Tag: Shana Galen

Tales of a Society Nothing by Shana Galen

On By TracyIn Novella, Part of a Series, Tracy's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

Tales of a Society Nothing (The Royal Saboteurs Book #5)Tales of a Society Nothing by Shana Galen

Tracy’s rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: The Royal Saboteurs, #5

Release Date: November 14, 2023

After eighteen months of intense training with the Royal Saboteurs, Margaret Vaugh is finally given a mission, but instead of working with another agent, she is sent to London to track down a missing agent, who also happens to be her estranged husband, Ambrose Holyoake, Viscount Holyoake. She hopes to find him quickly and return to the farm. But when she does find him it is clear that she won’t be returning to the farm anytime soon, because Ambrose is gravely injured and his would-be assassin is still on the loose. Margaret has not seen or heard from Ambrose since she left three years ago, and seeing him now brings back all the feelings she thought she had buried because despite leaving him to pursue her dream of becoming an agent for the Royal Saboteurs, she never stopped loving him. In fact, love was never a problem between them, but while Margaret longed to be his partner in all things, Ambrose couldn’t seem to accept that she was capable of protecting herself and unwittingly held her back. Walking away from him was the hardest thing she had ever done and she isn’t sure she can do it again.

Ambrose Holyoake has loved Margaret “Maggie” for most of his life and it nearly killed him when she left, but he let her go because he knew he was holding her back and honestly didn’t know how to change or if he even could. He invites her to work with him to track down the man who tried to kill him because he is sure that it is tied to the case he was working on and that finding the assassin will lead them to the man threatening to kill the Prime Minister’s son. But old habits die hard and try as he might, he can’t seem to quelch his need to protect her, even when she proves that she can take care of herself and even save him. He knows that if he can’t find a way to let her be his equal, he will lose her and she won’t give him a third chance.

This was a perfectly executed novella, the writing is impeccable and the story never feels rushed or skimpy which is often the case with novellas. The backstory between Margaret and Ambrose is perfectly woven into the story without the use of the much dreaded “flashback” and gives the reader a good understanding of what drove the lovers apart and what is still keeping them apart. The book is filled with emotion, second chances, longing, action, steamyish love scenes, heartache, acceptance, and a happy ending that includes an epilogue. This novella is closely tied to and runs concurrently with the previous book Must Love Scoundrels and I would recommend reading at least that book before this one, however, all the books in this series can be read and enjoyed as standalone titles. Overall, I think this is my favorite installment of the series, which is saying something because all the books were great and I highly recommend reading the entire series!

*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.*

Must Love Scoundrels by Shana Galen

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

Must Love Scoundrels (The Royal Saboteurs #4)

Barbara’s rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Series: The Royal Saboteurs #4
Publication Date: 10/10/23
Period: Victorian

This book starts from a somewhat different place than most – Duncan Slorach is already hopelessly in love with Lucy Galloway who only sees him as a competitor she needs to best at all costs. Duncan and Lucy have been at the Royal Saboteurs training camp for eighteen months undergoing the most grueling and vigorous training in every aspect of the spycraft – from explosives to obstacle courses, to code-breaking, to languages, to – well, you name it. From Lucy’s perspective, it all comes easy for Duncan as he seems to excel at everything. What Lucy doesn’t see is her own unique strengths in languages and determination and fortitude.

Lucy and Duncan’s past lives are quite different and you’ll see that in their approach to their current lives. Lucy feels inferior because her parents are the most famous spies you never heard of – and her brother is also a recent graduate from the training camp and he is excelling at the craft. Lucy feels she doesn’t match up to those illustrious family members and has to prove herself to be twice as good as everyone else. Duncan, on the other hand, led a ne’er-do-well life as a scoundrel until a heartbreaking tragedy changed him. Duncan is quiet, studious, follows the rules, trains hard, and wants to be an exceptional agent.

Lucy is elated to finally have a mission – until she learns her partner will be Duncan Slorach. She’ll just have to make the best of it even though her role will be acting as a caretaker for a seven-year-old boy. What does she know about children? Nothing. She’s not even sure she likes children. Duncan, on the other hand, gets the free run of the house and grounds while acting as a footman. Bummer. They are undercover in the Prime Minister’s home while protecting the prime minister’s son who has been threatened by radicals. The threats are real and attempts have already been made. Can Lucy and Duncan put aside their differences and work together to protect the boy? Yes, they can, but will they?

For me, Lucy was hard to like – I really had to work on it – and I never wholly got there. Duncan, on the other hand, was easy to like, but I never understood how he came to love Lucy in the first place. This was, as always with the author, an excellent book, but it was also my least favorite of the series. I enjoyed reading the story but felt the mission was often ignored and forgotten for their trysts. It almost seemed the villains caught themselves rather than there being brilliant spies at work. All of that said, I can recommend this book as an excellent read and I hope you will enjoy it.

BTW – there is an excellent set-up for the next book in the series, Tales Of A Society Nothing. I think we are all going to love Margaret’s mission!

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

View all my reviews