Look into my eyes - you're going on a journey..
a long journey...
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Travelers Guide to Deception with an Unlikely Earl is another story in Victoria Alexander’s
Lady Traveler’s Society series. This is also a book which, for me, turned out to be hard to review. As a comedy adventure story it was fantastic, but as a romance it doesn’t quite work.This story had a great set-up for a romance tale; I just wish there had been more romance. Sidney Honeywell writes articles for a newspaper under the name of Mrs. Jordan. They are wonderful articles about her adventures in Egypt. She has quite a fan club: in fact, she has earned the name of Queen of the Desert. Here’s the problem: while Sidney is well-read on Egypt – she can even decipher hieroglyphs – she has never been to Egypt. She has been using her grandmother’s journals for her stories. Her grandmother actually did travel to Egypt. Oh yes, besides having never set foot in Egypt, she’s also never been married – so she’s a widow with a wall to breach. Everything about her is a lie. And, there is someone out there who knows she is lying, he just knows it. He just needs to prove it. Enter our hero Harry Armstrong, the Earl of Breton.
Harry, unlike Sidney, has been to Egypt and he has written about his experiences there. The trouble is his writing is pretty much academic – in other words, pretty boring. He can find no one who will publish his work. Publishers also think his work is boring. So, Harry is just a tad bit jealous, except he doesn’t see it as that. He finds the writing of Mrs. Jordan to be intolerable and has dashed off a number of letters to Mrs. Jordan’s publisher. Mrs. Jordan has answered his comments, but not very nicely. Her replies have only infuriated him further. He challenges her to a trip to Egypt knowing in his heart that she will fail, because he believes she’s making it all up (and, she is – sort of). Once she falls flat on her face in Egypt he will expose her for the fraud he believes her to be. She accepts, except she really hasn’t. Unbeknownst to Sidney, aka Mrs. Jordan, her elderly friends from the Traveler’s society have accepted in her name. Yes, Gwen, Effie, and Poppy, are back and they are even more outrageous than they were in the previous books. After some pretty funny scenes it is decided that Sidney, Harry, Gwen, Effie, Poppy and a reporter by the name of Daniel will journey to Egypt for a two week exploration. Daniel, by the way, is out to make a name for himself, and he doesn’t really care how he goes about it.
It isn’t long before it becomes obvious to Harry that Sidney has never traveled anywhere. She displays a wide-eyed, innocent excitement even when she’s boarding the ship bound for Egypt. By the time they reach Egypt, Harry is no longer interested in proving her a fraud. Now, he only wants to help her with her adventure and protect her from snoopy Daniel.
I liked all of the characters in this story, even the sort-of villain Daniel – even when his moment of being a villain happened, I found him to be quite funny. He was the first whiney villain I believe I’ve ever run across. There were loads of funny dialogue, bickering, being in the wrong place, silly rescues, and mayhem – there was just no romance. Because of Sidney’s inexperience in traveling to foreign countries there were moments she turned into a TSTL heroine. She jumps into some situations that any thinking person would avoid. She thinks nothing about walking through an Egyptian street at night with a strange man.
I do recommend this story, just not as a romance. I thought it was great fun, the characters made me chuckle, but there were just too many interruptions by the three elderly women for any kind of chemistry to blossom between Harry and Sidney. On the other, hand this story was full of well-developed, quirky characters who made me smile. And, even though Daniel was kind of a weasel, I thought his attempts at rescue and being a villain pretty funny. There is one scene in particular when Daniel and Harry attempt to rescue Sidney from a harem which is quite amusing. The chemistry between Daniel and Harry in that scene made me chuckle. So, go ahead and read this story, just don’t expect to see very much romance.
Time/Place: England/Egypt 1892
Sensuality: Mislaid
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