Review: Banquet of Lies by Michelle Diener

Originally, I thought this book was a romance story with a little bit of detective work mixed into it. Turns out, it's a detective story with a little bit of romance mixed into it. Even though my presumptions were wrong, it's still a good book with a very different heroine. Gigi is a lady of the upper crust who has traveled far and wide with her father. She's a little unusual because she is well educated, well traveled, hangs out with cooks and the below stairs staff, collects recipes and is a small time spy with her father. She's not exactly "in the know" with what they are running for other people but she knows it is political and important. It's also deadly if they get caught. 

The story opens with her father's murder. Gigi knows that the murderer is coming after her next so she goes underground by going below stairs. She takes the job of french chef to Lord Jonathan Aldridge who cannot abide English cooking any longer. Since Gigi is hidden in plain sight, she can keep a watch on her home and work to find the murderer before he finds her. 

I don't read detective or mystery books. They are just not my thing so I have to admit that the being chased constantly by someone in dark alleys or late at night or in a market started to really stress me out. When I read novels, it is to take a trip to a different place and time with a romance that is sigh worthy. I rarely have to worry about my heroine who has (once again) ran out into the back alley in the rain for a secret meeting without any protection but it definitely added a little bit of tension to the story.

What I thought worked in this book:
* The Food! All the talking of French food which I loooovvee. Creme Brulee, Beef Bourguignon, Brioche. Oh man. Made me wish the French restaurant in town hadn't closed up. 

* The heroine is genuinely likable. There are a lot of books out there where the female character is vapid or flat out irritating. Gigi is actually someone I'd want to hang out with. She's a strong woman, maybe a little head strong, but not in a grating way. She hangs out with the below stairs staff and genuinely cares for them. She interacts with the upper crust, political people, czars and ambassadors and holds her own with them.

* The reveal. I've never read a scene quite like it and I really, really enjoyed how it played out with all the characters together in one scene. All I can tell you is that its fast paced, heart warming and funny.

* The hero doesn't know what's going on but never seems like he's out of control of the situation. I liked Lord Jonathan. A lot. I wish we could have seen a little more of his alpha side. We know he led a battalion and we know he is a take charge kind of guy. He handles each situation calmly. He's never out of his depths. We know he desires Gigi but it just never goes anywhere.

Which leads me to what I didn't like about the book:
* I would have liked to have seen more develop between Jonathan and Gigi. The chemistry between them was there but the fruition of that chemistry didn't make it into the book. I would rate the heat on this book as kisses. Barely kisses. There were definite sparks but it was secondary to the story. There's not a lot of tension going on here and there should be. He was fooling around with his staff and he should be struggling with that issue a little harder, in my opinion.

* This is the closest I will come to a spoiler and it's my biggest gripe: It really, really bothered me that we don't know what happens to the butler, Edgars. It's just left up in the air at the end of the story. We walk away from him and that's it. Maybe it will come out in the next book because we don't really know how Jonathan and Gigi work out either. We know they will but it all ends up in the air.

With all that being said, I still liked the book. I already downloaded the previous book in this series to read. The author also hinted at a book with Lord Wittaker and I'd like to read that one too.

Banquet of Lies: 6 out of 10

Review: A Most Scandalous Proposal by Ashlyn McNamara

This is a book review for "A Most Scandalous Proposal" by Ashlyn McNamara.  (I am really sorry about the formatting but I can't get it to work with me so I apologize in advance for words being cut off, etc.)

"William Ludlowe wagers five thousand pounds that Miss Julia St. Claire will become the next Countess of Clivesden." And with that, our story begins. Benedict Revelstoke reads this in White's infamous betting book and is livid over the fact that an infamous rake like William would be interested in his long time friend, Julia. Julia has no interest in William but her sister Sophia has had a crush on him for  years. It all comes together one disastrous night at a ball where William makes advances towards Julia but she does everything she can to encourage him 
towards Sophia. In Historical Regency novels, we often hear of how a lady's reputation can be ruined by being alone with a man in a room for any period of time. In this novel we actually see that come to fruition as Sophia, after fainting, is left in a room for a matter of seconds with the Earl of Highgate who is trying to help the young girl.  That's  just enough time for William to jump in and create a scandal for Sophia and Highgate. 

This book highlights the worst qualities of a mother who is hellbent on marrying off her daughters to the highest title possible. The mother seizes the small chance of Sophia being compromised  by the Earl and refuses to let either of them out of the situation. She insists that they now must marry and she demands satisfaction for her daughter's ruined reputation. It doesn't matter that Sophia has no interest or desire in the Earl of  Highgate who has a checkered past. Julia and Sophia's mother sees her chance to get one of the girls married off as a countess and to save her and her husband from financial ruin. This mother has no qualm's about throwing both of her girls to whatever man that she can find in order to save themselves. It's not a very good  story regarding maternal affection and love for your children.

