Review: You Were Made to Be Mine

You Were Made to Be Mine by Julie Anne Long
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

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. 

Hawkes was nearly destitute. He'd been obliged to surrender the entirety of his own hard-won fortune to French authorities before he went to prison---it was either that, or face execution by firing squad. 

Christian Hawkes has been free less than a week after serving three years in a French prison for his role as a British spymaster. He has the feeling that he was given up and he has his eye on the Earl of Brundage, the very man that negotiated for Hawkes to keep his life over his fortune. In a twist, Brundage has requested Hawkes help, calling on that favor Brundage thinks Hawkes owes him for saving his life. Brundage's fiancée has fled and Brundage wants Hawkes to put his skills to use to find her, in return, Brundage will pay back Hawkes some of his fortune. Hawkes takes the job as it will allow him more access and opportunity to search out if and how Brundage might of betrayed Hawkes and England. 

How ironic that she'd been obliged to plunge blindly into the world the very moment she'd been made brutally aware that she knew almost nothing about it. 

Lady Aurelie Capet lost her parents and older brother to the bloody French Revolution and while she still has another brother, he lives in Boston. Her guardian may have kept her well feed and clothed, he's never been attentive, so when the Earl of Brundage asks her to marry him, she thinks she's finally going to get the family she's been missing. When her eyes get horribly opened, Aurelie flees and is on the run to England and from there to try and book passage to Boston. A jaded former spy working for his possible enemy and a naïve sheltered woman having to suddenly learn the ways of the world and discovering she's stronger than she ever imagined. 

Men could do such terrible harm. 

And yet it was clear they could love so powerfully well. 

She was glad she now knew. 

If you're not a frequent reader of The Palace of the Rogues series, jumping in here at book five would not be a good idea. The Grand Palace on the Thames is where Aurelie ends up and as so, Hawkes soon follows. The inn and it's occupants, the Hardys, Bolts, Dot, and guests usually have a strong showing in the series books and that goes doubly here. I've read all the books in the series and have started to itch for a new setting, so when a lot of the first half felt more about the inn, I was very restless. If you tried to pick this up here, you obviously would find the setting and these characters fresh but I'm not sure you'd care about them, as you'd miss their emotional background. The inn and the plot about Hawkes searching, trying to learn about Brundage's involvement in his imprisonment and how it could all tie-in to treason was a large chunk of the story, to the point that I would be tempted to call this more a money laundering and treason mystery more than a romance. 

But never had a woman affected him as though she were the weather. As though he could feel her in his bones, like an ache, and on his skin, like sunshine or a breeze. 

If you're a get to it reader, you're going to need patience in this one, Aurelie and Hawkes don't meet until around 30%, he knows who she is, she doesn't, and I'd say the romance doesn't really get going until around 60%. There was almost too much time spent on in their head characterization, the vast majority of story is told from Aurelie and Hawkes heads and how they feel and think in almost lyrical/flowery prose. I'd also have to say their relationship foundation is instalove, Hawkes sees Aurelie for the first time and he's already thinking she's the one. I felt like I read about two people separately falling in love instead of together, if that makes any sense. It's around 70% that Aurelie learns who Hawkes is and how he fits into the whole picture with Brundage and when she again goes on the run and Hawke catches up to her, there's about 10% of them just spending time together. Time I would have loved to have seen much earlier in the book, especially since they just seem to already be in love and this is more about showing their bedroom scene and trying to get an emotional scene from Aurelie that instead came off very forced. 

“You have found me, Mr. Hawkes.” 

And at first, he seemed unable to speak. He was drinking in the sight of her wonderingly. 

“I think I would follow you the ends of the earth.” He said it gently. Almost wryly. 

Even though a lot is shown through their head talk, I'm still not sure I got a firm handle on who Aurelie was, she was sheltered and made a naive mistake of trusting the wrong man but she was all so ethereal in her essence in the story, I couldn't really see her. It was also around 30% that it's mostly made clear as to why she ran from Brundage <spoiler>Brundage raped her</spoiler> and while the scene isn't action shown, she clearly has trauma from it and when she and Hawkes spend that alone time together later in the book, she discusses it and some of what physically happened to her. 

This was a miss for me with the romance, the Grand Palace and it's occupants took up way too much time, especially in the beginning when I'm trying to get to know and get invested in two new romance leads and their romance. The story does end with a knock on the door, so we're obviously going to be staying, I just hope the new couple and their romance gets to take center stage.

