Review: Secrets in the Mist by Anna Lee Huber

From the Back Cover:

In this spellbinding novel of romantic suspense, written in the tradition of Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt, the bestselling author of As Death Draws Near plunges readers into a world of secrets and deception hidden amongst the mist.

England 1812. Since the death of her mother and brother, Ella Winterton's life has been consumed by keeping her drunkard father out of trouble and the roof of their crumbling cottage over their heads. But even isolated deep in the Norfolk broads, Ella has never been afraid of the marshes surrounding her home, despite their being riddled with treacherous bogs and local smugglers. Until one night a man masquerading as a Lantern Man—a frightening figure of local legend—waylays her in the marshes near her home, and her world suddenly begins to spiral out of control.

Ella can tell her friends and the local villagers are all hiding something terrible, something they refuse to share, and she can’t help but wonder if it has to do with the Lantern Man and his secret activities in the shadows of the seemingly quiet broads. But when Ella’s father is caught with smuggled brandy by the authorities and levied a crippling fine, she is forced to turn to the stranger for help, despite her distrust and his alarming ability to kiss her senseless.

Now she must unravel a twisted trail of deception and secrets, and uncover once and for all whether the Lantern Man is friend or foe. Or else risk being dragged down into the marshes, like the victims from the myth, and buried in a watery grave.

My Thoughts:

So many of my friends are fans of Anna Lee Huber's Lady Darby mystery series, which I've not yet had a chance to read, so I jumped at the chance to review the first book in her brand new romantic suspense series centered around Gothic myths and folklore, Secrets in the Mist.

On a dark, foggy night, the kind of night where most people wouldn't dare cross the marshes on foot, Ella Winterton ventures out to take much-needed medicine to her sick friend, skeptical of her old housekeeper's tales of Lantern Men until she spots their floating lights in the mist and comes face-to-face with one. Only he's no specter but a flesh-and-blood man, dark and menacing and delivering a warning to stay out of the marshes. But that's hard for Ella to do, living on the edge of them as she does, and spending so much time traveling back and forth between her humble home and her friend Kate's home, Greenlaws. Kate recovers from her illness, but it soon becomes apparent that she and her brother, Robert, with whom Ella has a complicated past, are keeping secrets, and Ella's refuge from her drunken father and dwindling prospects no longer seems so inviting. After several more run-ins with the handsome Lantern Man and a lecherous revenue man who levies an exorbitant fine for her father's smuggled brandy, Ella has no choice but to take her family's future into her own hands. But rather than turn to Robert for help, she forces the Lantern Man, aka Jack, to help her and stumbles onto an enterprise far more dangerous than she'd imagined. Now, caught in a trap of her own making, Ella must decide how far she's willing to go to protect her father, her friends, and her very life, and whether Jack can be trusted or if he's leading her into danger for his own nefarious purposes.

Spotlight: The Girl Who Fought Napoleon by Linda Lafferty

The Girl Who Fought Napoleon

by Linda Lafferty

Lake Union Publishing

September 20, 2016

Paperback; 442 pages

In a sweeping story straight out of Russian history, Tsar Alexander I and a courageous girl named Nadezhda Durova join forces against Napoleon.

It’s 1803, and an adolescent Nadya is determined not to follow in her overbearing Ukrainian mother’s footsteps. She’s a horsewoman, not a housewife. When Tsar Paul is assassinated in St. Petersburg and a reluctant and naive Alexander is crowned emperor, Nadya runs away from home and joins the Russian cavalry in the war against Napoleon. Disguised as a boy and riding her spirited stallion, Alcides, Nadya rises in the ranks, even as her father begs the tsar to find his daughter and send her home.

Both Nadya and Alexander defy expectations—she as a heroic fighter and he as a spiritual seeker—while the battles of Austerlitz, Friedland, Borodino, and Smolensk rage on.

In a captivating tale that brings Durova’s memoirs to life, from bloody battlefields to glittering palaces, two rebels dare to break free of their expected roles and discover themselves in the process.

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About the Author:

Linda Lafferty was a teacher for nearly three decades, in schools from Madrid, Spain, to Aspen, Colorado. She completed her PhD in bilingual special education and worked in that field; she also taught English as a second language and bilingual American history. Linda is the author of four previous novels—The Bloodletter’s Daughter, The Drowning Guard, House of Bathory, and The Shepherdess of Siena—all of which have been translated into several languages. The Drowning Guard won the Colorado Book Award for Historical Fiction. She lives in Colorado with her husband.

Review: A License to Wed by Diana Quincy

From the Back Cover:

Perfect for readers of Madeline Hunter, Lisa Kleypas, and Sabrina Jeffries, the Rebellious Brides series continues with a sizzling tale of forbidden love between a socialite and a scholar—who might just be an infamous spy.

