Though I fretted for almost two years waiting for this book, I can see from your author’s notes that you’ve had a lot to keep you busy having had your own little egg, as the dragons would say, in the interim. Still, what a book you’ve written for us. Excitement, danger, new breeds of dragons, a harrowing journey to and across a new continent for Temerarie and Laurence, Granby and Iskierka, Kulingile and Demane plus 200 sailors and one airsick ambassador – the action zipped along and kept me riveted. It was a wait but the wait was worth it.

William Laurence, formerly a Captain in His Majesty’s Aerial Corps, is skeptical when Arthur Hammond arrives from China with news that the Admiralty has restored Laurence to the Corps and that they are to travel from the valley where he and Temeraire have been establishing a home to Sydney and thence aboard a dragon transport to Brazil. Oh yes, the restoration comes with strings attached and those strings are going to cost dearly.

News has reached England that Napoleon and theTswana Kingdom have formed an alliance. The French will transport the Tswana dragons and warriors from Africa to Brazil and in return, the Tswana will besiege the Portuguese slave holders who hold many of the Tswana people in bondage. Why should the British care? Because Portugal offers a foothold for British troops even now trying to establish an army on the Iberian Peninsula in order to strike at the French. Hence all aid that can be rendered to the Portuguese colony must be done.

So along with Kulingile and Iskierka, returned from India aboard the dragon transport Allegiance and even more insufferable due to having been involved in several prize captures, Temeraire and his ragged crew embark for the trip to South America. But disaster awaits before they reach their destination and in a bitter twist of fate the dragons, remnants of their crew, officers and assorted worthless sailors from the transport find themselves prisoners of the French before being essentially marooned. It takes a stroke of good luck for them to reach the continent where they face an even bigger challenge – the still mighty Incan Empire which is being heavily wooed by the French. Can the British save the day for King and Country? Or will they be lucky just to save even their own lives.

In my review of it, I made no effort to conceal the fact that the last book, “Tongues of Serpents” had large sections which bored me to tears. The slog through the Outback of Australia went on and on and I felt mentally dragged along with them for the whole damn journey. So when this book began with Arthur Hammond landing in Australia after a long journey from China, and the first things he saw were bunyips and more bunyips, I would almost swear I said aloud, “Jesus wept.” Thankfully, the bunyips were soon left behind or I might have lost my mind at the thought of another book filled with them.
Instead, oh joy!, the action soon shifts to the dragon transport and, even better, Rankin and his ilk remain behind.

Kulingile is still growing, Iskierka is even more of a Grand Diva than ever – often driving Granby to want to beat his head against a wall at her antics – and Temeraire is thrilled at the chance to return to active duty – to uphold Laurence’s honor at what they did – and to action – where he might hope to take his share of the prize money and thus be able to outdo Iskierka in finery. A dragon must maintain his dignity and pride, after all.

Whereas the last book was filled with a large section that became old, same old, this one has something new and interesting around every corner. I recall a tidbit from an earlier book, “Victory of Eagles” perhaps, about the Incans and their dragons and had hoped that a future book would feature them. That book is this one and it’s fascinating to see the relationship between those dragons and “their” people. Though the Admiralty, aviators and general populace of Britain might look with some misgivings at British dragons getting any more outlandish notions in their heads. There’s also enough gold and gems there to satisfy even Iskierka’s avariciousness though Granby is less than thrilled at the means and methods she’s willing to employ to obtain them.

But wait, there’s more! A harrowing flight over the Andes Mountains and across the width of the continent tests the men, dragons and ladies to their limits before they finally arrive where they initially set out for. Years ago I read a travel book called “Up the Orinoco” that gives me an idea of what our intrepid band is up against in the jungle. There are enough details here to flesh out horrors yet also neatly skimmed through so that I never felt as if I were stuck swatting the insects, mopping the sweat and darting back from the shoreline to avoid the river crocodiles. Thank you.

There’s also conflict galore. Laurence has to battle with himself about accepting reinstatement and face another who suffered the fallout due to Laurence and Temeraire’s actions. Temeraire and Iskierka alternately huff and flounce over her relish of fighting, her high handed demands and how much she flirts with an Incan dragon. Granby despairs over keeping Iskierka in check before finally laying down the law. The British delegation muddles through learning about how to go on in this strange land before fleeing for their lives and all too soon are faced with the irreconcilable demands of trying to placate the Portuguese in the face of the justness of the demands of the Tswana.

However there are a few things which seem to be picked up and discarded at will or whim. Initially there appears that there will be some continuing friction from the aviator community against Demane for harnessing Kulingile. A budding relationship between Demane and Emily Roland begins only to have the entire thing dropped. And after an initial period of trouble, the 200 some sailors are seldom a real concern for the remainder of the book.

Still, I’m just so delighted not to have anything remotely near a repeat of the last book that reading this one was a joy. Where will everyone go next? Intriguing possibilities are presented and one character is revealed to be far different in position and situation than has been thought up until now. As well, Laurence’s actions might either forge a new and lasting alliance which could help Britain fight on against the French, or alternately this could merely serve to remind the Admiralty of his tendency to free thinking beyond that required of a military captain. Only time, and the next book, will tell. A-

~Jayne

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I admit I haven’t read the latest in the “Pink Carnation” series “Blood Lily” so when Jane sent me the arc for “The Mischief of the Mistletoe” I inwardly cringed. Oh dear, I thought, there’s no way I can get “Lily” read in time so I’ll just have to plunge in and hope there are no spoilers. To my relief, “Mischief” takes place before “Lily” does and features a hero I’ve wanted to see find his true love: Turnip Fitzhugh.

Miss Arabella Dempsey has almost managed to convince herself that becoming a junior instructress at Miss Climpson’s Select Seminary for Young Ladies is a good thing. Since her hopes of being adopted as her wealthy aunt’s heiress have been dashed by that lady’s precipitous marriage to a much younger man, a man for whom Arabella entertained hopes of her own, she’s returned home to her ailing former vicar father’s household to join her three younger sisters. With little money and the family bursting at the household seams, leaving home and earning some money will help everyone.

She doesn’t expect to meet Mr. Reginald Fitzhugh – known to the ton and his friends as “Turnip” – while he’s delivering a Christmas hamper to his younger sister – and student at the school – Sally. He doesn’t remember her name but then she made a career of being a wallflower while in London with her aunt.

What brings them together is the mysterious note – in French – found wrapped around a Christmas pudding. Turnip might not actually be in the league of the Pink Carnation but he’s had enough exposure to it and to French spies that even he thinks something is fishy in the state of Denmark. Will Arabella and Turnip uncover the truth behind the pudding – and the missing list of government agents – before they discover love during the Ducal celebrations at Dovedale – or after?

There’s something deeply satisfying to me about the overlooked finding their perfect mate – in this case the wallflower who decides to stop being so agreeable, since it got her nowhere, and the genial class clown who will never be mistaken for the brains of the operation. Honestly it’s such a relief to have a hero like Turnip. He is what he is and as Arabella fondly thinks, she’ll always know what’s on his mind because she – and everybody else – can read him so well.

Turnip isn’t a rake, a rogue or a fop – though he is something of a dandy with his carnation embroidered waistcoats and excessive cravats. Instead he’s a gentleman to the core who might take a bit longer to catch on to things but once it’s gotten into his noggin, it doesn’t come out. Arabella is the one who notices the kind things he does for people, the happy soul he is and she treasures him for it. He’s so earnest and wants to do right, including being Arabella’s knight in shining armor. Gotta love a hero like that.

