Summary: Arabella Dempsey's dear friend Jane Austen warned her against teaching. But Miss Climpson's Select Seminary for Young Ladies seems the perfect place for Arabella to claim her independence while keeping an eye on her younger sisters nearby. Just before Christmas, she
accepts a position at the girls' school in Bath. She hardly imagines coming face-to-face with French aristocrats and international spies...
Reginald "Turnip" Fitzhugh - often mistaken for the elusive spy know as the Pink Carnation - has blundered into danger before. When Turnip and Arabella find a beautifully wrapped Christmas pudding with a cryptic message, they are launched on a Yuletide adventure that ranges from the Austens' modest drawing room to the awe-inspiring estate of the Duke of Dovedale and an elaborate Christmas celebration.
Will they find poinsettias or peril, dancing or danger? Is it possible that the fate of the British Empire rests in Arabella's and Turnip's hands in the form of a festive Christmas pudding?
Comments: Perfect for a winter read (even though it's not terribly cold here now). The story of the unassuming, but practical Arabella Dempsey and the handsome, rich, but slight quirky Turnip Fitzhugh is a lovely addition to the Pink Carnation pantheon. It's very interesting how this story folds into the Temptation of the Night Jasmine which of course, leads to The Betrayal of the Blood Lily. The back cover quotes "Pride and Prejudice lives on" and while I agree there is a classic quality to them, but it is not the best analogy I think. These have more mystery, more romance (read: almost sex), and are quite funny. Austen has a dry wit. It's just not quite a fair way to describe the books. I do tend to like the female characters, but Turnip is downright adorable. We all know some guy like him, blessed in the looks department which is good because he's a few tools short in the shed. Lovely story and a quick read for the holidays.
Summary: Penelope Deveraux never imagined she'd be spirited off to India to give the scandal of her hasty marriage time to die down. As Lady Frederick Staines, Penelope plunges into the elaborate court intrigues of the Nizam of Hyderabad, where no one is quite what he seems. In a strange and exotic country where a dangerous spy called the Marigold leaves venomous cobras as his calling card, there is only one person she can trust.
Captain Alex Reid has better things to do than play nursemaid to a pair of aristocrats. Unfortunately, Penelope seems to have the uncanny ability to draw out the deadly plans of the Marigold and put herself in harm's way. With danger looming from local warlords, treacherous court officials, and French spies, Alex realizes that an alliance with Lady Staines may be the only thing standing in the way of a plot designed to rock the very foundations of the British Empire. (source: book cover)
Commentary: I enjoyed this installment of the Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig. Penelope is a bit like me, the cynic, the critical one, the tom boy even perhaps. She's the only one of Ms. Willig's female characters that could handle the trip to, and living in, India. The rest are way too girly for this. As mentioned previously, Penelope gets herself trapped in a marriage that leaves her with less than the best prospects. Freddy Staines, really, ah, that's too bad (Call me "old thing" one more time and I'll...). Thankfully, based on the plot line we know his number will come up.
Alex Reid, on the other hand, is a hero's hero. If Penelope can trust him enough to figure out what is going on. And what is going on? Not sure at the beginning, because there are too many members of the Hellfire Club involved and suspicious dealings with the locals that don't seem to be above board. And, Alex's boss has married a local woman which brings him - and Alex - into question with British officers. Penelope suspects Alex of just about everything. Probably over reaching at that point, but being new to the area, who is to say.
Eloise and Colin seem to still be managing their lives together - so far. Somehow, I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop in their relationship. Perhaps it's too much Bridget Jones' Diary in me, but ... I'm cautious. Not sure, but, this was an excellent story. Liked the cover of this book the best some how. Lovely really.
Summary: After five years abroad, Robert, Duke of Dovedale, has returned to England to avenge the murder of his mentor. To uncover the murderer's identity, he must infiltrate the infamous secret Hellfire Club. But the Duke has no ideas that even more difficult challenge awaits him - in a mistaken, romantic-minded young lady.
Charlotte Lansdowne wistfully remembers the Robert of her childhood as a valiant hero amoung men. Too aware of his own flaws, Robert tries to dissuade Charlotte from her delusions, even as he finds himself drawn to her. When Charlotte takes up a bit of espionage - investigating a plot to kidnap the King - Robert soon realizes that she is more than the perfect partner in crime. Caught in a dangerous game full of deadly spies and secret rites, Robert and Charlotte must work together to reveal the villain ... and confront their true love. (source: book cover)
Comments: I have to admit this book, starting out, was my least favorite so far. Charlotte was, again, at the beginning, annoying and amazingly childish. She's just about too much to take. Robert is obsessed with getting revenge for his mentor to the point that he would join the Hellfire Club, which would seriously put his reputation in danger, but he does it anyway. Charlotte's time as a Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen is an interesting idea. Henrietta and Penelope make an appearance as well as Miles which gives us some continuation of the plot line from the previous books. Penelope is acerbic, perhaps even more than ever and makes a terrible mistake that will cost her. At a certain point in the book Charlotte is forced to stop being such a baby and grow up, and thankfully, she does which makes for a much more enjoyable story.
The story between Eloise and Colin is still moving forward as well and doing so rather nicely which means something bad is bound to happen. Up next, Betrayal of the Blood Lily.
