‘Fortune’s Son’ by Emery Lee

STORY: Love is the ultimate gamble…

Seasoned gambler Philip Drake knows every trick and uses most of them. After years of infamy, he’s ready to accept the mantle of respectability with his earldom– until a devastating racing loss and the threat of debtors’ prison force Philip right back into his gaming ways…

Susannah, Lady Messingham, is a woman with a past who refuses to belong to any man again. But Philip’s skill catches her eye and she persuades him to teach her how to win at the tables. Their new partnership turns into an exhilarating high-stakes game that entangles them in terrifying risk and unimaginable rewards…

REVIEW: This book has been on my wish list and TBR for a year now and the only reason for it was its cover. I mean, just look at it! I also liked the blurb for it, although once I read the book, I was amazed how inadequate it was. Another thing I found out as I finished the book was that ‘Fortune’s Son’ is a sequel to ‘The Highest Stakes’ and finally things in the middle of the story made more sense. Needless to say, I am now compelled to read the first book and highly recommend you read it in order because the author only glossed over some of the very important and crucial events. If the author repeated those events verbatim from ‘The Highest Stakes’ this book could have been better understood and enjoyed by this reader.

The story opens up with our hero in his thirties, with a hangover after his huge loss on the racing track, and now trying to once again come up with money to pay his debts. And while he’s arranging the sale of some horse-flesh, someone in his company mentions the name of Susannah, Lady Messingham, and off into memory lane goes our hero.

We are now meeting Philip Drake at age twenty, a second son of the Earl of Hastings. He is handsome, full of life and devilry, charming and doesn’t give a damn about his ruthless father or half-brother. He hasn’t seen them in years and refuses to live off of his family’s money. His quick wit and talent at dice and cards are the only means of his support while awaiting his mother’s legacy left to him when he turns twenty-one.

Susannah, Lady Messingham, is a twenty-eight year old widow that has money troubles of her own and as she spots young Philip at play, decides that he just might help her out by tutoring her in gaming. At first, Philip isn’t so enthusiastic about her proposal, but the chemistry they share from the start is something he’s willing to explore.

As they embark on this journey of mutual need, neither is aware that their relationship would go through the highest of the highs and lowest of the lows and have their love tested over and over.

As I read this story, watching Philip’s life go from heartache to heartache, I kept thinking that he must have been cursed from the moment he was born and my heart just went out to him.

Emery Lee, with her unprecedented and meticulous research of history, gaming and horse racing in Georgian era England, made this story play out like an epic movie in my mind’s eye. Her characterization of Philip and Susannah was impeccable and their love as it spanned a decade will touch your heart.

For a high drama, passion spanning a decade, revenge and redemption of both hero and heroine, this is one book that is a must read, BUT only if you read the first book before this one.

*Book purchased through Amazon.

‘The Seduction’ by Brenda Joyce

STORY: Dominic Paget, the earl of Bedford, will do anything to resume spying upon Britain’s enemies. Badly wounded, he is put in the care of a beautiful gentlewoman, Julianne Greystone, only to discover that her sympathies lie with his enemies. Yet he can’t help but seduce the woman who saved his life—hoping she never learns of his betrayal.

Julianne is captivated by the wounded stranger she believes is a revolutionary hero. Until she discovers the truth…her “hero” is the privileged earl of Bedford. Devastated and determined to forget him, Julianne travels to London. But when she finds herself in danger, it is Bedford who comes to the rescue. Now Julianne must navigate the intrigues of a perilous city, the wild yearnings of her own heart and the explosion of their passion….

REVIEW: The above book blurb summarizes the story quite well, so I’ll get on in telling you my thoughts about it.

I recently set through 16 episodes of a BBC series from 1970’s called ‘POLDARK’ which is set in 1790’s Cornwall, and it was breathtaking in scenery as well as accuracy of those times. If you have Netflix, I highly recommend you see it as it will bring the setting of Ms. Joyce’s book to life.

If you’ve followed my blog and read my reviews, you know by now that I hate, HATE spoilers, so it will be darn hard to tell you my thoughts without divulging any of them. This is my first ever Brenda Joyce read and without being familiar with her I have to tell you that I have mixed feelings about this book.

First, I loved the plot and the setting. The French Revolution was a time of upheaval, intrigue and social change that France and the world would never forget. It was a time when our hero Dominic Paget willingly went into danger as an English spy and risked everything for his family and his country. The author did an amazing job bringing to us the history of the revolution through Dominic’s point of view and that is the only thing that kept me reading this story.

As the son of a French Aristocratic mother and an English Aristocratic father, presumably he was brought up as a gentleman, with morals and honor as his guiding compass. Speaking the language fluently was one of the reasons he survived in France for as long as he did, undetected, but in the end it was luck and our heroine’s brothers that came to his aid once he was discovered and wounded.

From my first encounter with Julianne I had an impression that she was smart, sharp and very intelligent. She is well read and independent, yet a bit naïve. She lives in Cornwall with her older sister and brothers who love her dearly and are aware of her radical views and associations with the local French sympathizers. On many occasions they’ve voiced their concerns and asked her to stop being as vocal about her views as the government was sure to be watching, but our heroine was full of idealism and chose to ignore those warnings.

And here is where I met a problem with this story.

Both brothers made the decision to drop off a dying man, who they both knew the real identity of, yet deliberately deceived both of their sisters by letting them think him a stranger and a smuggler.

They then leave a stranger alone in their home with these two single young women…

Julianne draws her own conclusions about the identity of Dominic/Charles, and of course she comes to the wrong one and our hero lets her believe that he is a wounded French soldier.