Meanwhile, Turnip sees the real Arabella. The one who’s enjoying being out on her own and being of worth. The one who has such a zest for dancing and who doesn’t lose her head when spies enter her world. He’s the one who is amazed that no man up til now – and that includes him – has seen her light and fallen in love with her. But he certainly knows how to make up for lost time with the grand gesture in front of everyone who overlooked her and a keen aim with a Christmas pudding.

The spy stuff is woven through the love story and all comes together in the end. The clues are there should readers want to figure out who-plans-to-do-it but the bulk of the book is devoted to Turnip and Arabella finding each other with the solving of the traitor bit as a backdrop. I also liked the break from the modern element of the Pink Carnation series though there is anachronistic modern sounding dialogue. But I was having such fun reading the book that I really don’t care about that. Oh and I’m glad to hear that you have future plans for Sally and her band of intrepid fellow students. They are a force of nature.

Righto, now that I’ve finished this one, I need to get cracking with “Blood Lily.” Perhaps the release for “Mistletoe” is a bit early for Christmas, but one can never get started on one’s Christmas events too soon I say. B+

~Jayne

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Dear Ms. Novik,

Well, it has taken the better part of two years to get my hands on the next Temeraire book but it’s definitely been worth it. Old dragons, new dragons, old enemies, old friends, a new continent to explore plus a closing battle that made me feel slightly sick while reading it…”Tongues of Serpents” has them all. But in all honesty, there were parts which dragged to go along with the heart pounding bits.

After an eight month voyage from England to Australia aboard the dragon transport HMS Allegiance, Temeraire and Laurence have arrived in Sydney along with Iskierka and Granby – not by Granby’s choice but once Iskierka decides to go, she goes – where they find a colony in rebellion against the governor and a populace drunk most of the time. Laurence’s sentence of death for treason may have been commuted to transportation but his standing among his fellow military men is sunk as low as it ever was. Thinking a dragon would aid their cause, both sides of the rebellion court him and Temeraire yet the politics work out that taking either side would ruin them. Now all await word from England on the fate of the rebel leaders.

But instead who shows up but Captain Rankin, he who treated poor Levitas so cruelly. Jane Roland had sent 3 eggs with the transport in order to establish a new covert in Australia and Rankin’s lordly family has finally pulled enough strings and thrown around enough weight to get him assigned to take the next one which hatches. Despite Temeraire’s entreaties to the egg to reject this potential captain, the newly hatched dragon sizes Rankin up, asks some cool questions about rank and wealth then decides to accept him, though he does reject Rankin’s choice of name for his own selection. Man and beast soon prove that God works in mysterious ways, much to the mingled amusement and/or frustration of the others.

All are getting bored waiting around in the heat when a proposal is made by the rebellion leaders which will get the dragons and their crews out of the way since none of them seem inclined to support either the deposed governor nor the rebels. The Aerial Corps will scout a trading route through the Blue Mountains which surround Sydney and if possible build a road to allow colonization of the interior of the continent. And if they can covertly discover how illegal trade is bringing Chinese goods into Sydney, all the better. Expecting to be gone a week or so at most, the whole crew sets off only to find themselves beset by enemies they can’t see, chasing after something they can’t afford to lose and coming face to face with a threat to England which they might not beat.

I think I mentioned in my review of “Black Powder War” that the trip down the Silk Road, while having its moments of interest, also had its share of tedium. Ditto the laying about at the beginning of “Victory of Eagles.” There was a whole lot of political maneuvering and new characters to learn which were key to later events but which took a lot of time and patience to commit to memory before things picked up. This book suffers from both. Yes, we the readers need to learn how you are going to portray Australia in this series since you delight in not only adding dragons to the Napoleonic Wars but also in altering history and natural flora and fauna. But at times I was getting as impatient as Temeraire for some action.

Then the journey began and for a while, a long while, it was like watching slides of a neighbor’s vacation trip. Interesting at first but later a seeming endless repetition of the similar shots of the same people wearing the same thing and grouped together in the same way varying only by country. Here there would be moments when exciting things would happen and the story would advance, I’m not saying it didn’t, but then it settle into a new repetitious pattern. Until a while later a new thing would occur to liven up the mix before, yep again, the tedium would strike.

And yet…and yet…I love seeing Temeraire and Laurence again. And watching Iskierka covet more shiny things for Granby. While listening to Temeraire and Iskierka snip at each other. All as this world has advanced with England facing new challenges and Napoleon busy making new alliances which could sway the ultimate course of the war. I have to keep reminding myself that in this reality, England might not win which keeps me more on edge than I would normally be in any book about these wars. We don’t know the outcome any more than these characters do while they’re living it.

The pairing of Rankin and his new dragon is alternately funny and maddening. The other new dragon in the covert opens interesting possibilities while adding spice to the mix of the aviators. You seem to love to shake and stir them all up. I can almost imagine you cackling with glee as you toss them on their heads. It’s good to see Tharkay carrying out his shadowy business even as he sticks a spoke into Rankin’s wheels every now and then. Plus Laurence is horrified to realize that Emily Roland is growing up and might soon be getting into all sorts of mischief. And oh the endless problems that Gong Su has trying to prepare tasty meals on the wing to tempt Temeraire’s refined palate when all he’s got are cassowaries and stringy kangaroos.

I do like how you have fun with Australia by adding all sorts of problems for our intrepid adventurers to deal with. Wildfires, thunderstorms, bunyips, quicksand and the native population all cause havoc even before the group finally makes it to the coast and discovers what’s behind a lot of their traveling headaches. If I had to deal with what they do, I would never complain about 10 hours in the car and rest stop bathrooms again. The way you tantalizingly add to our knowledge of new parts of this world – such as South America or the Iroquois who appear to be having good luck with farm raising dragons among the Yankees – whets my appetite. The reappearance of old enemies in the story, such as how Napoleon is recruiting the Tswares and the Chinese are using sea serpents add new twists that keeps things interesting.

When the penultimate battle started, I was as sick as Temeraire and as torn as Laurence. I was also expecting something totally different from what I got. Here’s nineteenth century state of the art warfare against a people who ought to have been nearly helpless against it. Only they weren’t and as the tide of the battle swiftly, so very swiftly, changed I was reading in horror at the fate of those who thought they had things wrapped up before the first cannon was fired. The “up close” image Laurence has of the dying man meeting his fate will stay with me for a while in my nightmares. The sad trip of the Aerial Corps back Sydney would have felt like the retreat of a broken army. And then to face the departure of so many friends while being stuck on this island prison would test men less strong than Laurence.

Though the book doesn’t quite live up to the hopes I had for it, I still enjoyed it. I am still looking forward to what will come next and as so often is the case with this series, I haven’t got a clue what to expect. Will Laurence and Temeraire stay in Australia, build their pavilion and entertain Lung Tien Qian? Or will the lure of privateering win after all? Or will they travel to new places as they attempt to make their way in this world where they have no honor? I guess I’ll have to wait. But hopefully not as long this time.

~Jayne

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When a friend told me that you had started this historical series, despite the fact that I’m pretty much Regencied out, I was delighted. After all, you’ve written some wonderful category novels such as “A Soldier’s Heart,” and “A Rose for Maggie” that I love. After I finished it, all I could do was shake my head.

