Indiscreet

Carolyn Jewel's Indiscreet follows Edward Marrack, the Marquess of Foye, and Sabine Goddard through the sands of Turkey and Syria during the early Regency. Foye became aware of Sabine a year prior to the start of the story, via a boast by his friend, the Earl of Crosshaven, that he had seduced Miss Goddard. As the novel opens, Foye meets Sabine and her uncle on their travels in Turkey.

Foye is surprised upon meeting Sabine. Instead of a shattered girl mourning her lost reputation, he finds a strikingly intelligent woman fiercely loyal to the uncle who raised her. Sabine also finds Foye contrary to expectation. Where she supposed him to be arrogant and waits for him to proposition her on account of her low status and reputation, she instead discovers he knows Crosshaven lied and that he is drawn, rather than repelled, by her intelligence.

Despite a fifteen year age difference and a large height discrepancy, Jewel created a romance between two equals. Their banter is smart and mature, and neither ever seems to have the upper hand on the other. Even when Foye must rescue Sabine from a deceptive pasha, the rescue depends on her competence at behaving as a boy. Yes, Foye is the rescuer, but he trusts her with so much responsibility that still they remain equals. Sabine is neither too feisty, nor too meek. She is simply capable.

Jewel also breathed fresh air into the cross-dressing mechanic. Rather than treat it as farce, she spent some time exploring Sabine's thoughts on gender and privilege. We get to see her worry about all the tiny things that could give her away, from not knowing how to mount astride a horse to realizing she had to schlep her own belongings.

As much as I enjoyed the intense rescue, I did feel that the romance was a bit short. The hero and heroine admitted their love and agreed to marry in the first third of the novel. All that separated them from their HEA was the resolution of the rescue plot. A bit more holdout, with more character and emotional development taking place during the journey, would have added a fifth star in my mind. ( )

I loved this novel set in Turkey, a real page turner that I couldn't put down!

http://ktleyed.blogspot.com/2010/07/indiscreet-by-carolyn-jewel.html ( )

Carolyn Jewel once again creates incredibly interesting characters that have a unique romantic journey. The book was initially a little slow but I really appreciated the character development. My biggest complaint was that I wished there was more time with Foye and Sabine after their journey/danger. ( )

I received this as an ARC with the promise to review it. So here goes!

Sabine Goddard's reputation was ruined several years ago, incorrectly so, by a former friend of Edward, the Marquess of Foye, hereafter referred to as Foye. Now Foye is travelling, and comes upon Sabine and her uncle, who have left England to get away from the rumors. Neither are described as traditionally handsome or beautiful, but they are almost instantly attracted to one another. Just as they profess their love for each other, Sabine's uncle decides it is time for them to continue on their travel, to the palace of a rich, popular, rather unlawful local - Nazim Pasha. Foye knows Nazim Pasha has set his sights on Sabine, and she may be in danger. So he follows them, and lucky for them both that he did, otherwise Sabine may have ended up sold into slavery, or gifted to a friend of Nazim Pasha. Foye manages to rescue her, but that's just the beginning, they still must make it out of Turkey before Pasha finds them, and steals Sabine back. And they are constantly hit with hard times along the run.

So! To put it simply, I enjoyed this book. The writing was good, the characters were interesting, and I really liked the fact that Foye wasn't classically handsome, and Sabine wasn't a mindless twit, but a truly smart woman. At the beginning of most of the chapters, the reader is given the date and their current location, as well as some other little tidbits before the actual chapter begins. At first this confused me, it seemed much like the stage directions for a play, but when I really got into the story, they didn't phase me at all, in fact they were downright helpful at times. I think the only real complaint I had was that it seemed to move a little too quickly. I wanted more time with the characters, but that's when you know a book is good, when you fall so in love with the hero and heroine that you don't want them to go when the book ends. ( )