Lady Elinor Dunsmore made the mistake of falling for her older brother’s best friend, who vanished after a night of unbridled passion. Six years and a lifetime later, their eyes meet across a Paris salon. Her friends and family believe she’s dead, but Elle is very much alive. She’s now associated with a ruthless general, who wants her to seduce the man who broke her heart in order to learn his deepest secrets. Is Will a mild-mannered scholar—or the notorious agent they call The Razor?

The bastard son of an earl and an actress, Will Naismith always knew he was an unsuitable match for Elle Dunsmore, no matter how powerfully he ached for her. And yet he almost allowed his desires to spoil her glittering future. After the agony caused by Elle’s supposed death, Will has devoted himself to the Crown, but his entire life has been leading up to this unexpected reunion. As much as he still wants her, though, he must not succumb to lust once again. For his mission is delicate—and Elle is delectably dangerous.

My Thoughts:

After the sudden death of Elinor Dunsmore, the young woman he loved, Will Naismith spent the next six years throwing himself into his work, traveling the globe and rooting out information close to home, all in service to the English crown. We first met him in Spy Fall, where he helped Elinor's brother unmask a traitor and discover the whereabouts of Elinor's daughter. Now in Paris on a new assignment, Will is shocked to come face-to-face with none other than Elinor herself, very much alive, the darling of post-Revolution society, and mistress of one of France's most dangerous men. As Elle evades his questions, discounting the love they once shared, and continues to grace the arm of the man Will is tasked with stopping before he can divulge state secrets, Will realizes this Elinor is nothing like the woman he once loved beyond all reason, and she's likely a traitor to her homeland. When one of his top agents goes missing and a connection to Elinor is uncovered, Will must put the past behind him and fulfill his duty to king and country, no matter the cost.

Will Naismith is the last person Elle ever expected to see in Paris. Though she wants nothing more than to lose herself in his embrace, which still sets her heart racing after all these years, she has no choice but to keep him at arm's length. That is until her ruthless general companion tasks her with seducing Will in an effort to uncover the identity of Le Rasoir, England's top intelligence officer in France. Since the general is holding the whereabouts of her missing daughter over her head, Elle is forced to comply. Even though she has secrets of her own, nothing prepares her for the secrets Will is hiding or the lengths he is willing to go to in the name of duty. But as the two circle each other in an effort to outsmart and outlast, all while attempting to deny the connection between them, the game they are playing turns deadly, and both will have to decide what they are willing to risk for love, for each other, and for the chance at a future they never thought they could have together.

Blog Tour Review: A Scandalous Proposal by Kasey Michaels

From the Back Cover:

The drama of London's Little Season continues in USA Today bestselling author Kasey Michaels's vibrant new series featuring three courageous war heroes surrendering at last to love… 

Who would have thought a man could tire of being fawned over and flirted with? Ever since Cooper Townsend returned from France as a hero with a new title, he has been relentlessly pursued by every marriageable miss in London. Perhaps that's why the unconventional Miss Daniella Foster is so appealing. She doesn't simper or flatter. She only wants him to help unmask her sister's blackmailer, and Coop has never been so intrigued… 

Let every other woman in London fight over His Lordship's romantic attentions. Marriage is the last thing on Dany's mind…at least until she samples his illicit kisses. Now, as a mutual enemy races to ruin Coop's reputation and Dany's family name, an engagement of convenience will spark an unlikely passion that might save them both. 

My Thoughts:

The first book in this series, An Improper Arrangement, was my first Kasey Michaels novel, and while there were some aspects of it that I loved, overall I did not enjoy it quite as much as I'd hoped. But this second book really takes the series to the next level, and I loved it!

In the opening chapter, we learn that Cooper Townsend, whom we met in book one, is being blackmailed by the same person responsible for his unwanted fame, the author of the sensational chapbooks chronicling his supposed acts of bravery and good deeds during the war and beyond. These woefully exaggerated tales have gained Coop a legion of admirers, both male and female, but it is the latter that he has to dodge at every turn as every eligible maid and husband-hunting mama is out to land the catch of a lifetime. But now the author of the books is threatening to publish the third and final volume in the series, which will paint Coop as a cad who takes advantage of the damsels he rescues while exposing a real wartime secret that Coop--and the king, to whom Coop owes his title and allegiance--must keep hidden at all costs.