Olivia Grace works for a jumped up harpy who couldn’t pass up the chance to push her three daughters into the polite society gathering in Brussels before the showdown with Napoleon. Olivia is surprised when Lady Kate, aka the Dowager Duchess of Murther, sits down beside her at the Duchess of Richmond’s ball thereby blowing the cover Olivia has constructed to hide herself from the evil villain in her past. Yes, Gervaise, her former husband’s cousin who has hunted her like a fox because he lusts after her, has found her at last but, in the nick of time, the battle begins followed by Lady Kate and her unconventional household taking Olivia in to help nurse the wounded.

Except one of the wounded is a man Olivia never thought to see again: the love of her life and her former husband. Jack believed the lies Gervaise told about her five years ago, called her a whore, challenged her cousin to a duel because he thought they were having an affair, threw her pregnant self to the curb with no money then divorced her. Only Jack is badly injured, was found on the battlefield in a French officer’s uniform and looks to have his own past secrets coming home to roost. Will the truth be discovered before all the many evil villains lurking in the shadows attack?

As I read deeper into “Barely a Lady,” I should have stopped. But I kept thinking that if anyone could take situation loaded with every trite trope in the genre and turn it around, you could. I was wrong. This book has aristocratic spies, a hero with amnesia, brain injury causing a character to be only able to speak in metaphors or symbols (Lady Bea) – and btw why on earth was she needed? -, past and present Big Misunderstandings during which the hero acts like a dickwad, revenge, eeeevil villains, multiple PsOV including many from secondary characters, a heroine who ought to loathe the hero but who instead just can’t stop herself from dissolving into lust around him, a supporting cast of characters who immediately support Olivia in the face of all contrary evidence unlike the rest of the ton who have spurned her for five years, Lady Kate’s ragtag household which has a pregnant housemaid, a former boxer and a pickpocket – who all adore Olivia – and the beginnings of a series complete with future heroes and heroines (hence the multiple Psov) sprinkled throughout the narrative. It’s even got a cringe worthy series title by which a lot of the future heroes are already known in this society: Drake’s Rakes.

In answer to the question of why I kept reading as the cliches piled on I offer the response that I wanted to read the climactic scene in which Olivia finally, after suppressing her emotions for the majority of the book because the doctor said that reminding Jack of the memories he’d suppressed or temporarily lost due to his head injury would hurt him, lets him fucking have it. And then I wanted a grovel scene to outgrovel just about any other groveling I’d read in any other romance book. I wanted world class groveling. I wanted Oscar winning groveling from a man who seemed to have done everything to Olivia except kill her dog. Well, you supplied the scene in which Olivia Reveals Almost All to a shame filled Jack. And it was pretty good. This is followed by almost the entire household piling on Jack and telling him what a shit he is and how fabulous Olivia is. Then Jack grovels over the course of quite a few pages and chapters. And that was good. Only it’s not enough.

Because then Jack didn’t seem to know when to stop pouring ashes on his head and crawling to Olivia begging forgiveness and Saint Olivia, despite five years, FIVE YEARS!, of hell on earth appears ready to forgive and forget way too easily for me to believe. And I find that I can’t believe either his 180 change from the rat bastardness described as his past actions. I also don’t give a damn about whatever spy nonsense will be carried on over the course of the rest of the series or the fact that Gervaise gets what’s coming to him.

I think I’m going to stop reading romance novels using Waterloo as a backdrop. Balogh gave me Disney Whores, this is where Putney started the pile that is Shattered Rainbows and now here’s Olivia the All Forgiving with Jack the Asshole. When I close a book and feel sorry that the two main characters are facing a life together it’s a bad sign. When I don’t even feel sorry for the heroine because I feel she’s too silly, it’s even worse. D

~Jayne

Book Link | Kindle | Amazon | nook | BN | Borders
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It has been five years since we've had a new Laura Kinsale book to read, and Lessons in French is quite a departure from her last book, Shadowheart.

Callie, or more properly, Lady Callista Taillefaire, is a 27-year old thrice-jilted heiress who wants nothing more than to live in relative peace – and raise her prize bulls. She believes that the only real attraction she possesses is her fortune, that her coppery hair, shy disposition, and agricultural passion are not only unfashionable, but also downright repellent to any man of worth. And especially to one man, in particular, whom she hasn't seen in ten years but who regularly stars in her imaginative daydreams.

Trev, or more properly, Trevelyan Davis d'Augustin, Duc de Monceaux, fled Shelford and Callie after her father, the earl, found the two of them hidden in his carriage, practicing more than the French Callie had been supposedly learning from Trev's mother, the duchesse. It was one thing to politely tolerate displaced French émigrés as neighbors, but quite another to tolerate one's daughter being ruined by a young, handsome, wild, and clearly unworthy young Frenchman. Now that the duchesse is so ill, however, Trev has returned, a wealthy man, with the happy news that he has won back the family estate as Monceaux.

Trev has done nothing of the sort, of course, having spent the past ten years in a somewhat itinerant and disreputable series of roles, from French prisoner to military translator to boxing promoter. It is the last that has made Trev's fortune as well as his fate, which at the moment is not looking so optimistic. For unbeknownst to Callie and his mother, Trev is not even supposed to be in England, else he be hanged for a forgery it matters not whether he actually committed.

But he is happy to take the risk, not only for his mother's sake, but also for the happy surprise that Callie is still in Shelford and still unmarried. And it is very clear to the duchesse (and likely even the village goats, who "very properly kept their opinions to themselves"), if not to the thrice-rejected Callie, that Trev is in love with the young woman with whom he shared so much youthful passion and so many harebrained adventures.

So what's one more?

Callie's cousin, the new earl, gambles away Callie's beloved Hubert, a bull of such fine conformation that Callie is planning on taking him straight to the upcoming county exhibition at Hereford. When Trev's plans to buy Hubert back from Colonel Davenport (who has wanted Hubert for quite some time, and who also plans to show him at Hereford), go awry, Trev and Callie find themselves falling right back into their own companionability, with Trev thinking this will be his last indulgence before leaving England for good, and Callie thinking she will spend three days with the one man she truly loves before retiring to the country as a spinster heiress.

The farcical adventures that follow implicate nearly everyone in the novel, from Major Sturgeon, one of Callie's three suitors who has returned to re-win her hand, to a mysterious woman from Trev's past, to Trev's clever, ailing mother, to the newly-minted fiancée of Callie's younger sister, Hermione.

Janet:

There's a point in the novel where Trev tells his mother that Callie "is a little heroine: she is all heart," and that's basically how I felt about the book as a whole. I found it a very emotional read, even though the tone was often quite light and even a bit cynical, at times. Callie and Trev's loneliness was so palpable to me as a reader, and it reminded me of several other, darker, Kinsale books, especially My Sweet Folly and Seize The Fire. Callie seems much more like Olympia or Folie to me than Merlin from Midsummer Moon, the book to which people seem to be comparing Lessons in French. And Trev felt much more like Robert Cambourne, or S.T. Maitland, or Sheridan Drake, without so much angst and past trauma. Despite the whimsy and wit, there was a definite thread of regret in the narrative, too:

It was not that she sounded disappointed, or miffed, or offended, the way any number of women of his past had sounded when he had tactfully refused their very agreeable offers. She didn't weep or withdraw. There was only that single small syllable she spoke, but he heard all the damage, the hurt they must have given her, those bastards who had left her standing at the altar or alone in the line of chairs against the wall, all their excuses and lies, those blind, blind, stupid bastards who never saw what was right before their eyes.

I don't know if it's a common timeframe among certain books, or Trev's somewhat cynical romanticism, but I loved the sense of longing portrayed in both Trev and Callie's characters; it gave the novel as a whole a poignancy that felt a bit darker rather than lighter to me.