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60%

They were bound, in a sense. And she felt it. Because at once the room seemed better for his presence in it, as though all it had been missing was him. 

Reading Update: Page 1

 

How am I getting over hump day? Why taking a visit to The Grand Palace on the Thames of course! 

We've got a former spymaster trying to hunt down a runaway fiancée 

🕵🏻‍♂️🏃🏼‍♀️ 

Oh, and don't forget that unexpected (is it really, tho' 😂) fierce desire that ignites between the sheltered beauty and jaded spy. 

Nobody better bother me for the next couple hours! 

You Were Made to be Mine by Julie Anne Long purchase link

Fish Taco Slaw Bowls with Mango Salsa and Chipotle Aioli recipe

Loved the flavors in this!

Review: After Dark with the Duke

After Dark with the Duke by Julie Anne Long
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

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. 

Through her slitted curtains, she’d looked down into upraised fists and furious, snarling faces shaping the word over and over: harlot harlot harlot. 

After a duel is fought and a Lord is injured, Mariana is blamed in the public eye. She's an opera singer who now has no popularity and starting to fear for her safety. Knowing about Mrs. Breedlove and the twists and turns her life has taken, Mariana has heard that The Grand Palace on the Thames can be a safe spot, so she decides to hideout there for awhile. 

From farmer, to soldier, to Duke, General James Duncan Blackmore, the Duke of Valkirk, has hit writer's block on his memoirs and decides a change of scenery is in order. He decides on an inn by the docks that no one would think to look for him there. 

James knows about Mariana's reputation and Mariana can't help poking England's most honorable hero but when some unfriendly wordplay leads to the two having private Italian lessons, they begin to find something in the other they've been searching for. 

She didn’t even precisely know what she wanted from him. Apart, perhaps, from being seen. 

Fourth in The Palace of the Rogues series, this keeps us at the inn we've all grown to love with all it's characters. The last book had me pulling on the reigns to break free from the location but, for the most part, I found myself cozily settled in this time. Whether due to reading this during the holiday season where intimate settings with close friends and family just hits me better or Mariana and James had a better chemistry that they could carry the story, I found I didn't mind the one-stop setting. This does mean that this would be harder to just jump into the series here, however, readers of the series will enjoy our patronesses with glimpses of their husbands, and all our favorite guests, with a strong showing by Dot as she and Mariana share a love of learning new words. 

He was very brisk, frequently impatient, but always respectful and polite, and unless she counted the occasional devastatingly sensual smile that implied he knew precisely what she was up to, he did not take up the flirtation baton that she could not resist, every now and then, extending. 

This is an age gap story with Mariana at 25 years old and James 43 years old. In the beginning, as their relationship started to develop, I did feel some hero worship from Mariana's side which made their age difference glaring obvious but as their chemistry took up, this faded away. With age gap, there is some enemies-to-lovers as James thinks Mariana is frivolous and uncaring because of the gossip about the duel. When he learns the truth, his perception changes and we get some great threads about women's power, agency, and thin line they must tread during this time. Mariana is an opera singer and staying popular is her life blood, so this involves flirting and playing nice, even if she doesn't want to and with her younger age, not always having the experience needed for certain situations. 

He realized he’d lately taken to saying things to get her to laugh, the way he might reflexively open a window to allow in fresh air. 

There's some machinations to get these two together, Mariana gets to stay at the inn because she'll pay her way with a performance our patronesses decide they need to hold in their new ballroom and James ends up having to give Mariana Italian lessons as a “punishment” because those same patronesses decide he must be reprimanded for that unfriendly world play I mentioned earlier. Nothing feels too unbelievable to go along with and around 40% when James hears the truth about the duel from Mariana, these two really started to pull me in. I thought the whole “Harlot of Haywood Street” and “Valorous Valkirk” was an interesting premise and I ended up enjoying how layered their relationship ended up feeling and built. When James realizes the danger he's in, in regards to falling for Mariana, he tries to pull away but Mariana calls him on it and at 60% they have their first kiss. 

She wanted to be alone for a while in a room where, for the first time in her life, a man had come to her defense. 

