Month: March 2019

A Spy’s Guide To Seduction

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Novella, Regency Era (1811-1820)Leave a comment

A Spy's Guide to Seduction (Husband Hunters, #3)A Spy’s Guide to Seduction by Kate Moore

Barbara’s rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: Husband Hunters #3
Publication Date: 3/12/19
# of Pages: 180

*** 3.5 stars ***
This was my first book by this author and I was really looking forward to a steamy romance and confounding mystery. What I found was no steam, but a nice slow build of a romance – and I liked that. I liked that the characters didn’t jump into insta-lust, but they were definitely attracted to each other. I also love the way Lynley came to respect Emily’s intelligence and cleverness before he actually realized that he also loved her. The mystery was a good one as well with multiple villains and missing secrets that could plunge England into war.

Speaking of villains – there is one I just never figured out. I could not see his purpose nor could I see what he was trying to gain.  What was his plot?   Yes, he provided a misdirection for the storyline, but he could still have had some ulterior motives in mind instead of just being . . . I can’t explain more without telling you who he is and what he does, but I think his motives should have been plainer – otherwise, there is no reason for him to have done what he did or even to be in the story at all. Maybe he’ll play some villainous role in a future book.  I really wanted to see him get more punishment than a sock in the nose!

Sir Ajax Lynley (I love that name) has agreed to work for a spymaster for one year. So far his assignments have been exciting, but fairly minor. Now, he has a task that affects the fate of England. If he cannot retrieve certain documents, England will be forced into war with Russia. Since Lynley lived in Spain from the time he was a teenager and has only just returned to be a spy, he needs to reenter society. He’s been trying to think of the best way to do that when the perfect opportunity drops right into his lap.

Lady Emily Radstock is fast approaching her twenty-ninth birthday, she is still unmarried and sees no particular reason to change that. However, her mother has other ideas and presents Emily with a book, ‘The Husband Hunter’s Guide To London’. Since her mother is on her way out of town to care for Emily’s grandmother, Emily can’t rail at her, so she heads over to her younger sister’s house to rant. As she says that she ought to marry the first imbecile she meets, she hears this masculine voice say, “I accept”.

She is dumbstruck – surely he can’t mean it and surely can’t intend to hold her to that. Yet he does. She knows he has to be up to something and she fully intends to find out what it is. As they spend time together she comes to like him – and she starts to figure out what is going on. Then, suddenly it hits her – he is a SPY. Yum, adventure – and she sorely wants to have an adventure so she happily joins him in his mission. She is, however, annoyed that she is only a quasi-partner – he doesn’t share everything with her. Yet, the one time he takes off on his own because he wants to protect her, it doesn’t end well for him.

I enjoyed this book even though I thought that it could have been a bit longer and better fleshed out in both the mystery and the romance aspects of the story. I’ll look forward to the next one in the series – The Christmas Husband Hunt.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What a Lord Wants by Anna Harrington

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Regency Era (1811-1820)Leave a comment

What a Lord Wants (Capturing the Carlisles, #5)What a Lord Wants by Anna Harrington

Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Capturing the Carlisles #5
Publication Date: 3/8/19
# of Pages: 318

This is another wonderful and unique addition to the Capturing the Carlisles series. The writing is excellent, the plot is excellent and I loved the characters. This book features Evelyn (Eve) Winslow who is the sister-in-law of Robert Carlisle (As the Devil Dares) and sister to Mariah, Robert’s wife. We don’t see a lot of the Carlisles in this book and I did miss them – but I loved both Dom and Eve. In Eve’s sister’s book, it was Hellion meets Hellion. In this one it is driven meets driven – and their journey is a fun one to watch.

Eve Winslow has narrowly – by the skin of her teeth – avoided scandal. She’s in a precarious position in society anyway – nobody wants anything to do with her because her father is in trade (and rich as Croesus) but they can’t shun her because her sister has married into the powerful Carlisle family. What was Eve’s scandal – well, if you read her sister’s book, you know – but if you didn’t – she was eloping to Scotland with a real scoundrel, and when he discovered she wasn’t an heiress, he left her at an inn. She had no money, no transportation and she didn’t know a soul. As this book begins, Eve is still being carefully monitored by her sister and her father because she can’t afford any chance of scandal. She is really chafing under that close scrutiny because she is a restless soul and can’t be still for long. Eve has what I would assume is a sort of anxiety disorder. When she was very young, her mother died and Eve equated it with sleeping – her mother just went to sleep and didn’t wake up. So, Eve has always been afraid to sleep because she was afraid she wouldn’t wake up. Eve is so fearful that she’ll die young herself that she tries to cram eight lifetimes into one short one.

The Duchess, Robert’s mother, asked Eve to assure that she picked up a painting (by Domenico Vincenzo) that Dominick Mercer, Marquess of Ellsworth, was giving to Robert and Mariah as a wedding present. No problem – that is simple enough. Except, it isn’t. When Eve arrives at the Marquess’ house, things are in turmoil. When Eve tries to ask about the painting, the butler assumes she is a model for Vincenzo (the painter) and sends her to another address. Then, when she arrives at the studio, again – chaos. The artist is in a hot argument with a woman and he also leaps to the conclusion that Eve is there to model (nude) for him.

Dominick had long been estranged from his family because they didn’t understand his need, his drive, his obsession with being a painter. He had left England and moved to Venice to study and paint. His art came first – before everything else – and he had become the famous Italian painter Domenico Vincenzo. Of course, a life of debauchery went along with that name. Then, the worst thing happened. Dominick’s brother died and Dominick was now the Marquess of Ellsworth. Dominick packed up and moved back to England to perform his duties, but he couldn’t give up his painting, so he started leading a double-life. In one life, he was a staid, much-respected Marquess and in the other, he was a driven painter. Too bad those two lives are about to collide.

Dom is mesmerized by the model that has just shown up at his studio and he just knows that she is perfect for his masterpiece. When she tries to tell him she’s not an actress or model, he doesn’t listen and just overtalks her right into the studio. Eve is chagrined at first, then intrigued and thinks this could be an adventure – just what she’s been looking for.

Dom and Eve are thrown together almost daily and grow closer and closer – until Dom is afraid she is getting too close. He must keep her at a distance because his art must come first. Add in a vindictive former model who wants more from Dom and a revenge-seeking former ‘betrothed’ of Eve and you have a rollercoaster of a ride.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read – and it even had a lovely epilogue. I would have liked to see just a bit more in the epilogue though. It would have been nice to see that Dominick James Mercer’s paintings became some of the most sought-after in England and the continent and far exceeded Domenico Vincenzo’s. Still — the epilogue was sweet and lovely!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.