Tuesday

The Mysterious Lord Millcroft by Virginia Heath

June 25, 2019
It’s the return of the word “sat”

https://www.virginiaheathromance.com/

I previously mentioned, after I read Virginia Heath’s The Disgraceful Lord Gray I would probably read another of her books. Remember, I like to live dangerously and try to decipher UK English. So, I decided to do some back-tracking and read the other books in her Kings Elite series, starting with The Mysterious Lord Millcroft. Once again, I ran into UK English, but this time I was prepared. This time, I was not kicked out of the story. See, preparation is everything.

Sebastian Leatham is one of the King’s Elite, and he’s shy. When we first encounter him in this book, he is recovering from a gunshot injury at the home of Doctor Joe Warriner. Evidently, there is a Warriner series, which I have not read. Anyway, he is quietly resting, when into his room pops another character from the Warriner series, Lady Clarissa Beaumont. (The Warriner's must have been pretty busy. Perhaps, I started with the wrong series.) Evidently, Clarissa is beyond beautiful, and a little stuck on herself. She has rushed to her sister’s house. You see, she is in a panic because she is not wed yet. OMG! In her twenties, and not married!  Of course, Sebastian is tongue-tied by the sight of her. He is very, very clumsy when it comes to talking to women. Could be any kind of female; a heifer would make him nervous as far as I know. Sebastian and Clarissa spend some uncomfortable, embarrassing time together. She enjoys his embarrassment, just loves to see his ears turn red. I gave her a bad mark for her enjoyment of his shyness. Anyway, they spend some time together. Then they are off, her to storm London and he to do some more spying.

There is a plot line which threads through this series: the hunt for The Boss. The Boss is a smuggler-Napoleon supporter, and the King’s Elite is chasing The Boss. This may have been a thread in the Warriner series, but I don’t know. Can’t say I’m extremely fond of someone being called the “boss.” Sometimes I think I’m tooooo picky. Could be I just like to whine.

I was actually quite fond of Sebastian, but there were some moments in this story that were just a teensy-weensy implausible.  Let’s start with the brains of the King’s Elite, Sebastian’s superior. For some reason, shy Sebastian is given the assignment of going to a party and pretending to be a happy-go-lucky-man-about town. He is given a false identity and told to be social. Being a shy person myself, I know I would never be able to pull off any kind of social activity - unless, I had 50 gazillion Margarita’s before hand. Then I would just probably do a dance and fall to the floor unconscious. So, for me, accepting shy-see-my-ears-turn-red Sebastian as a man-about-town was a bit of a stretch. I also had a hard time accepting that a spymaster would take the chance of putting someone so unqualified into that position. But hey, this is Romanceland, and everything is possible there.

The other little implausible moment was with Clarissa. Clarissa shows up at the house party  – sans chaperone. Maybe I am wrong, but I was of the belief that an unmarried aristocratic woman would not go to a social gathering without some kind of chaperone. Oh sure, she had a maid, but a maid is for the carriage ride, not the party. I do not believe maids were allowed to mingle with the guests; that’s what companions were for, or unpaid relatives, or mothers, or sisters, but Clarissa had none. But, what do I say my little Petunias? This is Romanceland, and everything is possible.

Anyway, Sebastian and Clarissa are both at the party. He is going to catch a spy-smuggler, and she is going to catch a husband. But, Sebastian has a itty-bitty problem – Clarissa knows his real name. The two of them come up with an idea, one which I could see coming. They form a partnership. She will help him maintain his facade. She even concocts some wilder stories of his false identity to feed the partygoers. He will help her in her endeavors to catch a husband, the boring Duke of Westbridge. Their silly plan works, everyone, including the villains, think Sebastian is the cat’s-meow, and Westbridge becomes jealous and proposes. However, by then Clarissa realizes that she is in luv-lust with Sebastian and turns Westbridge down. Clarissa also decides that she wants to be a spy-help-mate to Sebastian. Yes, Clarissa and Sebastian will become a husband and wife spy team. I do realize, my little Petunias, how silly this may sound, but actually, the entire story was rather endearing. Even with the goofy schemes, and an implausible plot, I enjoyed this story. I liked Sebastian a lot, and even though I did not care for Clarissa in the beginning, I thought she turned out to be a great choice for Sebastian.

Even with the biiiggggg stretch of believability in this story, I do recommend it. The Mysterious Lord Millcroft was fun.

Time/Place: Early 1800s England
Sensuality: Warm

Monday

Never Deny a Duke by Madeline Hunter

June 17, 2019

Sigh
https://www.madelinehunter.com/
It’s been awhile. I must admit that I finished this book a couple of weeks ago, and couldn’t decide what I thought about it. It was an average read, and it took me longer than usual to finish. Part of the reason was that it featured a slow building romance between our protagonists: Davina MacCallum and Eric Marshall, the Duke of Brentworth.  Never Deny a Duke is the last of Madeline Hunter’s Decadent Duke series. While I am a big fan of Ms. Hunter, I have found this series to be a little lackluster. But, then I’ve been finding a lot of historical romance books to be not so thrilling lately. I have complained and whined till I am blue in the face and no one seems to be listening. Oh sure, occasionally a gem will cross my path; for instance, debut author Mia Vincy. But the authors I depend on for my weekly good read are letting me down. Boo-hoo, see these tears in my eyes.

Enough about my tears. As I said before, this is a slow book. Davina MacCallum has been promised by George IV that she can have her family land back. The land was taken from her family because they were on the wrong side during the Jacobite uprising. Now she has arrived in London intent on holding the King up to his promise. He puts her off. She leaves, still determined to prove her rights. On the way out, she passes the handsome Duke of Brentworth on his way in. She has encountered him before, and thought that he was charming. Little does she know that he is the man who is now in possession of her family land. That land was given to the Duke of Brentworth by the crown. Well, Brentworth is not going to give up any of his land, but he does wonder about Davina’s claim. Could the land actually be hers? He never doubts that George IV made promises to Davina; after all, George has a weakness for pretty women. He just could not say no, nor was he strong enough to get himself out of his own mess. He has passed his mess on to the Duke to straighten out. Brentworth is no fan of George IV, and he has never hidden his disdain from him. He is a tad bit outraged when he discovers what his sovereign has done, and he can barely hold his tongue. Now, he must clean up the problem. Imagine his chagrin when he finds out that the gorgeous woman he passed on his way in is the woman he must say no to.

Yes, my little Petunias, Brentworth and Davina have a big hurdle to overcome: who owns the land. They both want that land. Now, the author could have chosen many paths to take the story down. She could have turned our couple into conniving pair, with all kinds of lies and tricks along the way. But, she didn’t. Davina and Brentworth join forces in finding out the truth. They embark on a road trip to follow all of the clues. These clues will prove or disprove Davina’s claim. This whole approach gave a strong sense of maturity to the story. I have to thank the author for that. I cannot tell you how tired I grow of over dramatic posturing done by our heroes and heroines. But - and this is a big but - while the story was handled in a mature way, and the romance turned into a slow build, I found the narrative a little boring. I even found the fun bromance between the men from the previous books and Brentworth uninteresting. And, that was the best part of the previous stories.

I am always up for mature characters, the ones who take their time, and are honest with each other. But I also like my characters to have a little spark in them. These characters were reasonable people, they thought through their problems, and there wasn’t too much conflict. It was that lack of conflict which proved to be humdrum. It’s not that this book is bad, it’s just that this book is so-so. For me, this is not one of Ms. Hunter’s better stories. 

Time/Place: England, George IV reign
Sensuality: Warm