Most of the story is the heated building promise of could be between these two and I enjoyed how the author gave us fully formed characters that could stand on their own, giving me the opportunity to see and feel all the ways they could fit together. James with his war career, caring the burden of being England's honorable hero, his marriage, widowhood, and feelings on his son and then Mariana with the pain of her father's death, her worry over her mother, and learning how to navigate the world. These two hit the sheets later in the story but I almost enjoyed their heated conversations and looks more. 

Holding her was the only comfort he’d truly known. Possibly the only peace he’d truly known. Because peace was being known. 

The last 20% ended up feeling a little rushed for me, at 87% James makes an offer to Mariana that at that point and time in a story, I'm not sure I want to see from my hero as he should know the heroine by now, and then the make-up ending declaration gave me more of that rushed feeling and I wasn't quite satisfied as I thought Mariana deserved more. At that point, I can't say I totally felt I believed in a happily ever after for these two, thinking about their positions in life, the way this particular story was written. There's a compacted epilogue that tries to give us that fairy tale ending to strengthen the idea of their HEA but with it's time jumps, it didn't completely work for me. Overall, though, I enjoyed this addition and time spent at The Grand Palace on the Thames, all our favorite characters are there and Mariana and James provided some welcome heat.

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Reading Update: Page 1

 

I'm totally twinsies with the heroine on the cover right now! I too am laying in front of my fireplace (mine's gas) and in elegant sleepwear (fleece jammie pants tucked into fuzzy socks). 👭 

Add in crummies on my chest from my dessert for breakfast and what a battle for who's looking more glam! 

Back to the Palace of Rogues I go.....

After Dark with the Duke by Julie Anne Long preorder (Nov 30) link

Chewy Chocolate Peanut Butterfinger Bars recipe

Very rich but easy to make

Review: I'm Only Wicked with You

I'm Only Wicked with You by Julie Anne Long
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars 

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. 

But when Lady Lillias Vaughn had emerged into view from the dusty twilight of an unfinished part of the Annex at The Grand Palace on the Thames, he’d been struck dumb. 

Picking right up where readers of the The Palace of the Rogues series left off in Angel in a Devil's Arms, this third installment gives us the continuation of all that tension between two guests at The Grand Palace on the Thames inn. Lady Lillias is the daughter of an Earl staying at the inn with her family while her home is being searched for a snake her older brother brought home after winning in a poker game and a hole in the wall from her father who shot at said snake is being repaired. She's been the toast of the season but oddly seems cold and aloof and dreading a ball coming up in two weeks. Hugh Cassidy is an American who can't even trace his lineage beyond his grandfather and seems to being holding his true reason for being in England close to his vest. He finds Lillias smoking and tattles to her father, which has her punishment being grounded to the inn. There the more time Lillias and Hugh spend with each other the brighter the tension burns between them and speaking glances start to say a lot. 

Never had a silent conversation been louder than the one he was conducting with Lady Lillias Vaughn. 

This is the third book in the series and after the first two, I was hoping we could move outside of the inn's walls, that doesn't happen here. The first half is solidly at the inn and the first 30% is fairly slow moving and we spend ample time with, albeit, old favorites like the heroines from the first two books and a handful of scenes with their counterparts, the ever contributing to the swear jar Mr. Delacourte, and sweet Dot. All characters that bring charm to the story but I found myself straining to break the leash to the inn and venture into new territory. Around 40% is when there is significant movement on the beginning's slow bringing together of Lillias and Hugh. I much appreciated how Long kept the historical feel in their tension; shielded conversations that are pointed and looks that burn in crowded parlors. This added to the tension and gave that sense of building snapping restraint to the two, which is the feeling I'm looking for when reading a historical. 

He met her eyes. It was warning, an apology . . . and, after a fashion . . . a promise. 

Fifty percent is where I thought the story picked up more and we get our forced into engagement because of caught in flagrante delicto. At this point, the reader does feel the attraction between the two and while I wouldn't say the depth is incredible, these two don't know each other enough yet, it definitely feels hot to the touch; their chemistry isn't in question but it falls more on the lust side. Long has an incredible ability to deliver lines between characters that make you feel and this couple stood out from the world because they did snap and pop. But, I fear that at times they stood out so much was because the world wasn't as much there this time, the over-trodden ground of The Grand Palace on the Thames with it's many conversations in the beginning really had me chomping at the bit to be free. I found myself daydreaming about how cool it would have been to have the story moved to Hugh's home in America, the Hudson Valley. 

