The Lady Julia Grey series (this is #3) is in a genre I thought I would never enjoy--romance, with mystery as a second theme. Never say never. Clever, funny, great character development, interesting plot….fabulously entertaining. Miniseries anyone? If you want to have some fun, read this. ( )

This is the third in a series of romantic mysteries whose primary characters are Lady Julia Grey, a young widow and Nicholas Brisbane, the son of a gypsy. Although the plot of his third volume is not entirely realistic, it's fun escape reading. ( )

Not as good as the first two, but only marginally less so, and really only because it took awhile before any of the plot really got moving. This made the book feel LONG.

Saying that, I don't know if I'd actually go so far as to claim it would improve with heavy editing. Perhaps. But the bulk of the first half of the book does do a very good job of setting the atmosphere, which is bleak and oppressive (does anything cheerful EVER take place on the moors?) and something-is-definitely-not-right-here.

And boy howdy is something not right at Grimsgrave. Once the story got moving, so did my pulse rate. The conclusion of the plot left me feeling like I might never be clean again; the author manages to vividly convey a diabolical depravity without celebrating it or wallowing in it, making it possible for people like myself (with a low threshold for such things) to read it without screaming.

Less humor in this one, although the dry wit is still to be found. Lady Julia is really rather putting it all on the line in this book, and when Brisbane isn't acting like an arrogant ass, he's actually acting quite a bit more human, albeit oftentimes I wanted to tell him to get over himself. His "gift" continues to be a burden that is avoided at all costs and never used; given the times and the cost, this actually makes sense. Julia's sister Portia is here too and her life changes rather dramatically during the course of the book. Brother Valerius reappears but is mostly background.

The ending is all wrapped up rather neatly with a HEA for almost everyone. I enjoyed it thoroughly and I look forward to starting the next one (although I am taking a break from the series to avoid burnout). ( )

Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy do I keep reading this series?

( )

Lady Julia follows Brisbane to his new home in Yorkshire, where things get very gothic for a while.

This series continues to be enjoyable, though the focus in this book is less on the mystery investigation and more on character development. Not that that’s a bad thing! The whole series has had touches of the gothic, but this book embraces it full-on. Ah, Yorkshire. ( )