Historical Mystery – Page 116 – Flippin' Pages Book Reviews

The Bachelor Bargain by
Maddison Michaels is now live!

Bachelors, beware. For those who keep secrets and prey on the innocent, you will be exposed, with all your dirty little secrets laid bare to one and all. You have been warned…

Lady Olivia Haliford has had enough. Tired of seeing women lose their reputations, futures, and sometimes even their lives to scandal while the men walk free, she is ready to take back power and stand up for women everywhere. Along with her two closest friends, she plans to start an anonymous publication dedicated to dishing the dirt and exposing the secrets of society’s most eligible bachelors. But in order to do so, she will have to make a deal with the devil…

Sebastian Colver, known as the Bastard of Baker Street, is feared throughout London as the city’s most notorious gambling den owner and undisputed king of the underground. His life is nothing but darkness and danger, so he is shocked when the petite lady gracing his doorstep seems anything but frightened of him. He agrees to be a silent partner in the publishing of the Gazette if she will use her connections to sponsor his sister and launch her into Society and away from his dark world.

But exposing the secrets of the rich and powerful can be dangerous. Almost as dangerous as a lady falling in love with the king of the underground.

Download today!
Amazon: http://mybook.to/bachbarg
Apple Books: https://apple.co/3aIsIAN
Nook: https://bit.ly/2R3XPzS
Kobo: https://bit.ly/3dOJ5xA

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3rU4b1l

Meet Maddison

Indoctrinated into a world of dashing rogues and feisty heroines when she was a teenager, Maddison Michaels is a bestselling, award-winning Australian romance author who loves to write sexy history with a dash of mystery! Her debut novel, The Devilish Duke, won the 2019 Romance Writers of Australia Historical Romance Book of the Year. Maddison lives in Sydney with her gorgeous hubby and daughter and always starts her day with a cup of liquid gold…coffee (just quietly, she’s addicted to the stuff)!

Maddison loves hearing from her readers.

Tracy’s Review:

The Bachelor Bargain-1600 The Bachelor Bargain by Maddison Michaels

Tracy’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Secrets, Scandals, and Spies, #1

Release Date: May 17, 2021

Devastated by the death of her dear friend Alice, Lady Olivia “Livie” Haliford vows to find and punish the man responsible for ruining her and possibly murdering her. To achieve this goal and to protect other women from falling victim to the entitled scoundrels of the ton, Livie, and her two dearest friends, Lady Kaitlyn Montrose and Miss Henrietta Merriweather decide to start a newspaper that will target these men and expose them for the predators they are – but to start a publishing business will require more money than they have, but Livie has the perfect investor in mind – Sebastian Colver, the Bastard of Baker Street or as most of London call him, the King of the Rookeries.

Sebastian is intrigued by the lovely young woman with a cane who stormed his office and uses his biggest secret to try and coerce him into investing in her scandal sheet. He should send her on her way because he has more pressing matters to sort out – like finding out who is trying to take over the Rookeries, but her connections, namely her Godmother the Duchess of Calder, makes her the perfect person to convince the “Dragon Duchess” to sponsor his half-sister Charlotte. He makes a deal if she can convince her Godmother to introduce Charlotte to society, he will be her silent partner.

They strike a bargain, but as they spend time together, two things become clear; one they are attracted to each other, and two whoever is trying to take over the Rookeries has also been hired to kill Olivia. Despite his vow to never love anyone, Sebastian can’t seem to walk away from Livie and will stop at nothing to save her. Can these two let go of past hurts and open their hearts so they can find a way to have HEA or will they let their fears ruin their chance for a love of a lifetime?

This was a very well-written, fast-paced story with a great “whodunit” mystery incorporated into the romance of this unlikely couple. The book has a lot going on, murder, betrayal, revenge, steamy love scenes, some angst, great secondary characters, and finally a HEA complete with an epilogue. I did enjoy this book, but there were some things that kept this from being a five-star read for me, such as formal address/title errors and modern-day idioms and verbiage, and a couple of historical inaccuracies that I simply had a hard time overlooking, that being said, I must stress, these things are personal pet peeves of mine and may not bother other readers. This is the first book in the series that I would happily recommend and will be looking forward to the future installments!

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own. *

Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Electra McDonnell #1
Publication Date: 5/25/21
Number of Pages: 304

I have been reading and enjoying this author’s Amory Ames series, so when I saw this first book in her new series, I grabbed it right up! I am so very glad I did because the mystery is an exciting and suspenseful whodunit with delightfully entertaining characters. The characters we met who will, I assume, be recurrent characters in the series are the McDonnell family including Uncle Mick, Electra (Ellie), and perhaps Uncle Mick’s son Colm as well as life-long family friend Felix Lacey. That motley crew isn’t exactly following the letter of the law – though they try – sort of. They have their own code of right and wrong. Then, add in strait-laced, law-and-order, rule-following, unyielding, unbending, aristocrat Major Ramsey and you have a delightfully entertaining uneasy alliance when they all do their best to protect England from the Germans.

London is dark – very dark – and quiet in the wee hours of the morning in August of 1940. Uncle Mick has been planning a routine safe-cracking job for himself and Ellie. The always cheerful and good-humored Irishman is highly skilled and very thorough in his planning – so why is Ellie apprehensive about this job. As they approach the house – and then enter it – she feels as if she’s being watched. She shakes those feelings off and gets on with the job at hand. She breathes a sigh of relief as they complete the job and leave the residence – only to be apprehended by a big, burly, very unfriendly set of cops.

Major Gabriel Ramsey leads a section of military intelligence in London – and he has a case on his hands that could potentially cost England the war against Germany. Top secret plans have been stolen and are being delivered to a German courier. Ramsey must identify the English conspirators, retrieve those plans, substitute an alternate set of plans for the Top-Secret ones, and do it all without alerting the Germans that he is aware of any of it. Hopefully, they’ll be able to use that same conduit to pass future misinformation along to the Germans. What Ramsey needs is someone who is skilled in stealth and locks – and he thinks he’s found the perfect person(s).

I thoroughly enjoyed Ellie’s interactions with Ramsey. He certainly didn’t know what to make of her – other than she was a law-breaking thief of the first order. There were so very many suspects and any of them could have easily been the traitor. It takes a lot of investigation – and a number of dead bodies before the case is solved. The traitor will surprise you – and make you very sad. Now, I can hardly wait to see the next book to see if any of those potential traitors we didn’t apprehend in this book turn out to be the villains in the next tale.

I definitely recommend this book and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. I’m hanging on by my fingernails to see what happens with Ellie’s cousin Toby and to see what kind of relationship develops between Ramsey and Ellie (I must have a romance to go along with my mystery). Then, there is Felix – he’s sweet on Ellie, but – they’ve always been such close family friends – is that to be the romance? OMGoodness – we’re just going to have to wait and see who our next traitor is and how the romances progress.

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

Flippin' Pages Book Reviews

Category: Historical Mystery

The Bachelor Bargain by Maddison Michaels #BlogTour

Tracy’s Review:

A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver

Tracy’s Review:

Share this:

Share this: