All Smiles is the second in Cameron’s Mayfair Square series. Cameron deftly combines a romantic tale with not one but two separate plots of intrigue upon the main characters. Meg Smiles is a young lady who has found herself in somewhat dire financial straits and when she hears of a Princess moving in across the square who may need a companion for the London Season, she petitions the Princess’ brother, Jean-Marc, Count Etranger to obtain the position. She does not count on falling in love with the Count.
Another featured character is the ghost of Sir Septimus Spivey who has made it his goal to rid his ancestral home in Mayfair Square of its lodgers, one of whom is Meg. In the prequel to this novel, Spivey’s identity is not fully revealed, and proved a little confusing. In this installment, we are treated to more information about Sir Spivey and more insight into his goals and plots. The author uses Spivey to address the reader and engage her in his scheme, and Spivey refers to the author herself as ‘that damnable scribbler.’ I’m not sure what Cameron is trying to accomplish by employing this convention, as no reader would be convinced either that the tale is somehow true, or that she had any control over how the events would unfold. It’s annoying, but able to be overlooked in order to enjoy the rest of the story.
Cameron’s secondary characters bring much enjoyment to the tale, and as we know there are several more books to come in which other residents of Number 7 Mayfair Square are to be married off (and effectively removed from Number 7 if Spivey has his way), it is interesting to guess who will become involved with whom in books to come.
As with the previous novel in this series, who is a ‘good guy’ and who is a ‘bad guy’ is not readily apparent, and there are some quite surprising revelations towards the end.
Also, the sexual encounters between the main characters (and a couple of secondary characters) are quite steamy and well written.
I would recommend this book to any fan of Regency Romance novels. ( )