order)

Daughter of the Forest

Son of the Shadows

Child of the Prophecy

Heir to Sevenwaters

Seer of Sevenwaters

Flame of Sevenwaters

Marillier's current series is set in Medieval Ireland, one of my favorite eras and places. Three books in the Blackthorn and Grim series have been published to date:

Dreamers Pool

Tower of Thorns

Den of Wolves

Do you enjoy fantasy novels? 

Do you have favorite titles or authors you would recommend?

Have you read Juliet Marillier's books yet?

Review and Q&A - - Tiffany Girl: A Novel

Tiffany Girl: A Novel
By Deeanne Gist
Publisher: Howard Books
Release Date: May 5, 2015

In 1893, the United States prepared to welcome the world to the Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair. In New York City, Louis C. Tiffany's plan to create a stained glass mosaic chapel for the Fair was thrown into chaos when his male workforce went on strike. Desperate to finish the project in time, Tiffany made the controversial decision to hire female art students to replace the striking men.

The only child of a successful barber and seamstress, Flossie Jayne grew up happy, loved and assured of her place in the world. Flossie's parents adored, indulged and encouraged her in her artistic pursuits - perhaps a bit too much, as indulgent parents are wont to do. With that background, it should come as no surprise that when her father's betting losses mean Flossie will have to leave art school, it's a situation she does not accept gracefully. Talking her way into a job with Mr. Tiffany when he visits her art class, Flossie makes the bold decision to leave her father's home, move into a boarding house and claim her wages for her own. She becomes a New Woman.

Life as a New Woman is not as carefree or successful as Flossie anticipates. There are many potholes she must navigate and truths she must face if she wishes to remain an independent woman. Might the handsome but quiet boarder across the hall be the one to help Flossie find destiny's path?

Newspaperman, Reeve Wilder is a loner who likes his solitude. Raised by stern grandparents following his mother's death, Reeve has never learned the art of making friends or leading a well-rounded life. In fact, the only person he counts a friend is an elderly woman who also lives at Klausmeyer's Boarding House. When Flossie moves into the room across the hall, it's a bit like being hit upside the head with a Suzy-sunshine, chatterbox two-by-four. He's annoyed, then intrigued and, finally, reluctantly charmed. But he's had a lifetime of being alone. Does he possess the inner strength to step outside his self-imposed box and what will happen if he does?

In each of her Chicago World's Fair books, Deeanne Gist has created a sense of time and place that draws me into the world of her characters as if I'm traveling their journey with them. Her research is impeccable and it shows in the details sprinkled throughout. The characters are true to their time and I appreciate the intimate glimpses into their daily lives that show us how people actually lived in 1893 New York City. Another by-product of all that research. The secondary characters run the gamut from Flossie's parents to her co-workers at Tiffany's to angry, male strikers to her fellow boarders. Gist's method of revealing details about each of the boarders is clever and gives us insight into each of them without having to employ an "info dump." I found it delightful and wished Flossie had a question for me. Real people and fictional characters are interwoven seamlessly in this book, with the fictional characters being so well developed and realistic that, at times, I forgot which was which. Not mere window dressing, many of the secondary characters contribute significantly to the story and move the plot forward.

Some of you may associate Deeanne Gist with inspirational novels. The Chicago World's Fair books are not inspirational but they do fall on the sweet side of the fence. I would classify Tiffany Girl as historical fiction with a warm romance but no sex. That's not to say there isn't sexual tension and real emotion that left me a thoroughly satisfied romance reader along with all the wonderful details that satisfied my historical curiosity.

While we can't travel through time to visit the 1893 World's Fair, we can do the next best thing and experience it through the wonderful pages of Tiffany Girl as well as the two previous books in this series, It Happened at the Fair and Fair Play (stand-alone books). I highly recommend them all.

