Tag: #RebelsOfTheTon

Infamous by Minerva Spencer

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Part of a Series, Regency Era (1811-1820), Top Pick - Highly Recommended, Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

Infamous (Rebels of the Ton, #3)Infamous by Minerva Spencer

Tracy’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Rebels of the Ton, #3

Release Date: September 28, 2021

What goes around comes around, or so it would seem – ten years ago mean girl and diamond of the first water, Miss Celia Trent seemingly had the world at her feet and was just hours away from being proposed to by Lucien Redvers, the Earl of Davenport when a mean spirited prank she and her partner in crime, Sebastian, the Duke of Dowden, played against his twin – studious Richard, went awry, leaving Lucien wed to wallflower Phyllida “Phil” Singleton, Celia being dubbed Lady Infamous and becoming a pariah and Richard slipping away completely unscathed.

Now ten years later, Sebastian is set to marry Lucien and Richard’s sister, Miss Antonia ”Toni” Redvers and a lavish Christmas wedding/house party is being prepared at Lucien’s country estate. It is at the house party that they will all be reunited, much to just about everyone’s dismay – except Richard, who is looking forward to exploring the attraction he still feels towards Celia!

Celia has changed, life dealt her a bad hand and yes, she was nasty, but once you learn more of her past, you begin to understand why she acted the way she did – not that it made her actions acceptable, but who can’t understand youthful insecurity, peer pressure, and jealousy? Celia knows she was awful to Phil and expects the woman to gloat as Celia is now a paid companion. But that doesn’t happen, Phil struggles with her own insecurities and the appearance of Celia in her home brings things that have been simmering for years to a full boil!

I was not a fan of the first two books in this series and almost passed on this title – Thank Goodness I didn’t! OMG – I loved this book! It is well-written and nicely paced with the dual love stories perfectly balanced, and neither couple being slighted. Throw into the mix a couple of parrots, geriatric canines, a vindictive groom, an insect obsessed hero, a heroine with secrets, cameos from Hugh and Daphne, conversations that were years in the making, long overdue apologies, a bride who can plant a perfect roundhouse punch, some steamy love scenes and a lot of witty banter and you have a nearly perfect read complete with two HEAs and an epilogue! This is the third book in the series, but it can easily be read as a standalone title with no problem. I thoroughly enjoyed this uncorrected proof and would happily recommend it!

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

Notorious by Minerva Spencer

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Regency Era (1811-1820), Tracy's Reviews1 Comment

Notorious (Rebels of the Ton, #1)Notorious by Minerva Spencer

Tracy’s rating: 3/3.5 of 5 stars

Series: Rebels of the Ton, #1

Release Date: November 24, 2020

****WARNING THIS REVIEW CONTAINS OPINIONS AND REFERENCES THAT MIGHT BE SPOILERISH****

Drusilla “Dru” Clare is mistakenly caught up in a plot to call out Gabriel Marlington that results in them having to marry. Drusilla is best friends with his step-sister Lady Eva de Courtney and has harbored tender feeling for Gabriel for years. On the outside Dru is a sharp-tongued, non-nonsense feminist who has repeatedly voiced her distain for marriage and when she does speak to Gabriel, she is curt and tosses out veiled insults. But inside she is a lonely, insecure woman who doesn’t believe that Gabriel would ever be interested in a woman like her and is insulting to protect herself from being hurt. She is stunned when she realizes they will marry and is sure that she will be hurt when he breaks her heart.

Gabriel Marlington is the son of Mia, Marchioness of Exley, who was taken captive as a young woman and was a slave owned Sultan Abdul Hassan of Oran. After the sultan’s death and his brother Assad’s betrayal – Gabriel left the only home he ever knew and moved to England. He has done his best to acclimate to his new existence – giving up his family, culture and religion – and even giving up his loyalty to save others, but the cost was high and led to some startling discoveries. He is trying to figure out what to do with those discoveries, when it seems that someone in England has targeted him for vengeance. It is that vengeance that sees him married to Dru – a woman he can’t seem to figure out and who he desires beyond reason.

****WARNING – THE FOLLOWING MIGHT BE SLIGHTLY SPOILERISH****

After reading the Outcast series and meeting Gabriel (Jibril) in those books, I was incredibly excited to learn the first book in this new series would feature him, but as it has happened before, the likeable character I met in the previous books was barely recognizable when the focus was on him – I don’t know, maybe he was always a selfish, arrogant prick and I chose not to acknowledge it in the previous books – but in any case – I was really put off by his attitude – he forbids Dru to see her friend after seeing the man holding her hand the day before they are to marry – then trots off to see his mistresses – yes, plural – house to “break up” and engages in kissing and cuddling with one of them that day and the other one another day – he tells Dru that they are his friends and she has to accept that they will continue to be a part of his life – I don’t know about you – but I would not be cool with my husband continuing to spend time with and being “friends” with two women that he had a long term sexual relationship with that only ended because he married – yeah – that doesn’t work for me. Then when he springs his “secret” on her – again, she is told she has to accept it and if she doesn’t like it – too bad. You would think that all that would make me feel sorry for Dru and pick her side against him – WRONG – she is a complete shrew for 80% of the book – she has a lot of internal dialogue that is in complete contradiction to what actually comes out of her mouth – but sadly, what comes out of her mouth makes it almost impossible to sympathize with her. She is not an evil person and if you base your opinions on her internal musings, she is relatable and actually quite nice – but her insecurities are crippling and make her seem like a witch for most of the book. It seems like the only thing going for these two is that they rock it in bed – other than that – I really no idea why they fell in love.

This is the first book in a new series and while it is loosely tied to the Outcast series, you can easily read this as a standalone title. Honestly, I didn’t love certain aspects of this book, but overall, it is a well written, nicely paced story with interesting characters, steamy love scenes, surprises, villains that surprise you, cameos with Adam and Mia, a HEA and I really did like the way the author portrayed Gabriel’s transition from Oran to England – the good and the bad. There were some title errors, but nothing too egregious and the ending of this book really made me want to read the next one!

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