Lynne Connolly

Fearless by Lynne Connolly
The Shaws #1

Not your typical love story but perhaps more true to life than many historical novels. This is dark and at times gritty with hints at abuse, caning, BDSM and more.

Charlotte Engles has been betrothed to Valentinian Shaw for two years when Hervey Kellett comes to her and asks her to break off with Val and marry him instead. With her older sister gone, her younger sister in need of a safe haven and no surety that Val will ever actually marry her she show more considers Hervey’s potential BUT asks for one kiss from Val before they break things off. Well, who knew that one kiss might mean that the betrothal would not be called off after all…especially as more light is gradually shed on Hervey’s proclivities.

I have not read “The Emperors of London” series but imagine that it must be excellent from what I have seen online and especially so based on this book. This book is not for the faint of heart…but it is definitely worth reading. I admired Charlotte’s strength and love for her sisters. I found the Shaw family’s support, acceptance of all members a joy to behold. I fell in love with Val. This book made me thankful I did not live in the era. Women were “owned” by their fathers and then their husbands, a simple law broken could see a person publicly executed or transported, and things were definitely more difficult than they are now. This book made me think and care and desire to read more books in this series when they are published and also search out other books by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books – Lyrical Press for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars show less

Move over Ton elite, New Players are in town!

On the outside she's a demure young woman, always relegated to second place beside her younger, beautiful and vastly shallow sister Lucinda. Miss Phoebe North has removed to London ahead of her family to keep her friend Angela Childers company. Angela is a wealthy young woman, not interested in finding a husband, but in husbanding her business ventures and her latest brainchild, the Single Ladies Society.
Pheobe has a terrible stutter, a lively show more intelligence, a keen sense of the ridiculous and is convinced of her unworthiness to be special. She is! Unbeknownst to all, including Phoebe, inside hides a wanton woman the match for any strong man.
Enter the Duke of Leomore, “Call me Leo,” whom we meet at the beginning of the story just as enticement gives way to alarm! Phoebe and Leo are thrown into the midst of a jewel heist and Phoebe is accused of the theft. Our noble Duke saves Phoebe from that situation but even his best actions can't quieten the societal gossips and jealous remarks.
Phoebe, I think is worthy of our most stalwart Heyer like heroine. Leo certainly can lay claim to being a kindred spirit to many of Heyer's heroes.
I did feel that the story had no need to devote so many pages to the couple's lingering kisses and intimacies. In fact I found myself skipping through the bedroom antics. Although, I must say that for a shy spinster of the time (1750's), Pheobe displays a fervency I'd have more attributed to that of the Duke's ex mistress La Coccinelle. Still we have been told Phoebe has an inquiring mind. Her libido certainly hasn't been squashed by her years of being ignored. She and the Duke will have to ensure the servants wear ear muffs.
What I really wanted was more focus on the catching of the jewel thieves. That became a bit elusive. Both the mysterious jewel robbery and the doings of the Single Ladies Society are frequently lost in the romantic tendrils of the novel. Unfortunately, the SSL doesn't seem to have really found it's stride yet. I expect/hope that will happen as the series develops.
I must say too that Phoebe's sister Lucinda is a wonderful 'Piece of Work'. Connolly created a truly dreadful, willful sister, that was so easy to dislike. I kept wanting people to giver her the 'cut direct' or some such thing. Totally spoilt brat!
The opening is rather brilliant. That really hooked me in.
And yes, I will want to read further books in this Georgian romance/mystery series and follow the lives of some of the more interesting ladies met so far.

A Kensington ARC via NetGalley show less

Murder refined!

An interesting combination of murder and an enforced marriage during Regency times. It’s 1796 and Heiress Lady Juliana Uppingham has been married off to a swine of a man. The morning after her wedding she wakes to her husband’s dead body beside her with his blood pooling around them both.
Sir Edmund Ashdowne, baronet, works out of Bow Street for the Fielding Brothers as a criminal lawyer. Juliana’s father the Earl of Hawksworth wants someone close to aristocracy to show more undertake the investigation. That’s Ashdowne. The plot charts its way through rather murky waters until the truth outs. It includes an underworld figure, the Raven, who’s working on binding various gangs together. The Fieldings see Raven as a major threat to the community and to the prevalence of law and order.
Ash is concerned with Justice. He doesn’t want Juliana’s elevated place in society to mitigate her being brought to answer for her actions—that is until he meets Juliana, and uncovers more about her life and her husband.
The story throws into relief the reality of children being coinage at many levels of society.
Violence and sexual abuse in marriage could be an unlocked for trigger for some readers.
It’s intriguing to see Juliana’s transformation from being the “white faced-marionette [she’s] depicted in caricatures as,” to becoming a person with her own voice.
A torrid tale of the pursuit of truth at odds with the clamouring of the mob. Indeed these scenes were chilling.
The Raven is in the background, a chilling undercurrent that rolls along, sometimes to the fore, always there. And the puzzle around Silence, Ash’s sister, is another beguiling story to be told, I’m sure.
An introductory treat to the pen of a new historical romance novelist
I’m looking forward to the next in the series.

A Harlequin - Carina Press ARC via NetGalley
Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.) show less

Goodness! I surely do hope this turns out to be one of those very long-running series because I absolutely adore Ash and Juliana. The mystery is intriguing, the villain is vile, and the secondary characters are a mixed and interesting bunch.

Sir Edmund (Ash) Ashendon is constantly searching for justice – whether it is finding the perpetrator of a crime or defending someone he is sure has been falsely accused. It is the driving force in his life because he is trying very hard to make up for show more the really important one, the one he couldn’t save. He solved it too late and guilt still eats at him.

Ash and Juliana married almost a year ago after Ash saved her from the gallows (The Wedding Night Affair) when she was accused of murdering her husband on their wedding night. Juliana had been horribly brutalized, but she swore she didn’t kill her husband – and Ash believed her. They ended up in a marriage of convenience because her parents were immediately auctioning her off to the next brutalizer before the funeral had even been held. Juliana couldn’t stand to be touched in any way and since Ash never planned to marry because of his dedication to his work, having no intimacies between them was fine with him. Since she was very intelligent and observant, she’d make a good partner for him in his work – especially within the ton because she and her family are from the highest echelons.

It seems everyone in London knows of Ash’s penchant for helping Bow Street with the more ‘interesting’ cases. He had taken his family – Juliana, his sister Amelia, and younger brother Gregory – to Vauxhall to attend a fireworks rehearsal, where he was soon approached because there had been an ‘incident’. Oh! There was an incident alright – a dead body. While most would have put it down to a robbery gone wrong, Ash was certain it was murder.

Ash and Juliana pursue their investigation regardless of the rank of those they are questioning. From dukes to street urchins, to the infamous Raven, everyone was suspected until they could be cleared. When another murder is done, Ash and Juliana know their main suspect is getting desperate and they have to put a plan in motion to catch them out. The culprit might surprise you – or it might not – but you’ll love getting to the identification.

There was so much I enjoyed about this book! I loved that the villain didn’t get off with no punishment. I loved that Juliana has come so very far in her healing process and that she and Ash have found they care more for each other than they thought. I loved the new relationship between Ash and the newspaperman. I loved that we learned the identity of the Raven – but – he sure left us hanging about what would be next. Oh! My!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. Having both a romance and a mystery is a double treat!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. show less