It was difficult to align the complicated things he felt with the proper words. So he said the truest thing he could, slowly and softly. “I should hate for any harm to ever come to you.” 

Even though our couple is engaged at 50%, they still think they might be in love with other people into the second half of the story. Hugh is in England to find the daughter of his mentor and who he thinks he is going to marry and Lillias is devastated that her childhood friend might not love her the way she loves him. A plan gets developed by Hugh to help Lillias' friend realize his love for her and there is some nice emotional cracking by Hugh but Lillias spends too much time in her head with this. I wanted Lillias to stand-up and choose Hugh to take that control but their final coming together ended up feeling more flat because Lillias didn't make the move I wanted from her. 

Together they turned that kiss into something furious and desperate, a clash fueled by futility and the forbidden. 

As always, Long gave me lines and emotions that hit hard, and a surprising one that hit me almost the hardest was Lillias' father saying this after Hugh is forced to offer for Lillias: “You could do much worse than young Mr. Cassidy. I rather wish he was my own son.”. It hit hard because Hugh doesn't have much family, lost his mother younger and his father and brother died in the war, and this English Earl saw the good man he was, made my eyes water a bit for Hugh. Other secondary characters like Lillias' sister and brother added some filler to the story and the standbys at the inn probably took up too much time in the beginning. Like I said, I think a different setting, especially if the Hudson Valley had been utilized could have really brought a sense of freshness and adventure to this story. The epilogue was longer and had a wrap-up feel enough that I do wonder if we are finally going to leave the main setting of the Grand Palace on the Thames, we also get a glance at Lillias and Hugh's happily ever after in America. As it was, the beginning was pretty slow but Lillias and Hugh's burning tension saved the second half for me. Their story was one of the difference between living a fine life and full life and I hope someday we can visit their children in the Hudson.

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Reading Update: 20%

 

Celebrating this gorgeous Sunday with an early lunch and saying hi to old and new friends at The Grand Palace on the Thames 🥰 

I may have slightly burned my beans 😭 but nothing Long's words can't help soothe.

I'm Only Wicked With You by Julie Anne Long preorder (Aug 24) link

Cuban Chicken and Black Bean Rice Bowls

I wasn't the biggest fan of the tastes going on here but again, slightly burned beans lol.

Review: A Night with a Rogue

A Night with a Rogue by Julie Anne Long
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For more quotes and comments: 

The Beauty and the Spy buddy read 

Ways to be Wicked buddy read 

 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. 

The Beauty and the Spy 5 stars 

All the way there she'd rehearsed in her head what she might say to him, how she would ask it, what she might do if his answers broke her heart. But then he turned suddenly and saw her. And his face, unguarded, told her everything she needed to know, and questions were no longer necessary. "Oh, Kit. It's all right," she said softly. "I love you, too." He stared at her, caught. And then he laughed a short laugh, which was no doubt meant to sound incredulous or devil-may-care, but which failed miserably. 

Beauty and the Spy starts off with a reach out and grab you prologue where James Makespeace arrives in the middle of the night to Anna Holt's cottage in Gorringe. He warns her that his friend, her lover and the father of their three daughters, Richard Lockwood, has been murdered and she's been framed for it. With only seconds to spare, the decision is made for Anna to disappear and have James take her three daughters into hiding until everything can be figured out. Chapter one then brings us to seventeen years later. 

This is a reissue, with the first two books in the series bound together in this edition. I read this series over ten years ago and I was happy to see that the first book still holds up as one of my favorite stories. The plot of why and who could be involved with Richard's murder takes over a lot of the beginning, the reader is let into the details before the characters, which I think works perfectly as there is a lot to keep track of. Thaddeus Morley is a come up from the slums who is a dirty politician and the known villain, he also ties together our heroine Susannah and Kit. Susannah is the youngest daughter of Richard and Anna and has little to no memory of her true parentage, she thinks James, the man who raised her is her father. After James is killed, she winds up penniless and living with her Aunt, who eventually reveals that James wasn't her real father. Kit is an ex-solider, now spy who is drowning in boredom in London. His father threatens to send him to Egypt if he can't finish a nature folio project in Barnstable. The city Susannah's aunt just happens to live in. 