~PJ


Q&A with Deeanne Gist:

PJ: Thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions for me, Deeanne. I just finished reading TIFFANY GIRL and, once again, thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in the lives of your characters during this evolving time in history. What inspired you to set this series of books during the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair?

Deeanne: I’d only planned to write one book about the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair (It Happened at the Fair), but by the time I’d done the research for that book, I was stunned at what a pivotal event it was for our country. Why it has been left out of our high school history classes, I don’t know, but it set the standard for architecture in the upcoming century. It introduced foreign cultures to our amazed population. It wowed the world with our scientific innovations, and it gave women their first official board position recognized and approved by an Act of Congress (all before we had the right to vote).

There was so much I wanted to include in that first book but didn’t have room. So I called the publisher and said, “Let’s make this a Chicago World’s Fair series.” And they said yes. The books can be read in any order, since the only character they have in common is the Fair.

Tiffany Girl is set around the all-mosaic chapel that Louis C. Tiffany exhibited at the Fair. It was his big debut in stained glass, and five months before the Fair his glass workers went on strike. In an act of desperation, he hired women art students to complete the exhibit, since females weren’t allowed to be members of the union. No one believed a set of young, inexperienced women could complete the project in time. But not only did they complete it, they became a permanent fixture within Tiffany’s studio and were given the name “Tiffany Girls.” I decided to fictionalize one of those girls.

Flossie Jayne, the heroine of this book, is one of those "Tiffany Girls" and might be considered a bit of a rebel for her time. What would you like readers to understand about this character?

When I start building the protagonist of a book, I make a fictional timeline of her life from birth to the first page of the book. That helps me know what baggage the heroine brings to the book. In order to build her backstory, I research women of the time who had the same profession as my heroine. In this case, women artists.

I read journals and books and newspaper articles from back in the day. One of those journals was written by a woman who was an only child and the apple of her parents’ eyes. So I decided to make Flossie Jayne an only child. From there, I read all kinds of books about what it was like to be an only child—the things they struggle with, the things they excel at, the characteristics that are common among them, etc.

With all of that under my belt, I found I had a vivacious and ambitious young woman bursting onto the first page of the book. She’d been told her entire life that she was extraordinarily talented (whether she was or not) and that she was a very special snowflake (whether she was or not). When she makes the bold move to leave home to become a working “New Woman” (a rather shocking thing for a single woman at the time), she suddenly discovers that life in the real world is not at all she’d been led to believe it would be.

I’m fascinated by the level of detail in this book and the intimate look into the private and professional lives of people in 1893 New York City. Are there other books or research sources you would recommend for readers who would like to learn more about this era?

Oh, golly. I read hundreds of books and articles during my research. There wasn’t any particular one that jumped out more than others. I wish there had been. It would have definitely made my job a lot easier! But as it was, I would read an entire book and only be able to use limited information from perhaps a chapter or two. The problem was, I didn’t know what information I would need without reading the entire book!

Still, I read about the social climate of New York City, the economic climate, the political climate, and even about the actual climate (as in weather). As for the actual Tiffany Girls, there was one book that did rise to the top. It is called A New Light on Tiffany, and it was written by the scholars who uncovered boxes of letters written by the head of Tiffany’s Women’s Department, Clara Driscoll. It provided a great overview. From there, I hunted down those same handwritten letters and found them in a historical society. I read all of the ones Clara had written during the 1890s. Those also gave me an intimate look at NYC at the turn of the century.

Have you ever attended a World’s Fair?  If so, what did you find most impressive?

Oh, I wish I had! I would LOVE to have gone to one. I can tell you this, though: when anyone ever asks me where I’d like to go if I could travel back in time, I now have an immediate and ready answer: “To the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition!”

Women made significant contributions at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, from management to all types of labor. Your World’s Fair books have included females in a variety of roles ranging from doctors to nurses to ceiling painters to Tiffany glass makers. If you could travel back in time and be part of this event, what role would you want to fill?

