Review - - Scoundrel

Scoundrel
The Blades of the Rose - Book 2
By Zoë Archer
Publisher:  Zebra
Release Date:  October 1, 2010

The Blades of the Rose are sworn to protect the sources of magic in the world.  But the work is dangerous - and they can't always shield their own...

Bennett Day is by all accounts a charming scoundrel, lover of women and formidable member of the Blades of the Rose, a society of individuals dedicated to protecting the world's sources of magic by keeping them from the greedy hands of the nefarious Heirs of Albion, a group of fanatical men seeking to rule the world through England.  He never suspects that the beautiful woman who steals his breath away in an Athens market is the daughter of the leader of the Heirs...nor that she will have such a profound impact on his life.


London Harcourt has spent her life encased in a prison of man's making, first her father's, then her husband's.  Raised to be only an ornament for a man's arm, she has learned to keep her opinions and accomplishments to herself...like the fact that she has taught herself many ancient languages.  But, when the widowed London inadvertently reveals her skill to her father, windows on the world are opened as she finds herself on her way to Greece to help in what she believes is a secret government mission but, in reality, is something much more sinister.  And, when a chance encounter introduces her to Bennett Day, her life course takes another unexpected detour.

Realizing London is the key to finding the magical source the Blades have sworn to protect, Bennett steals her away from the Heirs, thereby pitching her into the middle of a life and death race with her father and his crew to secure the source.  Unwilling to cooperate at first, London soon accepts that Bennett and his fellow Blades are the good guys in this fight.as she slowly begins to realize that her entire life has been nothing but a fabrication of the truth.  But, as she faces the truth of her past, a future of happiness and freedom from restraint, a future of love with a very special man who accepts her as she was always meant to be, opens for her...if she has the courage to embrace it...and if her father and his murderous cohorts don't catch up with them first.

I loved watching London slowly peel away the layers of proper English restraint to reveal the strong, resilient, sensual woman at her core.  Once she finds that part of herself, she becomes a force to be reckoned with as in this scene on an island they've been exploring.

"Holy  God," he growled when he arrived at the ruined temple.
London stood in the middle of the temple, next to the remains of the altar. She had already stripped off her clothing so she was quite, quite naked.
"No," she corrected him with a devilish smile.  "Holy goddess."

 Or this scene on board the boat.

"You look at him as if he is the last bottle of wine left in the world," Athena said dryly, standing beside her.
London barely blushed.  She was now very familiar with her desire for Bennett.  "I am a woman of exceptional thirst."

But it was Bennett who stole my heart and has yet to return it. Watching him fall in love for the first (and final) time in his life was pure pleasure made all the more sweet because of his exquisite care of London, his fierce desire for her and not only his unconditional acceptance of her strength, intelligence, skill and courage but his celebration of it.  He's a hero I'll be dreaming of for quite some time.

Scoundrel is a spellbinding story of high-seas adventure, sensual romance, magic and mystery with a hero I'd be more than happy to sail the seven seas with and a smart, courageous heroine who grew more likeable and admirable with every page. Archer's descriptions - from Aegean sunrises to magical beings to mechanical wonders - had me feeling as if I was sailing right along with them but it was the characters who held center stage.  They were so real to me, especially Bennett and London, that I felt as if I were reading a story about people I actually knew.

Scoundrel is the second book in Archer's The Blades of the Rose series but stands well on it's own.  However, once you've visited this talented author's fascinating Victorian-era world, I have no doubt you will be clamoring to read the other three books in the series.  I know I was!  The books, in order, are:
Warrior, Scoundrel, Rebel and Stranger. 

~PJ

Winners, winners, winners!!

We have more winners!!

Maria Geraci has picked a winner of a signed copy of Bunco Babes Gone Wild and the winner is:

jedisakora!

Congrats, jedi! Please send your full name and address to mariageraci1ATgmailDOTcom with "Romance Dish winner" as the subject!

*******

The winner of a signed copy of Half Past Dead from Zoe Archer is:

Wendy!

Congrats, Wendy! Please send your full name and address to zoeATzoearcherbooksDOTcom with "Romance Dish winner" as the subject!

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Joss Ware has picked a winner of a signed copy of Beyond the Night and the winner is:

JulieJustJulie!

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Thanks and congratulations to the winners!!

Guest Author -- Zoe Archer

Author Zoe Archer is dishing with us today about her newest release, The Undying Heart, in the anthology, Half Past Dead. The Undying Heart is a prequel to her upcoming paranormal historical series, The Blades of the Rose, which starts this September. Please help us welcome her to The Romance Dish as she asks....


When is a zombie not a zombie?