Joan:

I've actually had a hard time going back to Lessons in French for a reread, the same way I do for Seize the Fire, precisely because it's a little bleak, and shot through with longing and loneliness. The comparison with Midsummer Moon is coming from Kinsale herself, and although Lessons in French does indeed have what Kinsale terms "hedgehog humor" here and there, the fact that Hubert is in fact a huge lumbering bull, rather than a little spikey hedgehog, has symbolic relevance to the book's feel. The humor is there in the characters' banter with each other, but it's doesn't inflect the overall feel of the book itself.   The underlying emotion of the book is melancholy – nostalgia for a lost time and place that wasn't all that great to begin with, regret for lost innocence that wasn't all that innocent anyway, yearning for a companion without being sure that someone to share things with would actually solve anything.

Janet:

I agree, Joan, and this issue has me reflecting on the whole idea of Callie as an "anti-kick ass heroine,' which I've seen around, too. I don't, actually, like to think of Callie in those terms, because the quality in her that seems so prominent is the way she copes and endures the powerful losses she's suffered, the way she remains optimistic and good-hearted.

On the one hand there is the way she uses her daydreaming as a substitute for what she cannot openly wish for:

It seemed worse than a disgrace now, it seemed a betrayal to be here with Trev, to want him beyond anything else, and yet be entertaining a proposal from another man. But it was not as if Trev had asked for her hand. Indeed, he said he was going away back to France. And he had said nothing to suggest that he desired to wed her and take her home to his estates. She might indulge in a great number of fantastical daydreams, but that was one fantasy that she ruthlessly denied to herself.

. . .

Callie tried to make a daydream for herself. It was what she always did when she could not quite bear what was real. She was, as most of those who knew her had informed her with some exasperation at one time or another, quite capable of becoming so lost in her thoughts that she did not hear any words spoken to her. But this time she could find no way to lose herself in any reverie-’or delusion, as they all seemed.

And then there is the way the unfolding of the story finds her in a very real adventure, one that makes her unable to use her old coping mechanism and immersed in a reality that exceeds both the fear and joy of her daydreams. In any case, the happiness is suffused with loss and the tragedy is infused with comedy, such that in my opinion they are really inseparable.

I think that's why I found the first love scene so powerful; it's like Trev is bringing Callie fully into the present, fully into herself, fully into her awareness of both of them as a couple. at least in that moment:

He held himself over her, his mouth hovering just above hers. "You want it all?" he breathed. He felt wild now, unreasonable. "You want me?"

She made a faint nod in the darkness. He wanted her with a need that had the blood hammering in his veins. He felt her lips part. Her body was delicate and soft beneath him, freed of all the petticoats and corsets and limits….

He turned his head down and kissed her temple, holding himself still inside her. He wanted to move so badly that he was shaking, but he waited in exquisite torment. "Je t'adore," he whispered. "Je t'aime. Do you want me?"

Her tension softened. Her hands opened across his back. "Oh yes," she breathed.

He pressed into her. She whimpered, but it was a sweet passionate sound, frantic, her body closing and squeezing around him.

"Do you want me?" He drew back slowly, torturing himself.

"Yes." She arched up, taking him deep as he pressed again. A moan escaped her.

Trev arched his head back, his eyes closed. "You want me?"

Because this is a Romance, of course, this uncomplicated space cannot last. But I think it's those moments in the text where we get the emotional payoff for enduring all the yearning and longing and loss we readers experience on behalf of the characters.

Joan:

Which is not to say that Callie and Trev aren't as fully realized as any of Kinsale's other heroes and heroines. They are and both are delicious. And if this were a character-driven book, it would be truly, deeply, wonderful. But Kinsale's weak point has ever been plotting and the raft-load of coincidences, machinations, and deus ex machina that brings together the loose ends begs a little more suspension of disbelief than I'm willing to grant.

Janet:

You know, I really felt that the plotting of Lessons in French was much tighter than in previous novels, especially books like My Sweet Folly and Seize the Fire, both of which I felt echoing faintly through this book. But perhaps because of that, it felt that there were too many coincidences that acted in concert to facilitate the ending of the book. A figure from Trevor's past shows up just at the right time; Hermione's new fiancé proves useful in exactly the right way at the right moment; an old suitor of Callie's returns to catalyze a whole series of revelations and connections previously unknown, etc. And while I appreciated one very clever turn related to Callie's three failed engagements, even that felt a bit contrived, as you suggest in the deux ex machina mention.

I'm usually willing to tolerate some deux ex machina results in farce, but this novel was so much more than that, I agree with you that it undermined the strong character-driven elements of the novel.

Joan:

I was also impatient with the pacing of the revelations. It took me a while to get into the book. I know stuff is hidden, especially about Trev's life, but it took too long for the reader figure out what was going on. Once I was let in on the book's secrets, it was a much quicker, more engaging read.

Janet:

Me, too! The first time I read the book, I really had to work to get through the first hundred pages. It felt slow, even lazy, much like Hubert! Now the second time I read it, these pages went much more quickly, probably because I already knew how things unfolded and could pick out all the hidden clues and half-expressed significances.

Joan:

Re-reading what I wrote above, it seems harsh. Any other book with these issues would get a C rating. But this is still the incomparable Laura Kinsale, who can write a book in Middle English and get people not only to understand but also to adore it, who can write about sadomasochism in Renaissance Italy and win a freaking RITA. Lessons in French is a tour de force that in any other author would have us singing to the skies with praise and wonder. But this is the first Laura Kinsale book in five years and had incredibly high expectations. So, while it’s not her personal best, IMO, it's still stunning and amazing and brilliant.

Grade: B+

Janet:

There is must so much I love about this book. I love that it's a pastoral; I love Callie's affection for Hubert and the fact that she feeds him Bath buns (this may be partially because I love Bath ;D); I love Callie's agricultural ambitions and her canny understanding of the social dynamics she must negotiate; I love Trev's romanticism, and I swooned at the very impassioned speech he delivers to Callie when she tries to insist for like the hundredth time that they are merely friends; I love the care that's obvious in drawing the picture of this not quite idyllic story-scape. And I think the novel deftly balances the tragic with the comic in a way that does not erase the tragic but still allows us to celebrate Callie and Trev's ultimate happiness. While Lessons in French is not my favorite Kinsale, its poignancy has stayed with me ever since I read it, making it a strong B+ for me, too.

Best regards,

-Joan/Sarah F. and Janet

This book can be purchased at Amazon
(affiliate link), Kindle (non affiliate link). I looked at Books on Board and Fictionwise, but the title does not appear available there.

FTC disclosure: This book was provided to the reviewer by either the author or publisher. The reviewer did not pay for this book but received it free.

Related posts:

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2. CONVERSATIONAL REVIEW: Indiscreet by Carolyn Jewel
3. CONVERSATIONAL REVIEW: The Serpent Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt

After my review of “Captain Blood,” there was a call for more swashbuckling films. I do plan to eventually do more of these but I thought I’d detour slightly in this direction. It is swashbuckling, it is war, it is the Navy and it’s set just before and during the Regency period which is so popular with romance readers.

The episodes are basically Hornblower and the British Navy vs Napoleon and his allies. The action begins in 1793 and carries through the short peace and into the beginning of the second phase of war. I’ve never read the CS Forester books on which the series is based so I can’t answer to how closely the TV episodes follow them (from what I gather, very loosely). But I enjoyed seeing some aspects of the era, such as the action in Santo Domingo and the Irish/French alliance, with which I’m less familiar.