I honestly think I’d like to go as a guest. Is that cheating? But if I were to go back as a doctor, or nurse, or Tiffany Girl, I wouldn’t have the freedom that the guests do, and I’d definitely want the freedom to explore every inch of every building and all the grounds without any time restraints.

Not cheating at all! I think it would be wonderful fun to go as a guest!

What’s next? Will there be more World’s Fair books?

Alas, Tiffany Girl is the final book in the World’s Fair series, and I depart from the Fair with a bittersweet feeling—probably not all that different from those who actually waved goodbye to the Fair back then. I leave it with feelings of awe at what we, as a country, accomplished in the 400 years since Columbus’ discovery. With feelings of pride for all that America was and is. With feelings of excitement for the innovation of man in general and Americans in particular. And a feeling of nostalgia for a time when all the world could gather in one place in perfect peace and harmony.

As for what’s next, I have about five ideas rattling around in my head and have not quite decided which one I’m going to pursue. When I do, I’ll be sure to The Romance Dish readers know, though!

Thanks so much for having me. It’s been a joy!

Thank you, Deeanne! I'll be looking forward with anticipation to whatever comes next!

Readers, have you ever attended a World's Fair?

If you could go back in time to the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, what role would you want to fill? Guest? Glass maker? Female Doctor? Architect? Would you want a seat on the Women's Board? 

A character in Tiffany Girl builds a home from a Sears, Roebuck house kit. Have you ever constructed a building from a kit? How'd it go?

Review - - Twice Tempted

TWICE TEMPTED

A Drake’s Rakes Novel

Author: Eileen Dreyer

Publisher:  Grand Central

Release Date: November 25, 2014

This is the first book by Eileen Dreyer I’ve ever read. When PJ offered me the ARC of Twice Tempted, I was very excited to read it because I’d head good things about her books, and the premise of this story sounded great.  While there were a few aspects of the book I liked, unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I’d hoped I would.

Twice Tempted is the story of Alex Knight, Lord Whitmore, and Fiona Ferguson. Alex is a member of Rake’s Drakes, a group of aristocrats who are secretly covert agents for the Crown. Years ago, Alex saved Fiona and her twin sister Mairead from life on the streets and delivered them to the safety of their grandfather’s home. Or so he thought. Little did Alex know that the Ferguson girls’ grandfather was a cold, harsh man more concerned with reputation and appearance then their well-being, and would throw them back out on the street at the first opportunity.  Once Alex finds out, he’s determined to find Fiona and her sister and help them take their rightful place in society. However, fate intervenes and instead, Fiona and Alex get caught up in a complicated web of secrets, lies, murder, and treason.

Fiona Ferguson is a woman who seems to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders.  Charged with the care of  Mairead from a young age, she has become stoic, independent, and fierce, and protective. Through bitter experiences from her past, she learns to rely and trust no one.  While Fiona has indeed been tested enough for ten lifetimes, and her strength and determination is incredibly admirable, her character frustrated me at times. Her flight or flight response seems perpetually set to flight. Every time an obstacle is encountered, her instinct is to run away and start over, instead of making the hard decisions and having the hard conversations to deal with the issue. Fiona never trusts Alex’s feelings, and keeps chalking it up to his feelings of honor and duty.  In fact, her choice to run one last time was especially maddening because it was SO self-sacrificing that it bordered on martyrdom.  Her rationale was that she loved Alex too much to make him choose between her and his father, so she and Mairead were going to disappear to spare him that agonizing choice.  While noble on the surface, added to a litany of similar thoughts and actions, it became way too much. For some reason, she also keeps beating herself up for what she’s done in her past, as if it were all her responsibility and all within her control. Many would consider what she did to survive and protect her sister admirable, but Fiona thinks herself inadequate and unworthy of the love of a good man because of her “failures”.  However, I will say that I really enjoyed the relationship between the sisters, and truly do admire the kindness and patience Fiona exhibits in dealing with Mairead, whose quirks and idiosyncrasies stem from a form of autism and can make her challenging to manage.

