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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.

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An Affair With A Spare by Shana Galen

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

An Affair with a Spare (The Survivors, #3)An Affair with a Spare by Shana Galen

Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Survivors #3
Publication Date: 7/3/18

This book is filled with spies, assassins, danger, trickery, betrayal, and yes, love and lust. The writing is excellent, the plots well thought-out and executed and the characters are very relatable and likable. The series focuses on the few survivors of a suicide team from the Napoleonic wars – they were spare heirs whose lives were expendable and they took on the most dangerous secret missions of the war. Most didn’t make it back, but these are the stories of the few who did survive. Rafe Beaumont is one of those survivors and you just always knew there had to be more to him than was apparent and that there was a story buried deep within him. I certainly loved learning what that story was.

Rafe Beaumont, the fifth son of an earl, is seen by everyone as a fribble, a seducer, someone with no real substance. The truth is, he isn’t a seducer – those women chase him with one purpose – being seduced. He’s drop-dead gorgeous, a skilled lover and the most charming man anyone would want to meet. Everybody loves him. Rafe is one of the survivors and he’s always been a little resentful that he was never given the dangerous, exciting missions. His missions were always about seducing information from the wife or lover of someone who held knowledge of French war strategies, etc. Those were easy tasks for Rafe because he never got attached to anyone – he never had a problem walking away. As a matter of fact, he always did the walking away. He’d never give anybody the chance to make him care and then walk away from him.

Imagine Rafe’s total shock when, after being given an assignment, the lady in question seems totally immune to his charms. She’s just not interested. That is just not possible. Is he losing his touch? He’s never actually had to pursue anyone, so he’s not sure how to proceed. Can he figure it out and complete his mission?

Collette Fortier is the daughter of Napoleon’s most successful assassin. The wars are over, but the English would love to get their hands on him. Actually, the English aren’t the only ones. The French royalists have already taken him prisoner and are forcing Collette to spy for them. Her mission – to obtain the codes England uses in its communications. If she doesn’t succeed, her father doesn’t survive. It is just that simple. So, Collette absolutely cannot allow her attraction to Rafe Beaumont to show or to act upon it in any way.

Collette’s ‘cousin’ in England, Lady Ravensgate, is actually no relation at all. Collette had never met the woman before. However, this ‘cousin’ now holds the future of both Collette and her father in her hands. She sees that Collette gets to all of the important social functions that would allow Collette to collect information and meet the people who can lead her to the codes she needs. Collette is focused on Lieutenant Colonel Draven, but she cannot get her to engage with her – and then, suddenly, Rafe Beaumont is paying her attention. When he can’t seduce her, he offers to be her friend. Can she be friends with him and not let her attraction show? Is he really offering friendship or does he have ulterior motives? Can she use him to get the information she needs?

There is always an element of humor involved in these books – and this one is no exception. Collette used a natural history volume on hedgehogs in order to learn English. So, when she is nervous – quotes from the manual escape her mouth. It is totally entertaining and smile-worthy to see where and when these quotes pop out of her mouth.

“During courting rituals the hedgehog sow continually rejects the boar, turning to give him her flank.”
“The majority of snorting during hedgehog courtship originates from the sow.”

Epilogues are one of my favorite things in a book, and this one had a lovely one. However, I would have liked the epilogue to either be longer – or for the epilogue to have an epilogue – something. I wanted to know more about the trip, what happened at the end, how they survived with no money, etc. I just wanted more. Since the end seemed rushed, I really did want more substantive answers to my questions.

Now, to begin my impatient wait for the next book which will feature Jasper.

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“I requested and received this e-book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher.”