Hornblower saves the day, often against impossible odds and, sometimes, by going against his expressed orders when he sees an opportunity to turn the tide of action in favor of the British. It’s this eye for the main chance and the daring to pull things off which earns him the admiration of both the officers and men with whom he serves and which propels him up the chain of command in the Navy.

Each episode, or set of episodes, features someone who will be Hornblower’s chief buddy and also a surly fellow or three to act as a foil for Horatio’s nobility and sense of duty. In all cases, by the end of the show or set, the surly ones are either dead or have redeemed themselves, usually through death. Not all the major and, certainly, not all the minor characters will survive each episode but there is a core group we come to know.

Throughout the series, Ioan Gruffudd does a fantastic job as the man upon whom the whole series rests. He’s backed up by a fine series of actors and actresses – more the former than the latter as there are few female roles. This is definitely “male eye candy” viewing.

Robert Lindsay, in the role first of Captain then, by the end, Admiral Pellew, stands in as a mentor and almost father figure to Horatio. He’s tough but fair and uses his influence to smooth troubled waters, dispense justice to backstabbers and see Horatio on his way to a glorious future. Jamie Bamber and Paul McGann play the buddy roles while Paul Copley and Sean Gilder are enlisted men who serve with Horatio during the entire course of the series. There are scads of other top notch actors including David Rintoul, Ronald Pickup, David Warner, Denis Lawson, Ian McElhinney, and Greg Wise who co-star in various of the episodes.

The BBC does right by the series. But I think the presentation was well served by clever camera angles and tight close ups that help to conceal the fact that the Indefatigable wasn’t actually sailing with a full ships company. The model ship work is good and the enthusiasm of the actors during their fight scenes carries our belief in their reality. It looks as if care was taken with the costuming with the exception of Pellew’s unfortunate wig in episodes 5 and 6. Oi, what a horror that was. The Grand Turk, which stands in for HMS Indefatigable, is a wonder.

During the first four of the episodes, Horatio is so painfully honorable at times that I wanted to yell at him to get drunk and get laid. Yet, despite always doing the right thing, even if it initially seems like it might go against his long term advancement, in the end, he always comes about and is proven right for having followed the dictates of his conscience. He also does begin to accept that not everyone is as noble as he and learns not to condemn out of hand – as with the “Duchess” who ensures the safety of the Naval dispatches by means at which Horatio initially bridles.

By the time of episodes 5 and 6, he’s older, wiser and more willing to bend the rules for the ultimate good. And during episodes 7 and 8, he’s thinking beyond the immediate – such as how a traitor’s identity might affect the entire fleet. We also see the pressures of command sometimes weighing heavily on him and he never loses a chance to mentally beat himself up for what he considers his failings of the episode.

We also see his conflict between his duty to his ship and men and to his wife, whom he marries out of duty. His growth as a man and as a leader of men is steady and noticeable from episode 1–> 8. My congratulations to the director and screenwriters who have done an admirable job of conveying this.

There are 4 episodes which feature either a love interest for young Hornblower or strong female role. Honestly, I wasn’t too thrilled with the roles of either the young French woman who is Horatio’s first (brief) love or the young woman he eventually marries, though I understand she is supposed to be seen as a weight around his neck.

Julia Sawalha plays Maria Mason who eventually becomes Mrs. Hornblower. Before seeing these episodes, I was afraid her character would be Lydia Bennet all over again. She’s not, though she’s more cloying than Sawalha is in her role as Saffron in Ab Fab. It’s obvious that he doesn’t love her, nor is he supposed to according to what I’ve read. Had the series continued, perhaps we would seen him eventually find love.

The actress who stands out as the type who might have been a match for Horatio is played by veteran English actress Cherie Lunghi. She’s the Duchess/actress who is as determined to fight for her King and country as any man in the service. She can use flirtation and her fan like weapons and shows Horatio that honor is not only in the upperclasses. But yes, yes, I know she’s not meant for him in the series.

There’s a nice presentation of all eight episodes in a Collector’s Edition with some nifty extras. Though I don’t understand why the first 4 shows are subtitled and not the last 4 (though I believe those last ones have closed captioning). Subtitles definitely help when listening to the accents of the enlisted sailors. There are also some commentary tracks with the director and producer.

Each episode is about 100 minutes which gives almost 800 minutes (13+ hours) of action, adventure and buckling of swashes. Not a bad bargain and one I recommend trying.

~Jayne

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Dear Ms Novik,

After finishing “Empire of Ivory,” I wondered where you’d take me in the follow up book. Answer: through the wringer. “Victory of Eagles” sees Temeraire and his captain Will Laurence having to face the results of their actions – seen as treasonous by most of the military – which ended “Ivory.”

I mentioned how while reading the series, one needs to be alert to the major and minor changes you’ve made to the actual history of the times. Unlike Patrick O’Brian’s famous Aubrey and Maturin books or countless others written in the same vein, the Temeraire books don’t stick exactly to what really happened. And with this story, history is not merely bent, it’s twisted like a pretzel.

Things start out slowly with Temeraire sinking into mental and physical despondency in the breeding ground in Wales. After what he and Laurence do to save the dragons of Europe and the world, the two are separated upon their return to England. Laurence knows what he faces while Temeraire only slowly begins to understand just how the military views what they did. Laurence is now a condemned traitor, kept alive only to assure that Temeraire will behave himself, stay in the breeding grounds and provide the nation with more dragon eggs. Temeraire has to amuse himself by quoting passages from the Principia Mathematica to ward off his boredom. But unknown to his keepers, he’s been let in on a way to learn news of the outside world. And what he learns horrifies him.

Yes, Laurence is alive but living a life of misery on the prison ships anchored on the Thames. That is until the French finally begin their invasion of England. Using state of the art tactics, they neutralize many of the Naval vessels while sinking others. When Temeraire is told Laurence’s ship went down with all hands, his willingness to stay a prisoner in Wales ends. Instead he organizes and leads the other dragons there in defense of the nation. After all, they’re intelligent, they know war tactics. Who needs to be in harness to fight for one’s homeland?

I enjoyed watching Temeraire’s natal steps towards becoming a Whig politician. Sure he wants to fight but he has to persuade the others that it’s the right thing to do after the French land on English soil. And it’s not an easy task once the other dragons begin to learn how the French honor the rights of their Armee de l’Aire. Temeraire himself sometimes has a hard time overcoming his own qualms due to his knowledge of how the dragons of China live as well as what he saw while in France. In those countries, dragons are not feared, as in England, but are treated with dignity and respect. And given treasure!

Soon, the dragons learn first hand how the invasion will change their lives as the French begin to secure their position around London following the disastrous defeat of the English Army. I admire how you make me believe in the events you invent. The quick rally to fight for London, the way the French manage to position their troops for the counterstroke, the realization that a general retreat to Scotland is the only hope to preserve what’s left of the English forces, how it’s the dragons who work out the method used to transport the French so quickly all over England and how they manage a 19th century equivalent of the evacuation of Dunkirk.

This book has quite a bit more action than we’ve seen in the past few stories yet you manage to work in a nice bit on the ethics of war. The price asked of the dragons and their crews grows to horrific proportions. Yes, it’s in defense of the nation and the people of England but asking them to forgo their honor exacts a terrible price even as it finally begins to even the odds and force Napoleon towards the battle Wellesley devises to rid England of the Corsican invader.