From the beginning, Alex Knight is a man haunted by demons from his past. He has incredibly high expectations of himself and like Fiona, beats himself up for every perceived failure and shortcoming. I never fully understood why he seemed compelled to take on everyone’s problem as his own and blame himself every time something went wrong, even when it was clearly out of his control.  There were moments I wanted to shake him and tell him to get over himself, and to give himself a break already.  I also found his near-worship of Fiona a bit disconcerting. He clearly has held a torch for Fiona for quite some time, but he seems to have put her on a pedestal and think she can do no wrong.  That is a relationship dynamic I have trouble dealing with.  However, I do like that he is honorable and brave, and determined to protect Fiona and Mairead no matter what the costs. One of my favorite parts of the book is the relationship between Alex an d his father, Sir Joseph. The father/son dynamic was really wonderfully done.

I did like the suspense and mystery aspect of the book, and Dreyer does a great job of depicting the slums and rookeries of London. I also really enjoyed the wide cast of secondary characters, including street urchin Lennie and Alex’s friend Chuffy, who ends up having a sweet secondary romance with Mairead. In fact, sad to say, I ended up liking the Chuffy/Mairead relationship better than Alex and Fiona’s.

While Eileen Dreyer’s books and stories appeal to many, Twice Tempted definitely did not work for me. I didn’t connect to the couple, and while the plot was good, I wasn’t wowed by the writing. I may give her books another chance in the future, but given what I’ve read so far, I don’t have high hopes.

~Lisa

Today's Special - - The Rebel Pirate Blog Tour

The Rebel Pirate
Renegades of the Revolution - Book 2
By Donna Thorland
Publisher: NAL
Release Date: March 4, 2014

Secrets, betrayals, intrigue, heartbreak, love, loyalty, hope.  All are themes in play in Donna Thorland's fascinating new novel, The Rebel Pirate.  Set in 1775 in Colonial Massachusetts, the story plays out against the backdrop of the tumultuous days leading up to the American Revolution.

The daughter of a notorious pirate, Sarah Ward wants only to care for her family and begin a secure, respectable life as the beloved wife of successful merchant Micah Wild.  But when Sarah's family loses their fortune, Micah breaks her heart by marrying her best friend then puts Sarah and her younger brother in danger by smuggling arms and Rebel gold aboard one of her father's ships. When that ship is overtaken by a British ship it is only through the quick thinking of Sarah, disguised as a boy, that the tables are turned.

Master and Commander James Sparhawk is a well-respected British Naval officer but not without his enemies, most notably his second in command.  When James makes the decision to avoid bloodshed by sending the captured gold back to his ship with his lieutenant and crew, he places himself in the gun-holding hands of Sarah Ward and her promise that he'll be put ashore unharmed at the first port.  What he doesn't know at the time is that the gold will go missing with the blame being cast on James and labeling both him and Sarah as traitors to the Crown.

As Sarah and James grow closer their loyalties are put to the test.  Loyalty to opposing sides in the coming war and loyalty to one another. Sarah's father's health is deteriorating, she suspects one brother is involved in secret Rebel activities while the other is at risk of being impressed into the British Navy.  They are her priority and keeping them safe is paramount.  She's falling for James as he is for her but he cannot offer her marriage.  His name is not his own to give away and if he chooses to publicly reveal his true identity  it could place Sarah in danger.  When James is imprisoned and Sarah is at risk of the same, rescue and protection come from an unexpected source and difficult decisions must be made.  Caught between British officials and Colonial rebels, between the reality of their present and the secrets of their pasts, they must play both sides in a dangerous game to have any hope of avoiding the hangman's noose.  But there are still twists and turns, secrets, betrayals and unexpected revelations that will test the strength of their feelings and lead to a heart-stopping conclusion.