Enter Daniella Foster. Dany's sister is also being blackmailed for a foolish indiscretion, and Dany, being newly unleashed upon London from her banishment to the country and having just heard about the great hero Cooper Townsend, believes he's just the man to help them out of their pickle. He is a hero after all. How can he refuse to help a lady in distress? Just as she's trying to figure out a way to arrange a meeting, she literally walks out of a dress shop and right into him. Talk about fates colliding! Of course, Coop thinks she's yet another husband hunter, but her earnest plea for help has him intrigued. And when he realizes he and her sister are being blackmailed by the same person, he proposes a fake engagement to allow him all the access he needs to Dany's house and her company. As Coop and Dany, with the help of a few friends, try to track down the blackmailer, they realize there's much more between them than a mutual interest in catching a criminal. But as their net tightens around their quarry, a dangerous new element comes into play, and Coop and Dany find themselves not only fighting for their hearts, but for their very lives.

Review: An Improper Arrangement by Kasey Michaels

From the Back Cover:

Experience the drama of the Little Season in the first of a new series by USA Today bestselling author Kasey Michaels, in which three dashing war heroes have finally met their matches… 

Gabriel Sinclair has returned from battle as reluctant heir to a dukedom. As if his new responsibilities weren't enough, Gabriel's aunt enlists him to sponsor a young heiress through London's Little Season. Yet Miss Thea Neville is hardly the tedious obligation he expected. She's exotic and enchanting—and utterly unaware of the secret poised to destroy her family's reputation. 

After ten years in America, Thea is ready to do her duty and marry well. Deportment lessons, modistes, balls—the ton is a minefield she could scarcely navigate without Gabriel's help. By rights, she should accept the first bachelor who offers for her. Instead, she's succumbing to a dangerous attraction to her wickedly handsome chaperone—one that could unhinge her plans in the most delicious way. 

My Thoughts:

This was my first Kasey Michaels novel, but it won't be my last. (I'll be reviewing book two in this series tomorrow.) I was delighted to find such a smart. humorous writing style.

The story has a fantastic opening scene with Gabriel Sinclair, and the men who will be the heroes of the other books in this series, awaiting Napoleon's surrender only to be ambushed by the French at what will become known as the Battle of Champaubert. Some of them are wounded, all of them are captured, and all of them nurse a grudge against a young nobleman, Myles Neville, who was sent for reinforcements and never returned, leaving the men to their fate.

A year later, Gabriel is still seething over Neville's undeserved status as a war hero and hating Neville's father, the Earl of Broxley, for buying him the commission he was woefully underqualified for. So when his eccentric Aunt Vivian, Duchess of Cranbrook, returns from Virginia with one Miss Thea Neville in tow, a plan for revenge begins to form. Gabriel is quick to figure out that her last name can't be a coincidence, though it seems Thea is unaware of her connection to Gabriel's enemy. Though he suspects his aunt is playing matchmaker when she insists Gabriel squire Thea around during the Little Season, he goes along, determined to use her to his own benefit. But he doesn't count on falling in love with the smart, witty, and refreshing beauty.

Spotlight: Finding Gabriel by Rachel L. Demeter

Finding Gabriel

by Rachel L. Demeter

415 pages; ebook, paperback

Published by Momentum,

a division of Pan Macmillan

ASIN: B00YLWA044

Historical Romance

Colonel Gabriel de Laurent departed for the war intending to die.

After a decade of bloodstained battlegrounds while fighting in Napoleon's army, Gabriel returns to the streets of Paris a shattered and haunted soul. Plagued by inner demons, he swallows the barrel of his flintlock pistol and pulls the trigger.

But fate has a different plan.

Ariah Larochelle is a survivor. Orphaned at twelve and victim to a devastating crime, she has learned to keep her back to walls and to trust no one. But when she finds a gravely injured soldier washed up on the River Seine, she's moved by compassion. In spite of her reservations, she rescues him from the icy water and brings him into her home.

Now scarred inside and out, Gabriel discovers a kindred spirit in Ariah - and feelings he imagined lost forever reawaken as he observes her strength in the face of adversity. But when Ariah's own lethal secrets unfold, their new love is threatened by ancient ghosts. Can Gabriel and Ariah find hope in the wreckage of their pasts - or will the cycle of history repeat again?

Perfect for fans of Gaelen Foley's Lord of Ice and Judith James's Broken Wing, Finding Gabriel features all the dark romance, searing passion, and historical intrigue of The Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables.

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Excerpt:

"Look at me. Look at what you have saved."

Gabriel released Ariah's chin and tore away the bandage in a harsh movement. As his eyes bore into her own, pale moonlight fell upon the deformity, illuminating the twisted flesh and grotesque welts. The sight reminded her of a beautiful chateau . . . a stunning fortress situated along the coastline . . . one that had fallen into ruin and neglect. The skin was concave, destroyed, cavernous - a remnant of former glory. And the surrounding features - his burning eyes, the right side of his face, his powerful body - dwarfed the disfigurement with a striking beauty.

"Look at the monster you have created. Look upon my face, Ariah."