And speaking of Wellesley, I adore his foul mouthed blunt speaking and brilliant strategizing. It’s so in character with the famous quotes he made in real life and the battles he engineered. As well, the sly nod to Patrick O’Brian was a delight to read. I loved the fact that we get to read more about the strong bonds between the dragons and their captains and crews. Plus we get to see Temeraire’s love of flash and glitter.

Temeraire was pleased that, to his eye, their own force was much the handsomer. A great many of the Frenchmen he could spy wore long drab coats, with scarcely a touch of color, and otherwise were largely in white breeches and white shirts – none too clean, Temeraire noted – with very ordinary dark blue coats. He much preferred the vivid red coats which dominated their own army. They had also several companies of soldiers in the center in colorful and patterned skirts, instead of plain breeches; and of course their flag was by far the more interesting.

While I was reading the book, I wondered ahead what would follow. With Napoleon’s crushing defeat and the taint of treason still clinging to Laurence and Temeraire, what could they do next and where would they be allowed to go? But once again, I needn’t have worried as their fate is decided in a way that stays close to military discipline as well as to the historical events of the times. Now having finished the heart pounding excitement of “Victory of Eagles,” I only wonder how I’m going to last until next year. Write quickly. B+

~Jayne

Goodreads | Amazon | BN | Sony | Kobo

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3. REVIEW: Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik

It’s taken me a while to get around to reading your debut, The Spymaster’s Lady. Back in the winter, Robin asked me if I would review it in a conversational review with her before your next book came out, and I promised that I would. When I got to reading it last week, my repsonse to The Spymaster’s Lady was far from Robin’s own experience of the book and she suggested that I convert the notes I had prepared for a conversational review into this letter instead, so that the review could stand on its own.

Readers who have not yet done so can find a plot summary for The Spymaster’s Lady in Jane’s A- review. Another opinion can be found in Jayne’s A- review. And readers should also be aware that this review will contain spoilers.

The writing in The Spymaster’s Lady is crystalline in its beauty and sharpness. The prose is just gorgeous, scintillating, and as others have noted, the French dialogue and Annique’s POV thoughts in French are absolutely spot on in capturing the cadences of the French tongue. You are a brilliant stylist, a wordsmith of the first order, and I am just in awe of your gift for language.

Therefore, I want so badly to love this book and give it my whole heart, and it is frustrating that I can’t.

My frustration centers on Annique’s character, but I don’t really dislike Annique herself. I feel that she is cute and therefore could have been endearing, but the problem I run into is that I don’t feel that her portrayal is consistent, or that she is all that she is being described as. To explain what I’m saying, I will go through my issues one by one.

First, we are told that Annique is an amazing spy, but as a good friend of mine pointed out when we discussed the book, every time Annique and Grey grapple in any way, he always gets the upper hand. When he wants to entrap her in chapter two, he succeeds (and he does it by using her thirst for water against her, as if she were a wild animal). When she tries to escape in the carriage, he stops her. When she tried to escape again (being softhearted and not wanting to kill him in the process), he knocks her away and hurts her. When he decides to drug her with opium so that she won’t attempt another escape, she does not detect the opium in her coffee, even though she’s blind and so her other senses are supposedly acute. And on it goes… He gets the upper hand every time, and puts one over on her more than once in the process.

There were a few times when Annique was able to do something that showed a bit of competence, especially toward the beginning of the book. I would get my hopes up that maybe the strong, successful spy described in everyone’s POV thoughts would materialize, but then Grey would set out to best her again, and she’d fall for his next trick. This made the feel stymied, especially in the book’s first half. By the second half, when Annique began to give away the most important state secrets she possessed to a man whom she thought was a complete stranger, I had given up my hopes that there was a brilliant female spy to be found in the pages of The Spymaster’s Lady.

Second, Annique also seems too vulnerable and innocent to me for someone who has been spying since childhood. I felt that her innocence and sense of wonder were childlike to a point where the age and power gaps between her and Grey were disturbing and made me uncomfortable at times, most especially when they were having sex.

There are places where the dialogue reinforces Annique’s extreme youth and inexperience, for example, Adrian actually says to her “Annique, you will not grow up to be big and strong if you don’t eat your vegetables” (I realize this was a witty remark, but it encapsulates the way I saw Annique). And Grey says, “You’re not a child, Annique. Stop acting like one.” Adrian calls her “Ma pauvre” and Grey, “My little halibut.” To me these sound like the kinds of things parents say to children. It made me feel that the heroine was being infantilized.

Third, I feel that Annique’s virginity is very improbable given how she makes her living. When Grey realizes that she doesn’t have much sexual experience, he has this thought:

How many men, Annique? Not many, I’ll bet. Did your masters keep you unawakened so you could play the boy more convincingly? Their mistake. It left her vulnerable. Achingly, ignorantly vulnerable. He’d use that against her, sooner or later.

It’s that “Achingly, ignorantly vulnerable” that I have a problem with in a character who is said to be a super-competent spy. And I also don’t understand why staying a virgin would make it easier for Annique to act the part of a boy. It’s my opinion that one is either a good actor, or a bad actor. I don’t see how sexual experience or lack thereof makes a difference.

Since I don’t feel that it’s a logical motive to keep a spy a virgin, especially when she already knows how to act the part of a courtesan and could no doubt glean important secrets through sex, I feel that the real reason for Annique’s virginity is to telegraph to readers that despite her being a French spy, Annique is a good girl and pure of heart. And using a heroine’s sexual ignorance to show that she is virtuous is admittedly not my favorite trope in romance.

I felt that the virginity=virtue trope was reinforced by the way Grey at first thought of Annique as both evil and a whore, and even tried to dress her in a whore’s clothing until he came to the realization that she was not an evil killer and not sexually experienced. The two realizations coincided with one another and came at the same point in the story.

This reminded me a bit of some of the romances from the 1970s and 1980s, like Woodiwiss’s The Flame and the Flower, where the hero thinks the heroine is a whore and treats her badly until he finds physical proof of her virginity. I am glad that Grey did not go that far, but he did treat Annique coldly at first and his realization that she was neither sexually experienced not evil came on the heels of a scene in which they come close to loveless sex, so I was very strongly reminded of this “whore or virgin” trope.

A fourth reason why Annique’s character does not work so well for me is that she is a paragon. Vulnerable, brave, supposedly smart and said to excel at her job, brilliant at memorization, virginal, pure and gallant — not a personality flaw in sight. Nothing to give her a shade of gray. And that, especially when combined with her improbable virginity, makes her less than believable for me, and harder to relate to.

A fifth problem I had with the book was not in Annique herself but in the British spies’ reactions to Annique. Not only was she a paragon, but I kept feeling I was being told (in the hero and his friends’ thoughts and dialogue) what a paragon she was. How clever, how brave, how good, how expert a spy.

The hero and the secondary characters’ going on about Annique’s virtues made me feel that I was being told how to interpret Annique’s character. In other words, it felt heavy-handed. And since I did not agree with their assessment of Annique as a great spy, the feeling that I was constantly being told that she was something that she wasn’t was extremely frustrating to me.

There were times when other things felt heavy-handed to me as well, for example, there’s a conversation between Grey and his men when he tells them that Annique was in Bruges when some of their fellow spies died. Adrian and Doyle start recapping who died there, who they served with in the past, and how it was supposed to be an easy exchange of the Albion plans for the gold. But I saw no reason for Adrian and Doyle to be telling Grey that — he’s the section head spymaster, so he already knows all this. Which makes me feel like the information is there only for readers, and not because it is a natural subject matter for the characters.