Donna Thorland is a master at creating a sense of time and place.  In The Rebel Pirate, she plunges the reader into the heart of a country on the precipice of war in a winner take all fight for independence. Her writing is crisp, the action realistic and well paced with vividly drawn characters who fairly leap from the page.  Thorland seamlessly interweaves real people and historical events with fiction to create a compelling story that captured me from the start and had me flipping pages as fast as I could until I reached the very satisfying conclusion.  In fact, her fictional characters and events blend so effortlessly with real ones that after reading one of her books, I expect to open a history book and find them listed in its pages.

I have thoroughly enjoyed Donna Thorlands's books The Turncoat (read my review here) and The Rebel Pirate.  If you haven't tried her Renegades of the Revolution yet, I highly recommend both.

~PJ

What about you, readers?  Do you enjoy books set in Colonial America?  Have you read Donna Thorland's books yet?  Are there other books set in this time and place that you would recommend?

One randomly chosen person leaving a comment will receive a copy of The Rebel Pirate.  (U.S. address only)


Following is a short Q&A with Donna Thorland:

What made you decide to write the Renegades of the Revolution series?

I wanted to read a swashbuckler set in 18^th century America but no one was writing them.

How is THE REBEL PIRATE different from the first book in the series, THE

TURNCOAT? Do you think the novels work just as well alone as together?

Both novels are standalones. THE REBEL PIRATE takes place earlier in the Revolution, when no one on either side of the conflict was quite sure if they were at war or not. What they share is strong heroines and a view of the American Revolution as a civil war rife with forgotten intrigues. They do work well together, and also share some background characters: both historical, and invented.

        What inspired the character of Sarah Ward? What about James Sparhawk?

When I worked at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem I managed the interpretation of our historic houses. (http://pem.org/visit/historic_houses) It was in intimate window into the lives of 18^th century women in a privateer port, and when I started to write THE REBEL PIRATE I drew on that experience. The Crowninshield-Bentley House in particular served as a model for Sarah Ward’s home.

http://mass.historicbuildingsct.com/?p=1958

James is part Alexander Hamilton, whose childhood—and probable bastardy—on Nevis shaped his character and formed his revolutionary ideals. And James is also a little bit James Annesley, the heir to the Earl of Angelsey whose story inspired Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped.

Other stops on Donna Thorland's The Rebel Pirate blog tour:

BLOG TOUR DATE	BLOG
March 3	Bitten by Books http://bittenbybooks.com/
March 4	Fresh Fiction http://www.freshfiction.com/
March 5	Book Binge http://bookbinge.com/
March 6	My Book Addiction and more http://www.mybookaddictionandmore.com/
March 10	Writer Space https://www.writerspace.com/
March 11	Romance Dish http://www.theromancedish.com/
March 12	The Royal Review http://theroyalreviews.blogspot.com/
March 13	Savvy Verse and Wit http://savvyverseandwit.com/
March 14	The Maiden’s Court http://themaidenscourt.blogspot.com/

Guest Review -- No Good Duke Goes Unpunished

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished
Rules of Scoundrels Series, Book 3
By Sarah MacLean
Publisher: Avon
Release Date: November 26, 2013

I first heard about Sarah MacLean when I was at Lady Jane’s Salon the spring of 2010, when she read from her romance debut, Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake. Just from the title alone, how can you not love it?!  I loved the premise of the book, and the humor, and by the time she finished reading, I was sold. I grabbed and bought a copy of Nine Rules right on the spot. I’ve been a Sarah MacLean fan ever since. I loved her Love By Numbers series, and her Rules of Scoundrels series is just as good. But her latest, No Good Duke Goes Unpunished, may be my favorite book by her to date and arguably, Sarah’s best book to date. 

