Julie Anne Long

Let's start this off with the right context. This book is not realistic. It is, however, a fun adventure and perfect for Violet, the smart-as-can-be Redmond (well, I guess they all are), with superhero hidden talents and a penchant for stirring up trouble whether the reason be ennui or curiosity. She is, without a doubt, one of the most fun heroines. Between her regal take-no-shit, perfect hair, her expectations of a suitor that didn't bore her to tears and her abiding love for her family show more she is an absolute delight.

Asher Flint is harder to get to know, and that is completely fine. I like a mysterious hero. But at his core he's loyal, ambitious, committed, and absolutely sentimental. These two have quite organic interactions and conversations that veer into the deep, in a convincing and material way. I felt the romance and the adventure were balanced. JAL stuns me with the fact that she can write these essential, riveting, tense relationships right along with long sex scenes that make you, well, feel. And they feel new.

I don't know if this is a 5 star book. I do know that it was a 5 star read. It hit me just at in the right way, kept me entertained and delighted. It was a wonderful surprise, read at the right time.

"Perhaps you believe this about Lyon simply because you’ve never been in love, Miss Redmond.”
She looked up sharply. “How do you know I haven’t?”
“Have you?”
He sounded so unflatteringly skeptical it grated. She would have preferred him to sound possessive; she would have preferred him to be wrong.
She would have preferred not to discuss it, in truth, unless he could provide her with some answers about love, because she was genuinely suffering over the question.
“No,” she said, managing with some effort not to sound defensive. “I do unquestionably love my family. I suppose I am very particular. An argument can be made for my own singular character and the challenge in finding a suitable match for me.”
“What a very lengthy and elegant way to call yourself a piece of work, Miss Redmond.” He was insufferably amused.


I swoon. They are just right for me. show less

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

No one, particularly not her late husband, had ever valued her for wits. Oh, but she possessed them.

Starting off the Palace of the Rogues series, Lady Derring Takes a Lover, is a magnificent return to historicals for Long. The first thirty percent of the book was perfection with our heroine Delilah being told by her solicitor that her late husband was in show more massive debt and eventually winding up going into business with said late husband's mistress. Their Grand Palace on the Thames boarding house becomes the setting for smuggling intrigue and romance.

“Derring never laughed at my jokes. But I laughed at all of his, even though I didn’t find him amusing. He sulked if I didn’t,” Delilah said. “It’s a small but killing thing, isn’t?”

Delilah and the mistress, Angelique, start off very wary of each other but with fantastic telling some truths and learning lessons story writing, Long gives us a female relationship that you will ship hard. This tandem of women from different social levels and impoverished by the same man bonding together was just brilliant. Long played them off each other beautifully, they had their separate strengths and weaknesses but ultimately, their hearts beat for the same reasons. If looking for a immensely satisfying female relationship in your romance, this is it.

“I am the king’s favorite hunting dog.”

Our hero, Captain Tristan Hardy, is all that is strong, contained, and eventually burning. Delilah and Angelique start off with more of the focus and are so strong, that Tristan ended up a little bit to the edges of the spotlight. It takes a little bit before Tristan and Delilah really get going, around 40%, which I know will make some antsy, but while their time seems a bit shortened by how full this first in series book is, they tended to make the most of it. From the first time Tristan sees Delilah, to the mandatory drawing room nights, and finally to the last 10% of their story, they had chemistry. Tristan might not have felt as fully fleshed out as I like, but let me tell you, the man can grovel/make things right with the top tier of romance heroes.

The notion of seducing her made him breathless, because he thought it was both possible and inadvisable for a dozen reasons.

While Delilah is living at and running the boarding house because it was the only thing not repossessed, Tristan arrives there because he is the captain of the blockade. His investigation into a cigar smuggling ring has led him to believe Delilah's husband was involved, along with The Palace of the Rogues, renamed The Grand Palace on the Thames by Delilah and Angelique. I thought the cigar smuggling investigation worked to get these two together but it moved very slowly and tended to feel almost ignored at times, not the strength of the novel. It is obvious the history of the former Palace of the Rogues is going to be the plot thread stringing the series together as we get a couple hints and clues here that will probably add to the building of an eventually completed puzzle (series).

It was nearly as much a collision as a kiss, at first, fierce and hard, as if they were both intent on punishing themselves and each other for wanting this.

Long did a great job interweaving secondary characters to create a full ensemble cast but I did think it took away from time I would have preferred to go to Delilah and Tristan. I loved Tristan's relationship with his Lt., providing a wonderful showing and not telling insight into his personality and character, wouldn't change a thing about Delilah and Angelique's friendship, but a very small secondary romance and some other minor focuses on characters could have been taken out. There is some on fire commentary dealing with women's rights but I did almost cringe at a very close to feeling forced mansplaining moment. There is some definite first in a series fullness happening here but again, Tristan and Delilah's moments are impactful when they have them.