The folio project was a little of a stretch to get these two together but you'll be impressed with how Long connects all the other characters and dots involved in the plot. Morley, the man who destroyed Susannah's family, also happens to be the man who took away Kit's childhood love, Caroline, and caused a shift in Kit's life. It's a lot of clues and journey for Kit and Susannah and you'll want all the secondary characters to get stories of their own. Seriously, where is John Carr's story?!? 

The plot has depth and breadth and I like how it wasn't just created for this first book but will carry over and serve to really connect the next two in the series. I also loved the patience and care Long took with not only the plot but the characters and their relationships. Susannah and Kit get to know one another and it was a beautiful relationship to watch grow. They both have a bit of devil-may-care to them and I loved their playfulness with each other; I felt the emotion between them. If you have a short attention span and like how characters jump into bed right away, this wouldn't be for you but if you're ready to sit and sink into not only a story but a series, the plot and quiet love between Susannah and Kit is a must read. 

 

Ways to Be Wicked 2 stars 

She did not want to be found until she'd learn what she'd come to learn. 

The second book in the trilogy, Ways to be Wicked follows the sister Sylvie. We meet her as she's sneaking away to travel to England from France because of a letter she found from a Lady Susannah Whitelaw claiming to be her sister. Like Susannah, Sylvie doesn't have much memory of her mother and sisters and the woman that took her in, a former dancer with the famous Daisy, has been burning the letters from Susannah, thinking Sylvie is still in trouble. When Sylvie gets to England, she lands in the lap of Tom Shaughnessy, the dance hall owner we meet in the first, and also gets robbed by highwaymen. There's an instant something between her and Tom and he offers the name of his dance hall if she needs refuge. Which is what she ends up needing after going to Lady Susannah's home and discovering that not only have Susannah and her husband traveled to France but the butler doesn't believe her story of being Susannah's sister. They have been inundated with impostors after the story of Susannah and her sisters has hit the papers. Sylvie is left with only one place to go, Tom's. 

The story then becomes a little disjointed as multiple threads are happening, Sylvie a ballerina struggling to stuff her pride to be a dance hall girl, the wavering attraction between her and Tom, Tom's discovery of a child, Tom trying to get funding for a new project, The General and Daisy, and Susannah's lover Etienne, who may have followed her to England. The first had a lot of threads also, but here, they never gelled together right for me and Tom and Sylvie never got the focus required for me to feel the emotions between them. The connecting thread from the first is also not really integrated until the end when Kit and Susannah come into the picture. 

This second book didn't have the heat and emotions I delighted in from the first and Sylvie and Tom never got the focus I would have liked. The dance hall setting was at least a different place to visit as none of the main characters were aristocrats.

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Reading Update: 50%

She did not want to be found until she'd learned what she'd come to know.

The series buddy read continues!

More quotes and comments - Ways to Be Wicked buddy read

30%

 

"It knew things, that smile."

I forgot how much happens, gets laid out in the first five chapters, still loving the story set-up years later. 

More comments and quotes: Beauty and the Spy buddy read

Reading Update: Page 1

 

What else are you going to have for breakfast on July 5th if not July 4th dessert? 😉 

Over on GoodReads I started a buddy read of the series in the Romance Book Buddy Reading group, come join in the talk! 

I loved the first book in the Holt Sisters Trilogy, so I can’t wait to revisit this series again ❤️

A Night with a Rogue by Julie Anne Long preorder (July 27) link

Fireworks Sugar Cookie Cake recipe

Review: Angel in a Devil's Arms

Angel in a Devil's Arms by Julie Anne Long
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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.

What mattered was she was standing, and that was very much in spite of the men who had populated her life.

Readers first met Angelique in Lady Derring Takes a Lover, first in The Palace of the Rogues series. A mysterious man had just arrived when we left the series and Angel in a Devil's Arms picks right up from that. It wouldn't be hard to start the series here, you'd miss emotional foundations between Angelique and Delilah (Angelique was Delilah's husband's mistress) but the author does a good job of revisiting Angelique's background and the romance between our leads starts here.

“I’ve had all manner of experiences and known all manner of people . . . I believe I can say with some authority that people become who they are more because of the pain they experience than the pleasure. And you, my friend, I do believe you carry about your pain the way you might carry eggs in your apron.”