The Rules of Scoundrels focuses on the four owners of The Fallen Angel, a Regency gaming hell/casino, and each book opens with an owner’s fall from grace. In the prologue to No Good Duke, we find out how William Harrow (aka Temple), the Duke of Lamont, came to have the moniker of “The Killer Duke”.  Accused of killing Mara Lowe, his father’s bride, on her wedding day, Temple is shocked, angry, and bewildered when Mara shows up in the flesh, very much alive. Needless to say, Temple demands answers, and isn’t in a forgiving or generous frame of mind when Mara asks him for help. Temple is determined to clear his name, restore his reputation, and she’s going to help him do it, come hell or high water.  But throughout the course of the book, his desire for revenge and vengeance against Mara begins to change and he comes to like, respect, admire, and love the woman who’d turned his life inside out and upside down. 

I absolutely loved Temple. Despite his harsh physical exterior, Sarah expertly paints a picture of what a toll Mara’s supposed murder took on him. It caused him to doubt himself, and that doubt has eaten away at him for years. Temple turned to bare-knuckle fighting because he was big and strong, and it gave him a way to channel his emotions and tame the demons inside, even if temporarily.  Temple understandably harbors a lot of anger and resentment over what Mara’s deception cost him, but he gradually makes peace with the past and starts looking forward to the future. For so long, Temple has suffered under the weight of being seen only as the “Killer Duke” –a novelty whose brute strength and body is a mere object of lust, fear, and fascination for London society. At long last, in Mara, he has someone who loves, trusts, and believes in him and sees him as he truly is. Through Mara, Temple regains his life because he reclaimed his humanity and decency for himself. We come to see that he is a caring, loyal, honorable, kind, and charming man who is protective of those he cares about.  The scenes with Temple, the boys, and Lavender perfectly exemplify what I mean, and they warmed my heart, as well as made me laugh. 

Desperate circumstances have forced Mara Lowe to come out of hiding and come face to face with the man accused of her murder. At first glance, it’s easy to make Mara unlikeable. After all, one could consider what she did cowardly and unforgiveable. But Sarah shows us that Mara had her reasons, she feels true remorse and guilt for what happened to Temple, and indeed, she didn’t escape the past twelve years unscathed. I liked that Mara held her own with Temple and the other owners of the Angel, and wanted to make things right.  I admired her resilient spirit and determination.  Sarah has said that she deliberately made the heroines of this series the ones to come to the hero’s rescue, not the other way around and I loved the scene when Mara rises to the challenge, and steps up to protect and rescue Temple. 

The relationship between Temple and Mara was great. Sarah paced the story very well so that their emotional journey felt realistic. Given the darker and more angsty tone of the book and series, Temple and Mara had a lot of scars and demons to overcome and Sarah deals with it all deftly. The romance was wonderful too-the chemistry between them was intense and combustible with the constant push and pull Temple and Mara engage in. Sarah did a great job of building the sexual tension and attraction between Mara and Temple layer by layer where they both fight and give in to their feelings every step of the way. But my favorite part was how Sarah used their growing feelings for each other as a way for Temple and Mara to lower their guard and be open and vulnerable with each other. Their path towards the truth mirrored their path to true love, and I enjoyed the parallels. 

I can’t recommend No Good Duke highly enough. It is a wonderful story of love, redemption, forgiveness, trust, and starting new. I absolutely can’t wait for the last book in the series and to find out what Sarah has in store for Chase. 

~Lisa

 http://teatimeromance.wordpress.com/

Review -- Twilight with the Infamous Earl

Twilight with the Infamous Earl

Lords of Vice—Book 7

By Alexandra Hawkins

Publisher: St. Martin’s

Release Date: November 26, 2013

 

From the moment I started reading All Night with a Rogue by Alexandra Hawkins, I was hooked on this addictive series featuring seven decadent heroes who surrender to love one by one. As the series progressed, I enjoyed watching them fall and have been eagerly anticipating the story of icy, bad boy Frost. Twilight with the Infamous Earl is his story. 