And then she starts drooling and mooning all over a man who she hardly knows. She gets so infatuated that she lets him seduce her, not once, not twice but one full month, not ever taking in account her reputation or the reputation of her family nor thinking of the consequences of those encounters.

And now we come to our hero, who I truly, TRULY thought to like (I am a HUGE sucker for a tortured hero trope), but even after all the things Dominic went through I had a hell-of-a-time liking a man that admits to lack of morals in him during the time of war and systematically and deliberately sets out to seduce a virtuous girl who saved his life thus dishonoring not just the girl, but the family that took him in.

What follows is a deception gone wrong while family loyalties get tested over and over.

In the end, I enjoyed some of the story, but I just couldn’t accept nor warm up to the characters as written. I want my heroes to have morals, and my heroines to have backbone. Neither of them did. The prose alone recommends this book, and as this is the first book in the series The Spymaster’s Men, I will read the second in hopes that I will love the next hero and heroine. That said I will let you decide if you’d like to read this story.

*To buy this book, click on the cover*

*To learn more about the author, click on her name*

* I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Fan2Author Interview…Jane Goodger!

I am so excited that Ms. Jane Goodger has included b2b in her Blog tour because I read her newest book (mark your calendar for this one my bookworms DECEMBER 6)  WHEN A DUKE SAYS I DO and she impressed the hell out of me, so now I’m shouting from the rooftops about this heartwarming, heartbreaking and totally awesome story!

Without further ado, please help me welcome Jane with my first question…I never read any of your work before this latest book, so please tell us a bit about yourself and your writing career.

JG: I’ve been around for years, but I know there are a lot of romance readers who’ve never heard of me! My first book was WHEN THERE IS HOPE, a time travel set in Newport, RI, released in 1996. I love writing about Newport and have set several books there. To me, it’s as interesting as England.

I live in Rhode Island with my husband and three children, but I’ve also lived in Washington D.C., Virginia and Italy (two years). In addition to writing books and freelance writing, I also edit for www.ebookeditingpro.com (so if anyone out there wants to enter the indie publishing arena, I can help).

b2b: The book that you’re promoting now is WHEN A DUKE SAYS I DO and I can’t tell you how much fun I had reading it. Tell us more about it, the idea behind it. What came first, the plot, voice or setting?

JG: I so appreciate your comments. I love this book, too. Here’s how I got the idea: For a time I was a substitute teacher in my town. One of the little boys in a class had something called “selective mutism.” This completely fascinated me. When someone has selective mutism, they cannot physically speak in front of strangers or anyone they feel uncomfortable with, but can talk fine with people they are familiar with. Now, this is a recognized and treated condition. But I thought…what if someone  had selective mutism in the 1860s and couldn’t talk in front of his tyrant of a father? What would happen to such a boy? And that’s how I got my story.

b2b: What made this such an enjoyable read for me was this man you created. I’ve fallen in love with him! You did such a great job in weaving his profession through the story

However, his ‘panic attacks’ were something that almost broke my heart because a close member of my family went through that particular hell, and today we can heal almost anything with medication, so watching Alexander go through his attacks and knowing nothing was available to him to make him better, but his own strength was just heartbreaking. He was so real, so please tell us who inspired him? Is there a story behind the profession and his infirmity you chose for him to deal with?

JG: I love him too. Why can’t the men I invent really exist? One of the most fascinating things about selective mutes is that they often use their isolation to develop  artistic talents. So it made sense that he was a wonderful painter and pianist. As far as his panic attacks, I did a lot of research on this condition, which can have long-lasting implications if not treated—including anxiety. A  member of my family has a mild form of social anxiety disorder. He gets physically  ill before he has to do any public speaking (which, unfortunately, is a big part of his job), and, though panic attacks are quite infrequent with him, I have watched him suffer through one. It was very frightening!

b2b: How is Alexander different from your other heroes? And speaking of, who is your favorite hero (not including your work; I’m not making you choose) from the written word (oh, and no classics either)!

JG: Alexander is much more Beta than a lot of my heroes. Even though he is very strong (and turns a bit Alpha when he feels he’s been wronged) he is more sensitive than many of my heroes. My favorite hero? I’ll tell you but you can’t laugh. Capt. Gregg, the ghost from The Ghost And Mrs. Muir. Anyone who loves romances will love that old movie—and love the captain, too. He’s blustery and fierce but has a huge heart.

b2b: Is there a difference between, and specifically, what sets apart in your opinion the ‘traditional’ regency novels from ‘historical novels set in the regency time period’?

JG: Oh, there is definitely a difference. Let’s call it Regency and Regency Lite. Regencies are extremely true to the time period. You won’t find glaring errors in costume or customs, while Regency Lites are a bit more, let’s say, creative, about the period. My book is technically a Victorian because it’s set in the 1860s. I love the Victorian and Edwardian periods because so many changes were happening at that time.

b2b: Jane, what do you consider the Historical Romance canon?

JG: Keep the romance in romances. I adore a good love scene, but books shouldn’t simply be a string of sex scenes (unless it’s erotica, of course). It takes skill to create sexual tension, and that is something that is lacking in some books.

b2b: What’s up next for Jane Goodger?

JG: I have one more book that’s definitely coming out, THE MAD LORD’S DAUGHTER, in August 2012. I’m hoping to get my older books available digitally, and I also plan to self- publish at least two books that never made it to print—COMING HOME TO JOEY and a work in progress, THE JERSEY DEVIL. The JERSEY DEVIL is actually a contemporary paranormal—very different for me. So unless sales of WHEN A DUKE SAYS I DO are through the roof, I may not be able to complete some projects I very much wanted to.

b2b: Jane, it has been so much fun doing this with you, and I hope you come back often to chat with us! I’m looking forward on stocking up my shelves with some more of your books until the next one comes along!

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