“Oh, now I see. You’re that Captain Hardy.”

The beginning was 5 stars, the middle 3.5ish, and the ending brought it back to 5 stars, for me. All in all, I was highly impressed with this first installment and am dying to read the next in the series, which I think will be about Angelique and a mysterious stranger that arrives late in the story. A brilliant female friendship, a loaded chemistry couple, and an ensemble cast that pulls you into their world, don't miss this one.

“Know that I am at your mercy, now and forever.” show less

Julie Anne Long has, in this, the vile year of our lord 2025, brought me more pleasure than any single person whom I am not on record as loving. The Longmance continues with this beautiful book -- the 6th book I have listened to this year from this author (read by the incomparable Justine Eyre.)

What happens when a courtesan, formerly at the center of the ton, is married and soon widowed, and is dubbed The Black Widow? Evie is banished to her late husband's only estate that is not entailed to show more his eldest son. Having been abandoned by her fancy fair-weather friends, Evie finds herself alone, and starting over, She is struggling on a small allowance to run her household as well as those of her brother and sister whose stars have not risen as hers has, and whom she loves and cares for. Tucked away now in Sussex, she begins a friendship with the town vicar, Adam Sylvaine. Adam is also the town hearthrob, handsome and unfailingly decent, he is the focus of all the single ladies, who are not thrilled the alluring Evie is taking his attention. This is a slow burn, though there is an evident powerful attraction between Evie and Adam from the moment they meet. (I am forgiving the Adam and Eve reference, which is a bit too cute.) Many things happen, and we get lots of great material from Corinthians and Song of Songs (my personal favorite book of the bible.) We are reminded that "love is stronger than death." (Again, we are looking at the bible verse, not the great song from The The. The quote is actually not the actual wording, but that is what Long says. If memory serves, the actual quote is that love is "as strong as death itself, a divine flame that cannot be extinguished by worldly trial ") Anyway, community is built, honesty and generosity are displayed and rewarded, though there are trials before the rewards. Evie and Adam stand up beautifully when tried and risk all to honor each other. It is all just so damn moving and charming. Julie Anne, you rock. show less

Gah! This series is so damn good. I think Long might have surpassed Lisa Kleypas in my mind as the ne plus ultra of historical romance. I have loved all 6 books in the series, but if memory serves, I have also noted in my reviews of the last two that each might be my favorite, and here I am again, book 6, saying the same. These books are funny and smart and swoony, and feminist in a way that is possible.

Daphne literally falls into Lorcan's arms as she is fleeing an attempted rape by an show more employer. Daphne is of noble birth, but her father has gambled away all of their money, and her brothers are off galivanting around the Continent, so she has no protection when her father sends her off to London to make money as a paid companion. Lorcan is a privateer (and was a pirate before that, not that there is a huge difference) who was born to an abusive father and whose mother died before he even knew who she was. He has worked himself up to be a man of wealth through legal and illegal means, but wealth or no, in England, it is of little account, given his bloodline. They come together through her necessity and his confusing instinct to see her safe. They do not tumble into bed. There is no sex at all until quite late in the book. From the jump, they support one another, share their interests and wants, celebrate the other's quirks, and they are hot for one another, and from that trust and love grow.

There has been a rash of "historical" romance books in the last few years with women who mow down gender barriers with their grit and determination, who spout fuck-the-patriarchy monologues in drawing rooms and salons like they are all Jane Fonda in 9-to-5. At the time, such behavior would have led to social suicide for the speakers, but also social homicide for all connected to her. And that is for the woman of a class where social connections were what mattered most. For women of no title, especially those of modest means, those speeches would have gotten them beaten, jailed, and worse. Those books with modern women engaging in recency cosplay do a disservice to the women who bravely fought back in small ways, the women brave enough to even imagine freedom. In this book, a smart, kind woman is about to be sold to the highest bidder to pay her father's debts, and that father considers that to be his due. She cannot imagine disobeying, because she has never seen anything that says this is an option. Is she saved by a man who can see the injustice? She is. But really, that is the only way she could have found salvation, and in this case, taking that route was a brave thing to do and came with risk and loss. That is time-appropriate feminism, and it is very well written here. Also, this book is incredibly sweet and romantic with just a little spice, but really well-done spice. The other night, I was at an Indian place I love. I was with a friend with a delicate palate, so I had to stay away from my desired spicy lamb vindaloo and settle for a mild chicken tikka masala. I missed the vindaloo fireworks, but was reminded that a good mild tikka masala is plenty yummy. show less