Something else that felt heavy-handed to me was Annique’s admiration for the English spies. It was like the mirror image of their admiration for her, and those were places where I felt that rather than being left the room to interpret the characters of Grey, Doyle and Adrian for myself, I was being told what to think of them.

And that brings me to another topic, which is that the way entire British Service behaved around Annique seemed out of character for spies and interrogators who needed the information she held so badly.

In a nutshell, my problems with The Spymaster’s Lady all come down to the issue of believability. Spying is a rather ruthless and dirty business, and that was not reflected in the book, at least, not to my satisfaction.

I had difficulty suspending disbelief and that’s where I feel that I needed more — more competence from Annique, whose ineptitude only grew in the book’s second half, more ruthlessness and shades of gray from all the characters, more showing and less telling me (via the chorus of Annique’s admirers) what to think and feel. One of the things I look for in a book is room for interpretation, a place for my own imagination to connect with the characters, and for all the gorgeous writing, I don’t feel that I got that here.

At this point I have reached page 311 (chapter thirty-three), but the more I read, the more frustrated I grow. I don’t think I’d have made it this far if not for my original commitment to Robin. I’ve now read well over four-fifths of the book, so I could force myself to finish, but then I’d have to grade it, and there is simply no grade I could give The Spymaster’s Lady that would be reflective of both my appreciation of the beauty of the language, and my growing frustration that I did not find this book believable, realistic, or convincing. The more I read, the more the latter overshadows the former, and so, I think it best that I stop here. DNF.

Sincerely,

Janine

This book can be purchased in mass market from Amazon or Powells or ebook format.

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Oh, what I’ve been missing by not reading your books earlier. Now having devoured “Pink Carnation” and the newest in the series, “The Seduction of the Crimson Rose,” I’ve been sucked in by your witty style, your fun characters and the entire world of early 19th century flower spies. What I still wonder is how on earth you have time to write these books and also be a NYC lawyer? Have you cloned yourself?

I haven’t gone back yet and read “Black Tulip” nor “Emerald Ring” but one thing that really impressed me while reading “Crimson Rose” is how you don’t rehash everything that happened in those books nor drag the heroes and heroines from those stories unnecessarily into this one. I usually prefer to read a series in order so that I won’t come across spoilers in later books that will ruin the reading experience of earlier ones. Sure I know some of what will happen in the two books I haven’t read but nothing that dims my desire to actually read them.

Miss Mary Alsworthy was mentioned, and not flatteringly, in “Pink Carnation” as a Regency woman on the make. You had two of your heroes hoping that a friend would escape her which indeed he did. Now we get to see her side of the story and it’s one that probably won’t win her any heroine of the year awards. And yet, how different is she really from countless heroines I’ve read about who are only trying to secure themselves a place in their world as they know it? A Regency woman needed to either marry fairly well or accept a place as a lifelong dependent as few could live independently. Mary, as the eldest daughter of a slightly impoverished family, had always expected to marry first and be the one who supplied the means to her younger sister and brother to advance in their world.

Now her younger sister has, in Mary’s viewpoint, usurped that role and with the man Mary had planned to marry no less. Okay, she didn’t really love him and wasn’t broken up not to marry him, but she does covet the position she lost and chafes at suddenly being the one under the control of her married sister. I think you did a great job showing us the frustration Mary feels at her secondary position and how while she doesn’t really hate her sister or brother-in-law she doesn’t like the horrible thought of living with them nor accepting enough money from them for a fourth Season. It neatly sets up her temptation to fall in with the plans that Lord Sebastien Vaughn.

Vaughn is a dark character. As he said of himself, he thought once to be a wit but has now settle for being a cynic. A throwback from the just ended 18th century, he wears dark clothes, utters cutting comments and offers Mary a way out of the humiliating position of accepting help from her managing younger sister. The League of the Pink Carnation needs to discover the identity of the French spy known as the Black Tulip. Though English spies have been trying for over a decade to unmask him, the situation has taken on new urgency due to Napolean’s planned invasion of England. Due to past circumstances, Vaughn owes the Pink Carnation and agrees to lure Mary for their use. Mary negotiates a shrewd payment, she’ll agree to act as bait for the French spy in return for the money needed to pay for one last Season. Vaughn finds himself impressed by her intelligent bargaining and their association begins.

I loved listening in on Mary and Vaughn’s conversations. Each is determined to linguistically come out on top and both manage to win an equal number of times. As they interact, they discover how alike they are yet manage to ruthlessly control the desire each feels growing for the other. They know a romantic relationship isn’t possible, Vaughn has been completely honest about that from the start and sticks to his guns for reasons you disclose later, so they can enjoy insulting each other with abandon.

For a long moment, he held her gaze without speaking, simply letting the impact of his words sink in, before adding rapidly, as though he wished to get it over with as quickly as possible, “I won’t deny that you’re beautiful. No mirror could tell you otherwise. But there are beautiful women for the buying in any brothel in London. Oh yes, and the ballrooms, too, if one has the proper price. It wasn’t your appearance that caught me. It was the way you put me down in the gallery at Sibley Court.” Vaughn’s lips curved in a reminiscent smile. “And the way you tried to bargain with me after.”

“Successfully bargained,” Mary corrected.

“That,” replied Lord Vaughn, “is exactly what I mean. Has anyone ever told you that you haggle divinely? That the simple beauty of your self-interest is enough to bring a man to his knees?”

Mary couldn’t in honesty say that anyone had.

Vaughn’s eyes were as hard and bright as silver coins. “Those are the reasons I want you. I want you for your cunning mind and your hard heart, for your indomitable spirit and your scheming soul, for they’re more honest by far than any of the so-called virtues.”

These two are made for each other and indeed would over power most other characters. Often such strong people are paired with someone who is their opposite, who acts to redeem them and or soften them. Vaughn and Mary strike sparks from the beginning and in the end, are forged into something even stronger. No they aren’t always kind, often work only for their own interest but (and I say this with relish) I like them!

Another thing I actually enjoyed is the fact that not all the characters get along with the others. Vaughn and Mary actually find some of the earlier characters fairly insipid while they themselves are viewed as cynical and jaded. I found this refreshing. After all, families may love each other but that’s no reason they have to get along all the time nor enjoy the same friends.

The identity of the Black Tulip was a surprise and like Vaughn is something of a look backward to the now gone 18th century. The reasoning behind the spy’s actions does make sense as does the intelligence behind Napolean’s support for him. I don’t recall many clues throughout the book that would have pointed me in the direction needed to unmask the Tulip but to be honest, I think any would have been too many and have given the game away too easily. Also, I like that the story tries to stay mainly on the relationship between Vaughn and Mary rather than them trying to discover who the Tulip is.

As in all the books in the series, you also give us the slowly advancing modern romance between the American grad student trying to discover the indentities of the floral spies and the descendent of one of them who appears to have his reasons for not Revealing All. I’m savoring the thought that I still have two already published books left to read and hope that I can make them last until the next in this series is published. B+

~Jayne

available in hardcover or audio format. No ebook yet…bummer.

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Of course I’ve heard of your series of novels set during the Napoleanic Wars featuring dashing spies named after flowers. Why hadn’t I read one until now….honestly I don’t know. Perhaps I thought the modern bits featuring a English history major trying to track down the identities of the spies was just too cute. Maybe I couldn’t handle anyone mimicking “The Scarlet Pimpernel.” It’s been done already so why mess with an icon. And also there was the vague similarity to “Possession” a book that bored me to tears. Then Jane forwarded a batch of arcs to me and I was seduced by the cover of book four in the series which is not the book I’m writing to you about. However, knowing I wanted to read this upcoming book, I decided that, since I’m anal about reading a series in order if possible, I’d better get my hands on “The Secret History of the Pink Carnation.” I got my hands on a copy and got cracking.

