Author: Barbara

Avid reader/reviewer of historical romance and historical mysteries.

The Devil In Her Bed by Kerrigan Byrne

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

The Devil in Her Bed (Devil You Know, #3)The Devil in Her Bed by Kerrigan Byrne
Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Devil you Know #3
Publication Date: 3/9/21
Number of Pages: 416

WOW! What an exciting, page flippin’, edge-of-your-seat ending for the delightful series featuring the three lovely ladies from the Red Rogue Society. Each of the ladies in the society – Alexandra (How to Love a Duke in Ten Days), Cecelia (All Scot and Bothered) – and now Francesca have all found their Happily Ever After. While finding those HEAs, they have also managed to put an end to the evil Crimson Council. The story is excellently written, excellently plotted, and so well delivered. You will absolutely love the main characters and the visits by the other ladies of the Society make this wrap-up book even more special.

Francesca Cavendish, Countess of Mont Claire, has spent the last twenty years of her life in pursuit of one thing – REVENGE. She spent her youth training with every master, in every country. She’s skilled in every defensive (and offensive) art you can name and now she is ready – and she’s very, very close to bringing down the Crimson Counsel because they are responsible for the deaths of her entire family – everyone she loved as a young girl. They tried to kill her too – and they would have if it had been for the young boy, Declan Chandler, she loved – the one who saved her just before they killed him. The Crimson Council will pay for those deaths – especially Declan’s – and they’ll pay for all of the harm they have done in the last twenty years while she was preparing herself. She’s ready – her fighting skills are finely honed – her seductive powers are legendary within the ton – and now she knows who the leader is. He’ll go down and he’ll go down hard – right along with the rest of the Crimson Counsel!

Chandler Alquist, the Devil of Dover, is everybody and nobody – a ghost, because he doesn’t exist. He works for the not yet officially formed Secret Service and he’s lethal. He knows his way around every skill known and used by the covert services – from seduction to the lethal. He has names, identities, and homes all across London and England for that matter. If the Crown wants someone eliminated, Chandler is the one they send because he’s as ruthless as they come. Chandler is a lost soul who has lost everything and everyone he’s ever loved – twice over – and now, he’s just an empty shell – a ghost of a man.

If you read the second book in the series, you’ll remember Chandler as the man Ramsey brought in to help save the young girls being held hostage. After reading that, I couldn’t wait to read Chandler and Francesca’s book. Goodness, it was worth waiting for. I loved watching Francesca best Chandler – quite often – in both fighting skills and in planning skills. I loved how completely and fearlessly she loved Declan. And – goodness – when all of their secrets were finally revealed – how differently they each reacted.

Watching Declan and Francesca work together – and separately – was a pure delight and really made the story believable. I think the two things that might have made the story better would have been for him to reconcile his feelings for Pippa earlier and for there to have been an epilogue featuring all of the couples some years in the future. I hope you will give the book a read and enjoy it as much as I did.

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

The Knot of A Knight by Linda Rae Sande

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Georgian Era (1714-1837)Leave a comment

The Knot of a Knight (The Holidays of the Aristocracy, #2)
Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Holidays of the Aristocracy #2
Publication Date: 3/2/21

This was first released as part of the Have Yourself A Merry Little Secret boxed set in October of 2020 and is now being released as a standalone. It is a lovely and fun read that I thoroughly enjoyed – especially when I get two romances within one book! The writing is excellent and the story is interesting and well-plotted. I’m hoping to see more books featuring the Marquess of Reading’s children – particularly the illegitimate ones – all I can say is that he is one fertile dude!

Randall Roderick, the Marquess of Reading has seven – soon to be eight – children. In his younger years, he was a rake extraordinaire. He dropped his seed anywhere and everywhere. While we may dislike him for his indiscriminate fathering of children, he always took responsibility for them, he gave them his name, he saw to their care and upkeep, and he always played a role in their lives as much as he could. He met and fell in love with his marchioness about seven years ago and has given up his rakish ways. Now, in addition to his four illegitimate sons and one illegitimate daughter, he has two legitimate sons and one child on the way.

Randolph Roderick is the oldest of the illegitimate children. He is the spitting image of his father in looks and the exact opposite in the way he conducts his life. He manages one of his father’s breeding/training stables and he also works for the Foreign Office – and that job got him a knighthood. He’s now Sir Randolph Roderick. He is also a widower with a baby. Luckily, he and his father are fairly close and the baby, Charlie, is sharing the nursery with his uncle Robert, who is 2 years old. Everyone except Randolph seems to know he needs a wife and Charlie needs a mother. Little does he know that Juliet Comber, the wife of one of his friends, has decided to do some matchmaking between several of her friends.

Xenobia Dunsworth is the widow of a baron. It wasn’t a love match, but they had been good friends all of their lives. Sadly, that friendship didn’t really translate well into the marriage. Xenobia is just days out of mourning when she is visited by her very good friends – Lady Julia Comber and Lady Caroline Chamberlain. Julia realizes how very lonely and sad Xenobia is – and she decides to do something about it.

Rachel Roderick is the younger illegitimate sister of Randolph, but neither of them knows about the other. Rachel attended finishing school in Zurich with Julia and Xenobia, but she stayed on longer than they did. Now, she is back. Her mother and, unbeknownst to Rachel, her father plan for her to have a season. Rachel has no hopes of finding a good match among the ton even though her father has fully acknowledged her. You see, her mother is a famed courtesan who now owns the very popular and successful gaming hell and brothel called the Queen of Hearts. If the ton ever found out who her mother is, they’d shun her totally. Rachel believes she’ll just remain unmarried and become a spinster. But then fate intervenes, in the guise of Julia Comber.

Mark Merriweather is the younger son of an earl and his older brother has already married and sired an heir. Mark doesn’t have to worry about inheriting the earldom and he plans to lead a productive life. He has an inheritance and doesn’t have to worry about working at anything if he doesn’t want to do so, but he does. He has purchased a public house, The Three Bells, in Westminster and fully plans to run it himself. It never occurs to him that he is in need of a wife – he only knows he’s in need of a bookkeeper and a cook for the public house. Then, there is a visit with Julia Comber and the rest is history.

It was fun to see these two couples come together. Each of them perfectly complemented their partner and filled the voids they each had. In this story, we got two romances, lots of found money, families who loved each other, and a bit of intrigue with counterfeiters. I hope you’ll read this book and enjoy it as much as I did.

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