Author: Barbara

Avid reader/reviewer of historical romance and historical mysteries.

One Final Turn by Ashley Weaver

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Historical Mystery, Part of a Series, World War II Era (1939-1945)Leave a comment

One Final Turn (Electra McDonnell, #5)

Barbara’s rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
Series: Electra McDonnell #5
Publication Date: 6/3/25
Period: WWII
Number of Pages: 304

I know everyone is eager to read this exciting wrap-up to the series, but we’re also saddened by the series’ end. However, if the series had to end, this book was the perfect story for it. All of the characters get their happy endings, and the readers get an exciting, poignant, bittersweet tale of intrigue, betrayal, and espionage in the exotic city of Lisbon, Portugal. What more could we ask for – other than more books in the series?

Electra and Major Ramsey are still estranged after their previous argument when he fired her. However, Electra is determined to do everything possible to find her cousin Toby, who was a German POW but has escaped. Captain Billingsly offers Electra a chance to be a part of his mission to Lisbon, where they hope to trace the escape route POWs are using to make their way out of Germany. Captain Billingsly’s mission is to trace the route and then put measures in place to fortify the route so the crossings are safer for the POWs. Electra’s mission is to help Captain Billingsly and to discover and rescue Toby. Did I mention that Major Ramsey is also assigned to the same mission? Yep – Electra and Ramsey have to suck it up and learn to play nice.

Lisbon, Portugal, is everything London is not, and that intrigues, unnerves, and perplexes Electra. She loves how exciting and lively the city is, but can’t help compare it to London’s bomb pocked streets, the complete blackouts at night, and the general melancholy of its citizens. Of course, Lisbon is also full of spies, so it isn’t safe to trust anyone, and soon the body count begins to rise as they make contacts and ask questions. Will all of them make it through the mission? Will they complete the mission and find Toby? Will Electra and Ramsey finally allow their true feelings to surface? You’ll just have to read the book to find out the answers.

If you haven’t read the earlier books in the series, I highly recommend you do so because they are great. I also think reading those would make this book even more enjoyable because you’ll understand the characters’ histories and how it all came to be. Each book in the series is interesting, exciting, and filled with wonderful characters with whom you’d love to sit and chat. This final book in the series wraps up all of the loose ends and provides an intriguing, exciting mystery to boot.

I voluntarily read an early copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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A Touch of Steele by Cathy Maxwell

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

A Touch of Steele (The Gambler's Daughters, #3)

Barbara’s rating: 3.6
Series: The Gambler’s Daughters #3
Publication Date: 5/27/25
Period: Regency – 1816
Number of Pages: 365

This book has one of the best opening lines I’ve read in a very long time. “He’d asked for the oldest whore in the house.” That certainly gets your attention. I did enjoy Beckett (Beck) Steele and Gwendolyn Lanscarr, but they were the only characters I even remotely liked. With a spectacular opening line and a dissatisfying finish, this book was all over the place for me. I loved the gist of the story, but I found it a tad slow and found myself putting it down much more often than I normally do with a book I’m reading. Perhaps that was me, and I was just more distracted. Not sure, but I felt there could have been more exciting things happening.

Beckett Steele is a war hero who ‘helps’ people. Often, that means finding things or people for them. Those tasks are quite lucrative, but he often declines money and asks them to grant him a favor at a future time when he asks. Usually, those favors are asked in furtherance of a personal pursuit – finding his mother. He’s sure she is a light-skirt because he’d lived in a bawdy house until a man came and put him in a boarding school. After being injured in the wars, Beck was determined to find out what happened to his mother. Is she alive? Is the woman in his dreams his mother?

Gwendolyn is one of three Irish sisters who pooled all of their resources to travel to London, participate in the season, and find suitable husbands. The two previous books in the series showed Gwendolyn’s sisters finding their HEAs. Gwendolyn met a man in Ireland, who has consumed all of her thoughts since. He helped her win enough money playing Whist so she and her sisters could implement their plan. All he asked in return was a favor to be granted at some future time.

I enjoyed that Gwendolyn made no secret of her fixation on Beck – and that he was thoroughly convinced he had no feelings for Gwendolyn. Watching the attraction grow, and watching Beck wrestle with those pesky ‘feelings’ he kept having, made the search for Beck’s mother an enjoyable read. I would have liked a bit more excitement and a slightly faster pace, but it was a nice read. One of the things that dampened my enthusiasm was that none (save one) of the villains got any punishment at all. If you look at what they did, could you just walk away and leave them unpunished? I couldn’t. But – that was followed by the HEA, and I did enjoy that.

I voluntarily read an early copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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