Angelique popped off the pages for me in the first book and I was highly anticipating her story. Almost all of the story takes place in the inn she runs with Delilah and except for a slight revenge plot, this story is focused on character driven and the relationship between Angelique and Lucien. If you're a reader of Long, you'll know how beautifully she can turn a phrase and describe emotion, for example: He paused. She would not be surprised if it was because he heard her heart beating. He’d toyed with the rhythm of its since they met. He ought to know it the way a violinist knows his own instrument. Gorgeous writing. The story has many sentences like this, but I still ending up feeling a lack of connection between our couple.

Imagine a woman who could shorten his breath and blank his mind with just one curve of her lips.

Our hero Lucien was born a bastard but his Duke father started off very loving until he married and then he shunned Lucien and his mother. Lucien started to act out for attention which caused his step-mother to be embarrassed about him and possibly is behind assailants pushing him into the Thames. He gets rescued by a passing ship and ends up sailing the seas for ten years. We're told this and I think I needed some flashbacks of his time surviving, fighting, and building himself up to feel closer to his character. A developing relationship between Lucien and his half brother helped to add layers to Lucien's character and I can't help but already wish for the half brother's book. However, there wasn't anything that really stood out for me with his character and Lucien ended up feeling pretty benign.

But what surprised her most was the gratitude for everything, including all the heartbreaks, upheavals, betrayals she’d so far known. The wrong men had simply prepared her to recognize the right one. The seemingly wrong turns had led her precisely to where she wished to be.

When Angelique and Lucien are together, they do have some good byplay but the sparks just weren't there enough for me. The bedroom scenes were there but felt strangely short and rushed for what Long usually writes. A revenge plot ends up sputtering out and I just don't think the characters and their relationship was strong enough to carry the character driven focus. Angelique and Delilah have screen time together, more towards the end and I missed feeling their connection like I did in the first. The inn's guest are all here again and provide some comedic relief but secondary characters couldn't make up for the lack of punch I was missing between our leads.

Living one’s truth, it seemed, was more liberating than the false safety of no emotion or no risk. It was just so much easier to do when you knew you were loved.

Long has talent and skill for writing and describing human emotions and complexities beautifully and truthfully, but the breadth of the romantic relationship between Angelique and Lucien was missing for me. The epilogue sweetly sets up the next couple in the series and I'll definitely be reading it and hoping the setting can leave the inn more and our main couple will have more scope to their relationship.

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50%

She knew full well that some wounds could not be vanquished. Some old wounds never did heal and you just learned to adjust them, the way you would adjust a burden on a long journey.

Reading Update: Page 1

I love the look of the heroine but the hero and his awkward torso are, awkward.

Loved Angelique in the first book and excited to finally read her story!

Angel in a Devil's Arms by Julie Anne Long purchase link

Salted Caramel Rice Pudding recipe

As you can imagine super rich but so so good. I used 1% so a bit more soupy but second night leftovers absorbed more. Perfect rich dessert to read romance with.

Review: Lady Derring Takes a Lover

Lady Derring Takes a Lover by Julie Anne Long
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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 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.”

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100%

The last 10% of this:

Captain Tristan and his short poetry can come get it anytime.

50%

His eyes brushed hers as he left the room. She would warrant that Captain Hardy found her desirable, too. Possibly even frighteningly so.

Reading Update: 15%

Of all the peculiar things that had happened in the last several days, laughing with her late husband’s mistress scarcely a week after his funeral might have been the oddest.

The first chapter of this book was amazingly good, it has been on fire ever since. I've highlighted like 95% of what I've read. I'm in a tornado of giddiness (trying to calm, only at 15%) but, pre-order this. 

Reading Update: 30%

Thing was, Kismet implied that there was some sort of larger, ultimate plan and he was at the mercy of it. He’d never much liked being at the mercy of anything. He did not like ambiguity.

Review: Hot in Hellcat Canyon

Hot in Hellcat Canyon by Julie Anne Long
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Stays mostly in the shallow end, no risk story telling. Hero reminded me a little bit of SEP's Bobby Tom Denton, with charm and flirt. Heroine had abusive past but pretty much glossed over except for mention and device to create ending foil to HEA.
Small town cuteness, drama, and series baiting secondary characters.
Relationship skirted depth but couple had some fun back and forth.
Solid contemporary romance apple pie, good but not terribly exciting.

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