Vincent Bishop, Lord Chillingsworth, or Frost to his friends, is the last unmarried owner of one of London’s most exclusive gambling hells, Nox. Frost is well-known for being a hard-hearted, wicked rake and doesn’t hide it. When young Emily Cavell launches a verbal rebellion against a few establishments of ill repute, Nox especially, Frost doesn’t take too kindly to it—especially because people are actually listening to her. He sets out to determine why. 

Emily has her reasons for her condemnation of Nox—its proprietor, Frost, ruined her sister years ago and she wants revenge. When she first meets Lord Chillingsworth, he helps her out in a tough situation. She later learns that Lord Chillingsworth is Frost and, naturally, has trouble equating the man who helped her with the terrible scoundrel she has heard about. As Emily gets to know the man inside, she finds it increasingly difficult to continue her retribution and begins falling for the very last man she ever expected to fall in love with. 

I really enjoyed Twilight with the Infamous Earl. Fans of the series know how sarcastic and acrimonious Frost can be and that the only woman to hold his heart is his sister—and she ended up marrying one of his fellow Lords of Vice. At the beginning of this book, we see just how alienated Frost feels after his friends found love in the previous books: 

 

As the children sobbed, and the adults tried to calm them, Frost watched, realizing that he was the one who did not fit the quaint family gathering. Somewhere along the way, his friends had moved on without him when they had married and started their families. 

He was part of their lives, but no longer one of them. 

 

I just wanted to hug him after I read that part! It makes the meeting of (and falling for) his perfect match all the sweeter. Frost needed someone who could stand up to him and with him. Emily is a strong young woman with a soft heart that isn’t afraid to go toe-to-toe with him. I loved this scene where Frost and Emily are discussing Nox: 

 

“Come now, Emily,” he said silkily. “You must have a notion about what takes place in such an establishment. After all, rumor has it that if you had your way you would rid London of all its corruption and vices.” 

She grew still at his revelation. People had been gossiping about her? The notion was absurd. “Who told you that?” 

“It isn’t important,” he said dismissively. “What concerns me is your interest in Nox. While your little moral crusade amuses me, it is also very dangerous.” 

“Are you threatening me, Lord Cilllingsworth?” she asked in hushed tones. A small part of her was hopeful that he was, since it would settle her internal debate about his character. 

“And confirm your worst suspicions about me or Nox?” He grunted. “Hardly. No, little innocent, Nox is nothing to concern yourself with.” 

“What about you?” 

“Oh, you should worry about me, Emily.” 

 

Twilight with the Infamous Earl is a fine conclusion to the Lords of Vice series. It is bittersweet because we finally get Frost’s story, but it also marks the end. Thankfully, we get to check in with the previous couples and see how their lives are going and it was like visiting old friends. Ms. Hawkins leaves the door open a crack and I hope that perhaps one day we will get to see the sexy Lords of Vice again. I would love to see them as secondary characters! For now, I will just have to be content with visiting them when I reread each of their wonderful stories.

 

 

~Andrea

Guest Review -- When the Marquess Met His Match

When the Marquess Met His Match

An American Heiress in London-Book 1

By Laura Lee Guhrke

Publisher: Avon Books

Release Date: 10/29/13

In the first of a dazzling new series, USA Today bestselling author Laura Lee Guhrke introduces London’s most renowned matchmaker—and a scoundrel intent on seducing his way to the altar.

     She’s the matchmaker…

     Lady Belinda Featherstone’s job is to guide American heiresses to matrimony, and away from men like Nicholas, Marquess of Trubridge. But the charming, disreputable marquess needs a wealthy bride, and he hires Belinda to help him find one. Her task seems easy: find that scoundrel the sort of wife he so richly deserves. But Nicholas’s hot, searing kiss soon proves her task will be anything but easy.

