Author: Barbara

Avid reader/reviewer of historical romance and historical mysteries.

Penance for the Dead by Cara Devlin

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Penance for the Dead (Bow Street Duchess Mystery #4)

Barbara’s rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Series: Bow Street Duchess Mystery #4
Publication Date: 6/3/23
Period: Regency London
Number of Pages: 238

I have been totally smitten by this author’s virtuoso performance in creating mysteries that perplex and characters that endear. Each book in the series has provided us with a pulse-pounding fast-paced mystery and a further look at the slow-burn romance between Audrey and Hugh. How smitten am I? Well, I’m still reading the series even though I have very strong feelings about adultery no matter the reasons behind it.

We’ve met – and not loved – Hugh’s estranged, dysfunctional family. In this book, we are dealing with them directly because Hugh’s half-sister has been murdered – and Hugh is the accused. Well, WE all know Hugh didn’t do it – and Hugh’s close friends know he didn’t do it – but Bow Street is another matter. They are looking for him everywhere. Can he keep out of their clutches and find his sister’s murderer – and also track down the truth of the story she told him shortly before she was murdered?

Audrey, Duchess of Fournier, and her husband Philip discovered the body of Hugh’s sister Eloisa just after her death. When Audrey learns Hugh is being sought for the murder, she knows she has to help him. She also knows Bow Street will be watching her every move because of her friendship with Hugh. How can she escape them and find Hugh? How can she help him? Can she solve it on her own?

You’ll be holding your breath throughout the fast-paced, spine-tingling tale that has plot twists that spin the whole narrative on its head. Audrey and Hugh must work together to thwart Bow Street, find a murderer, and untangle a web of lies and deceit that has been almost 30 years in the making.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and this series. By the way – I highly recommend you read the series in order to get the full feel for Audrey, Hugh, Philip, Sir, and Audrey’s secret that she must keep hidden from the world. However, as much as I’m loving it – I’m also questioning where it is going. I have strong feelings about infidelity of any sort, for any reason, and in my view, Hugh and Audrey are just there – right on the edge. So, how is this author going to manage to deal with the duke in a way that will allow Hugh and Audrey to have a true HEA? The duke makes a suggestion in this book – but, for me, it wouldn’t work. Neither would him dying because that would hurt Audrey. So, I’m anxious to see what is going to happen in the next book.

Anyway – this is a finely told tale and I hope you will love reading it!

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What’s a Duke Got to Do With It by Christina Britton

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Part of a Series, Regency Era (1811-1820)2 Comments

What’s a Duke Got to Do With It (Synneful Spinsters, #2)Barbara’s rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars
Series: Synneful Spinsters #2
Publication Date: 7/11/23
Period: Regency – Isle of Synne
Number of Pages: 368

This is the gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, slow-moving, excellently told tale of two people whose dreams for a life together are shattered within the space of a day when both are engulfed in scandals, not of their own making. Miss Katrina Denby and Sebastian Thorne had been drawing closer and closer throughout the season and just as he was about to make his feelings known to her, he received a missive that he must return to his father’s country estate. That very same night, a man climbed into Katrina’s bedroom window causing a duel and scandal.

Four years later both Katrina and Sebastian – now the Duke of Ramsleigh, find themselves on the Isle of Synne. Katrina is there as the paid companion to the irascible Lady Tesh and Sebastian is there basically babysitting the grown brother of the heiress he hopes to marry to save his dukedom. Each is shocked to see the other because both are staying at the home of Lady Tesh. Both also realize those old feelings are still there and they also both realize that can go nowhere.

With Sebastian set to marry another and Katrina trying to weather yet another scandal not of her own making, it seems as if they will never work their way through all of their problems and find a HEA. And they almost don’t.

I liked Sebastian and Katrina okay, but I didn’t fall head-over-heels for them. My favorite characters were Lady Tesh, Mouse (a giant-sized dog), Mr. Bridling, and the group of friends known as the Oddments. Lady Tesh has been the glue that has held all of the Synne books together – both this series and the previous one, Isle of Synne. The Oddments is a group of ladies who are ‘odd’ to the world in one respect or another, but they are steadfast and true friends. I was totally surprised to like Mr. Bridling as he could have been such a dud of a character, and instead, he was bright and fun and I might have liked him better than Sebastian.

I can recommend this book because it is well written, but it wasn’t the book I needed to read at the moment. As I was reading, different adjectives kept popping into my head – mournful, morose, melancholy, misery, depressing, woe-is-me, sad, unhappy, martyr, gloom, despair, angst, angst, angst, angst, etc. and the book was all of that. I kept waiting for the happy part and it just wasn’t coming. I know it is a romance, so, of course, I knew the happy would come, but it didn’t get there until about the 90% mark and by that point, I wasn’t terribly interested.

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

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