Julia has watched her sister pine away for a man she can't have and has witnessed the pain and tears caused by his dismissal. Bearing witness to that pain was enough to make any girl guard against more tender feelings. This is why Ludlowe wants to marry - because she is seen as hard hearted and not capable of love. 

Our hero, Benedict, doesn't particularly enjoy town or the doings of the Ton but now he is compelled to keep Ludlow away from Julia and he's not sure why. Benedict has been with Ludlow at Eton and is not particularly impressed with the man's character or the things he did while at the school. 

There's a lot going on in this book - you have Sophia with a crush on Ludlow. Ludlow is chasing Julia using whatever means possible. The mother is throwing both daughters away as fast as possible, a father with a gambling problem and Benedict trying to make sense of all of it.

All in all, it's a pretty good story. It's rather fast paced so it holds your attention. There are a lot of characters each with their own back stories and set of problems. Everyone in this book seems to be imperfect with baggage or misunderstandings. Most of the book is sorting out what is rumor, what is true and what each character wants from life. I liked the mother the least. I think the author, at the end of the book, tries to redeem the mother in some small way but it doesn't fly with me. She has only her own interests in mind and that makes Julia have to take matters into her own hands and present Benedict with "a most scandalous proposal." You'll have to read the book to find out what that is!

A Most Scandalous Proposal rating: 6 out of 10

Review: The Scoundrel Takes a Bride by Stefanie Sloane

This is a review of the Scoundrel Takes a Bride by Stephanie Sloane. My book reading has been hit or miss lately. I'll read a good book and then I'll read a book that's not so good and then I have to review them both. I feel bad that not all my reviews can be positive and upbeat but I try to highlight the good points of each book that I do read. Fortunately for me, and you, I thought that this was a pretty good book. The Scoundrel Takes a Bride is unique to me because I don't read a lot of mystery romance novels so this book was different in that way. I really liked the heroine in this book. She breaks the normal heroine role by being part of the team that helps solve the murder mystery of her mother. She doesn't step aside and let the men do the job. Instead she is a budding criminal psychologist. 

She has worked with the Bow Street runners and has become a criminal psychologist by working on cases, reading personal interviews, books by authorities in the field at that time and interviewing criminals and the people who hunt them down. She is quite skilled. In fact she does a better job of interrogating the criminal in the book than the men do. She is reminiscent of a regency era "Brenda Lee." She is strong but not willful. She is very caring and loving of the family that she has created after her mother was murdered when she was very young. She's made a family out of her staff and the boys that were her neighbors. Growing up she knows that she is intended to marry the eldest child, Langdon Bourne, the Earl of Stonecliffe, but she has fallen for the second son Nicholas. Nicholas is definitely a tortured hero. We find him at the beginning of the book so drunk that he misses his best friends wedding. It's not that Nicholas doesn't care for Lady Sophia. It's quite the opposite. He's always loved her but knows that he can't have her because she is betrothed to his brother. I like the fact that Sephia takes Nicholas as a project and basically decides to slap him out of the funk that he's been living in the last couple of years. 

The secondary characters in this book almost steal the show. If you like books with street wise children, there is a young ruffian named mouse and Nicholas literally runs into him in a dark alley. Thugs are chasing him down and Nicholas recognizes him as an informant that he's paid before and he saves Mouse's life. There is also Pavan Singh. Oh what a hilarious character. He's sort of an Indian holy man that provides all the comic relief. He comes in and out of the picture at various times in the story doing odd things like incapacitating two thugs but simply touching their inner thighs. He astounds everyone arounds him but he is a pure and simple man who happens to want a better life for Nicholas. Their conversations are hilarious. He redesigns Nicholas' entire house, rearranges his staff, and hires a new cook so that she can learn to cook curry. It is a family dynamic of an Indian holy man, a street-wise child and a battle weary gentlemen that you don't see in most romantic novels. 

As Nicholas slowly gets his life together he realizes his love not only for Sophia but also the extended family that he's created with Singh and Mouse. There is so much to like in this book from the minor characters to the major players there's always something going on. It's rarely boring with all the twists and turns as the investigation gets closer and closer to the end. I will say that the murder mystery is not wrapped up in a nice, neat little package, just in case those things bother you. I can't wait for Book 2 which is Langdon's story.

Scoundrel Takes a Bride: 6 out of 10