     He’s the perfect match…

     Nicholas plans to wed a rich, pretty young darling to restore his fortune, and he’s happy to pay a marriage broker to help him. But one taste of Belinda’s lips and Nicholas’s sensible scheme to marry for money goes awry, and he yearns to show his beautiful matchmaker he’s the perfect match…for her.

 

My introduction to Laura Lee Guhrke and her books came back in 2007 when a friend of mine recommended her Girl Bachelor books to me. There was a lyrical quality to her writing that drew me in immediately, and I’ve been a LLG fan ever since. Secret Desires of a Gentleman is still one of my all time favorite romances. With her new An American Heiress in London series, Laura has introduced us to a whole new cast of characters to fall in love with.

Lady Belinda Feathestone is an American heiress who married a British aristocrat who made no bones about the fact that he married her for her money as soon as they wed. Now a widow, Belinda has found a niche for herself helping other American heiresses navigate British society and make good matches. Due to her past experience, she is once bitten and more than twice shy. Belinda is on a mission to protect these young heiresses from making an unwise match like she did. Therefore, when Nicholas, the Marquess of Trubridge, an acknowledged rake and fortune hunter, asks her to help him find a wife and catches the eye of friend and fellow heiress Rosalie Harlow, she’s determined to stop him at all costs.

I struggled a bit with my feelings for Belinda. On the one hand, I completely understood why she immediately saw Nicholas as a foe to be vanquished, and why she would go to such lengths to stop him. She is driven by her past experience, and wanting to protect her clients from fortune hunters like her late husband. However, the tactics she used went a bit too far, in my opinion, and made me lose some sympathy for her. In addition, Belinda has her emotions so clamped down, and she is so consumed with maintaining propriety and her reputation, that it made it hard for me to relate to her. But ultimately, throughout the course of the novel, Belinda lets down the walls she built up and learns to trust her heart again. I found myself liking her more and more as she dealt with the scars from her past, and I liked her true personality emerging. The real Belinda is actually very passionate and feisty, and very protective of those she cares about. THAT Belinda I relate to and would want as a friend. The leap of faith Belinda takes to prove her trust and love for Nicholas truly warmed my heart and made me sigh with happiness.

Nicholas, the Marquess of Trubridge, is not quite what he seems at first glance. Popular opinion is that he deliberately thumbs his nose at his father, the Duke of Landsdowne, and lived a carefree life on the continent, until his father forces his hand to find a suitable bride. But there’s more to the story. I admired Nicholas wanting to make something of himself on his own, and I found his fondness for science interesting. I totally understood Nicholas lashing out at his controlling and overbearing father by doing everything possible to aggravate him. Despite Belinda’s initial impressions, Nicholas is caring, loyal, funny, and trustworthy and has a big heart. In other words, a man who is nothing like her first husband. I liked and rooted for him right away. He falls head over heels for Belinda right away, and I related to his frustration with Belinda’s doubts and reluctance to open up. But his determination to prove himself worthy of Belinda made me melt and love him even more.

I like battle of the sexes stories, and When the Marquess Met His Match is a great example. The sparks fly immediately, and Belinda and Nicholas butt heads the minute they meet. The war they wage with each other was funny and Laura uses it as a great opportunity to up the tension, conflict, and emotions between Nicholas and Belinda. The first part of the book reminds me a bit of Beatrice and Benedict from Shakespeare’s Much Ado when they insult and snipe at each other, but you know the attraction and lust is boiling underneath.  In a good romance novel, the love scenes are just gratuitous, but they further the story and character development of the hero and heroine. That is definitely the case with this book. Laura does a great job of using the love scenes to show the increasing trust and intimacy between Belinda and Nicholas, and that is one of my favorite aspects of the book.

When the Marquess Met His Match is not my favorite Laura Lee Guhrke, but it is still a very good book. Laura definitely knows how to write a compelling story and engage the readers’ emotions. Readers who enjoy great writing and battle of the sexes story will enjoy this book. I am definitely looking forward to her next American Heiress in London book.

 

~Lisa

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