I decided early into reading the book that it was a definite homage to the dashing spy genre saucily mixed with wry humor and delightful turns of phrase. Eloise lays out her plans to root out the long cloaked identity of the Pink Carnation:

That was what I planned to do-’to hunt the elusive Pink Carnation through the archives of England, to track down any sliver of long-dead gossip that might lead me to what the finest minds in the French government had failed to discover.

Of course, that wasn’t how I phrased it when I suggested the idea to my dissertation advisor.

I made scholarly noises about filling a gap in the historiography, and the deep sociological significance of spying as a means of asserting manhood, and other silly ideas couched in intellectual unintelligibility. I called it "Aristocratic Espionage during the Wars with France: 1789-1815."

Rather a dry title, but somehow I doubt "Why I Love Men in Black Masks" would have made it past my dissertation committee.

Personally I’d love to see a dissertation with that title but like Eloise, I doubt it’s intellectually convoluted enough. Do grad schools offer classes on how to come up with a sufficiently mind twisting title? I’ve always wondered.

Since the book is very tongue-in-cheek, I didn’t get hot and bothered about how modern the characters acted. Use of first names among almost strangers, bizarre scenes involving Richard’s family meeting Amy’s family, both families watching as Richard asks Amy to marry him — I let them just roll off my back and laughed at the funny lines. I also like that both Amy and Richard have their faults and flaws – Amy is far to ready to dash off on improbably planned spy raids and her espionage techniques could use serious polishing while Richard has his moments of smug superiority and stubborness.

I enjoyed the secondary characters and how their actions were centered on the story at hand rather than plumping themselves for their own starring turns. Richard’s comical horror at the thought of his parents’ intimacies was delightful. The plot is actually grounded in simplicity with the League of the Purple Gentian carrying off fairly well thought out exploits instead of some of the more outlandish of Amy’s fanciful plans. One thing I did wonder at was whether or not Richard would really have been able to finagle a way into Egypt in the manner he told Amy. I also think if I were Amy, I’d have been mad at him for a little longer over his reasons for not revealing his true identity to her. Like Amy I would have forgiven him but he’d have needed to grovel just a bit.

All in all, I had a ball reading “Pink Carnation” and can’t wait for the further acts of dazzling daring do from the Leaques with the Silly Flower Names as well as catching up on the possible romance between Eloise and a modern day descendant of Lord Richard and Amy. B

~Jayne

This book can be purchased in mass market or ebook format.

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3. REVIEW: The Secret Rose by Laura Parker

My blogging partner Jane and I usually have similar tastes in historical novels. Usually, I say, because we’ve been known to disagree at times. And it’s those times that I almost hate to do a review and have to say, sorry but I think this one sucked. I’m glad to say that this is a time when Jane and I agree on a book. Jane’s review lays out about as much information as a reader should probably have to not spoil the surprises and plot, so I will direct people there to learn the intricate story you tell. Makes it so much easier on me! I will now proceed with my thoughts, me.

I love how the book jumps right into the action. There’s no long set up or explanation of the characters but the story doesn’t need them. We learn what we need to know as we need to know it. I haven’t read it twice so can’t answer to Jane’s statement that the clues are there to be seen once the tale is known but I adore how you don’t lay the foreshadowing on like overly thick icing on a too sweet sheet cake. I hate books which are all but telegraphed ahead of time. There’s are no surprises then, no discoveries, no joy. This book is more like a French cake. Not too sweet, rich with flavor, enhanced by a strong cup of coffee.

Jane is right about the language and I would point people to this book as an example of how to do it right. Faux dialects and dialogue are among my pet peeves. Just tossing in a few foreign words here and there and trying to render an accent don’t cut it. Especially when said efforts to convey the speech of non-native English speakers comes and goes throughout the length of the story. Languages have a rhythm, as you point out when the English spies along with Annique are attempting to pass through a French checkpoint by pretending to be Germans. The grammar is different, the style is different and it takes some work to convey it properly. Thank you for making the effort.

But it’s not just the differences in speaking that work in this story. Janine is another of our bloggers here and she adores the use of the English language. The choice of adjectives, the turn of a phrase, the beauty of speech can make her wax rhapsodic. I will admit that I can usually take such things or leave them. I will admire these things but the lack of them won’t break a book for me. But oh my, I was drowning in delight in “The Spymaster’s Lady.” I was like a cat in a field of catnip.

“This tree we stand beneath,” she banged the stick against bark, “which naturally you have not been introduced to and cannot see anyway, is a beautiful cherry which was old already when I first came here. I have climbed it and stolen many cherries in my time. The whole corner smells of the fruit that fell a few weeks ago. The road you seek, the driveway to the Sisters of the Orphans, is opposite. There.” She touched his shoulder lightly, showing where she meant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The noisy town of Dover stretched above her with its stone houses stacked one upon the other up the hill and the castle above everything. Around her, gray green water washed the pilings, splashing tiny explosions of light, spinning bubbles of silver and snow white. In baskets of fish, the scales shone in iridescent ripples.

After months of darkness, brightness assailed her on every side. Color whirled and danced around her till she was dizzy. She was drunk with it. The line of stark shadow on a white stone wall cut like a shout. A crimson dress in the doorway of a tavern dazzled. Sometimes she could barely think, her head was so full of color and shape. She was lost in this riot of light, struck dumb by the beauty of a gull hovering over a sparkle of water. Never, never would she take the light for granted.

This was to be her new country, this England.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another battering volley. Lead hit the wallpaper and gouged holes six inches deep. The piano took a direct hit and died noisily.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soulier waved impatiently. “Yves, put him– I do not know. I do not keep a cage for such rats in my house. Put him somewhere and watch him. The pantry. All of you go. Yes, all. Do not let him escape.”

Leblanc was dragged from the room, leaving threats behind him like the trail of a snail, departing.

Janine, really needs to read this book too. It’s a linguistic delight.

Books in which the heroine is held captive by the hero often annoy me. I don’t like it when the balance of power between hero and heroine is lopsided. Grey has Annique under his control for much of the book and at times this irritated me a little. Then I would recall, as the English spies ruefully did, that it usually took at least three of them — all top agents — to contain her. And even then they had to stay constantly alert, always on their toes in order to keep her.

Non-romance fans will point to the cover featuring a bare-chested hero and snigger. Another sex book, they’ll say with their lips curled in a superior sneer. We romance fans will be able to laugh at them as we settle in to read it. Yes, it does have sex but those scenes, often ones I skim over in other books, are as delicious as they come. Not merely two bodies banging together, coated with embarrassing adjectives and adverbs, signifying little beyond lurid prose, they are a joyful celebration and affirmation of love between two people.

There, I think I’ll stop now and let everyone who picks the book up discover just what it is they like the most about it. There’re are so many aspects from which to choose, so many delights to be found. I’m sure that some readers will read what Jane and I have written, then read the book and wonder “what are those two nattering on about?” But I believe that most will devour it, close the book and sigh with pleasure. The historical romance novel isn’t dead. A-

~Jayne

***

You can purchase this book in ebook and mass market.

Related posts:

1. REVIEW: The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanna Bourne
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