It seems you can’t swing a severed limb these days without smacking right into some undead flesh. Even though they’re cold cadavers, zombies are hotter than ever—in movies, video games and, yes, books. Though a certain book who shall remain nameless inserted zombies into a beloved novel of prideful and prejudicial Regency-era lovers, it’s a fairly recent trend that the reanimated dead have shown up in actual romance novels.

When my editor at Kensington called me and asked if I’d like to contribute a novella to a zombie-themed anthology, HALF PAST DEAD, I immediately agreed, even though I hadn’t given much thought to zombies within the romance novel context. All I knew was that whatever I wrote would serve as a prequel to my upcoming paranormal historical adventure series, THE BLADES OF THE ROSE (on shelves this Fall). My initial impulse was to have the hero and heroine battling zombies during the course of their story. After all, that’s what heroes and heroines do, isn’t it? Chop up mindless, decaying zombies with chainsaws or, in the case of my story—set after the Crimean War—using sabers.

Being a research dork, I started learning about the historical origins of zombies. Turns out that the image of the rotting, brain-eating zombie is a recent invention, largely popularized and fixed in the general perception by George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and its sequels. Later filmmakers and writers took that idea and ran with it, so now whenever you say the word “zombie” to someone, they think of some extra in the “Thriller” video: mottled flesh, groans, and killer dance moves. Okay, maybe not so much with the dancing, but you get the picture. Rotting dead person shambling mindlessly, relentlessly along in their quest to devour the flesh of the living.

But that’s not how zombies began.

Zombies are part of Haitian vodou lore. Vodou is a set of mystical and religious beliefs that spring from the mix of African tribal spiritualism, Catholicism and the spiritualism of the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean. Part of the vodou belief system is the idea of loas, or spirits, who are subordinate to a higher deity. Vodouisants worship these loas and make offerings to them. Helping the faithful in their worship are priests and priestesses, as well as sorcerers, called bokor. These sorcerers “serve the loa with both hands,” meaning they practice dark as well as benevolent magic. This includes the making and control of the zombi.

A vodou zombi isn’t a putrid corpse that hungers for brains. The zombi is a person brought back from the dead who is subject to the power of the bokor. Without any will of their own, the zombi must do as the sorcerer commands them in a kind of undead servitude, sometimes for decades, until they are released and allowed to rest. No flesh eating. No missing limbs.

(This is a very simplified account of the complex and rich vodou faith, but I wanted to give you a little backstory about my creative process—including discovering surprising truths about things I’d always taken for granted.)

After learning all this, I started to rethink my initial ideas about my novella. Stories thrive on tension, and what could be more tense than having a hero who had been killed, brought back to life, and then forced to do unspeakable things at the behest of a villainous master? What if this hero somehow managed to break free from his master’s hold? What if, in his search for vengeance, the undead hero crosses paths with the woman who has loved him ever since they were children together? And what if she is the only woman who can love him, even when he’s dead, and whose love transforms and warms his cold, still heart?

I knew I was taking a chance when deciding to make Major Sam Reed undead, but I also knew that if ever there was a group of readers who enjoyed innovation, it would be romance readers. After all, vampires and werewolves have been popular for over a decade, and each author puts their own unique spin on preexisting paranormal beings. If some vampires’ hearts only beat in the presence of their intended mate, or if some werewolves have to contend with complicated pack politics, why couldn’t a romance hero be a zombi whose perfectly intact undead body responds to a lover’s touch?

Despite being dead, I still think Sam is one sexy guy. He’s dark and tormented but desperate for a love he believes he can never have. Cassandra Fielding won’t let a little thing like death stand in the way of what, and who, she wants. She’s a Blade of the Rose, and Blades know that where magic is concerned, anything is possible. Even love.

Zoe has graciously offered to give away a signed copy of Half Past Dead to a random poster who leaves a comment or asks a question!

Coming soon -- Guest Author Zoe Archer

Guest Author Zoe Archer will be dishing us soon, but in the meantime please enjoy a little snippit from her January 1st release, Half Past Dead!



There are good guys, there are bad boys, and then there are men with a danger all their own—these are the ones who take you places you never imagined. . .and will never forget.

The Undying Heart by Zoe Archer

Samuel Reed had no idea magic existed, until it almost destroyed him. Thirsting for vengeance against the enemy who made him something less than human, Sam returns to England and crosses paths with Cassandra Fielding. His best friend's little sister has become a fearless woman on a dangerous mission of her own. And against all odds, she sees past what he's become, and stirs a desire he thought he'd lost forever. . .

Simon Says by Bianca D'Arc

Special Forces soldier Simon Blackwell ended his affair with Mariana Daniels three years ago, but he hasn't stopped protecting her. Mariana has no knowledge of the dark, deadly creatures that lurk in the forest surrounding her clinic, or of the mysterious powers that make Simon the only one who can defeat them. But soon he'll have no choice but to reveal the truth, and urge her to trust in an explosive passion that never faded. . .

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