Summary: Determined to secure another London Season without assistance from her new brother-in-law, beautiful Mary Alsworthy accepts a secret assignment from Lord Vaughn on behalf of the Pink Carnation: to infiltrate the ranks of the dreaded French spy the Black Tulip before he and his master can stage their planned invasion of England. Every spy has a weakness, and for the Black Tulip that weakness is black-haired women - his "petals of the Tulip." A natural at the art of seduction, Mary easil catches the attention of the French spy, but Lord Vaughn never anticipates that his own heart will be caught as well. Fighting their growing attraction, impediments from their past, and, of course, the French, Mary and Vaughn find themselves lost in the shadows of a treacherous garden on lies ... (source: book cover)
Comments: So Mary Alsworthy loses her lover to his sister in the last book (The Deception of the Emerald Ring), and instead gets her own book and to my great pleasure Lord Vaughn. Mary, beautiful, intriguing, poor, and still pretty ticked at her sister and brother-in-law. To get away from them is most important and to have a season to find another man willing to marry a beautiful, but penniless woman. So she agrees to help the Pink Carnation via Lord Vaughn, whom no one, not even me, trust is truly what he says he is. Mary turns from spoiled girl into a calculating woman. And Vaughn, well, he's just Vaughn, as black and silver as he's ever been and as he always will be. Enigma. One of the things I like about the series is there is very little real time between them in both the worlds. Eloise and Colin are still circling around each other as she studies into his family history and hopes to get into his future. The story was well written. Ms. Willig has done another solid job of keeping up with this series.
Summary: Harvard grad student Eloise Kelly has gotten into quite a bit of trouble since she's been spying on the Pink Carnation and the Black Tulip - two fo the deadliest agents to saunter the streets of nineteenth-century England and France. Not only has she been unearthing secrets that will rearrange history, but she's been dallying with Colin Selwich and looking for a romantic adventure all her own. Little does she know that she's about to uncover another
fierce heroine running headlong into history.
In June 1803, Letty Alsworthy attempts to prevent her sister's midnight elopement - only to be accidentally whisked away herself. The scandal forces her into a hasty marriage with Geoffrey Pinchingdale-Snipe, who then decamps immediately to help the Pink Carnation quash a ring of Irish rebels led by the Black Tulip. Not to be outdone, Letty steals away to the Emerald Isle herself, ready to lean a thing of tow about espionage - and never imagining she might lean a few things about love along the way (Source: Book Cover).
Comments: Another very satisfying read by Lauren Willig, The Deception of the Emerald Ring has an interesting twist to the secret elopement. We have met Geoffrey Pinchingdale-Snipe from the two previous books and heard of his literary poems dedicated to Mary Alsworthy, Letty's sister. When Geoffrey finds himself kissing the wrong sister, a wedding is quickly arranged. Poor Letty, obliged to marry where she does not want to and the mortification of it being her sister's lover. And to add insult to injury, he leaves the afternoon of their wedding for Ireland. Letty, determined not to be embarrassed further by his desertion, follows him to Ireland.
It seems the French want to stir up trouble in Ireland to distract England long enough for a French invasion. There are certainly enough rebels in Ireland to go around, and the notorious Black Tulip as well. And then there is my favorite character Lord Vaughn. The jury is still out on him - is he a good guy or a bad guy. One day we may find out. Jane Wooliston is there of course, flirting mightily with Geoffrey as the charming, Gilly Fairley - a blonde of course while they secretly exchange information on the Irish rebels and their weapons caches.
So who is the Black Tulip? Is it Lord Vaughn? He certainly seems to fit the bill, but perhaps too well. Very very enjoyable read. Next up. The Seduction of the Crimson Rose.
Summary: Modern-day graduate student Eloise achieved the academic coup of the century when she unmasked one of history's greatest spies, the Pink Carnation, who saved England from Napoleon. But now she has a million questions about the Carnation's deadly French nemesis, the Black Tulip. And she's pretty sure that her handsome on-again, off-again crush, Colin Selwick, has the answers somewhere in his archives. When she finally comes across an old codebook, Eloise discovers something jucier than she ever imagined: an unlikely pair who were hot on the trail of the Black Tulip and had every intention of stopping him from killing the Pink Carnation and bringing down England. But what they didn't know was that while they were trying to find the Tulip - and stumbling upon something like love - the Black Tulip was watching them... (Source: Book Cover)
Comments: This is the second in the Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig and continues closely on the heels of the first book in the timeline of both the contemporary story and that of the Napoleonic era. Again the duel stories are both interesting and lively - one thing in particular that I like is that the contemporary story is told in first person, while the story of the spies et al is in third person. It's refreshing and creates some tension in each story when the change occurs.
This is largely the story of Lady Henrietta Selwick (younger sister of the Richard, Purple Gentian in the first book) and her friendship with Jane Wolliston. It's hard to say more than that w/out spoiling the first book, so ...
I love to read books in order and don't want to ruin that for anyone, so if you read below this point - there be spoilers ahead - you've been warned.
Jane Wolliston is the Pink Carnation, a unassuming girl that no one seems to notice, but who, with her formidable friend Miss Gwen, have slowly created havoc in the French government. Jane communicates via code to Henrietta and she passes the information off to the home office via Miles Dorrington, the dashing best friend of her brother Richard (ie. the Purple Gentian). One of my favorite characters, and thankfully, he will be in future books, is Lord Vaughn. He's a mysterious one and slightly devious and who knows who's side he's one,
but I like him. The phrase "mad, bad, and dangerous to know" comes to mind.
I also find the story of Eloise and Colin very intriguing, possibly the result of training as an (art) historian as well. I understand the hunt involved in doing research - that in fact was always my favorite part. What could I find that no one else had quite found. Might also
explain my enjoyment of mysteries as a genre in general. Either way, onward and upward. Up next The Deception of the Emerald Ring.
Summary: The year is 1803, and feisty Amy Balancourt will do anything to join the cause of her hero, the Purple Gentian, and his fellow spies, who once tried to save her father from French revolutionaries. But first she must find the mysterious Purple Gentian - without getting sidetracked by the advances of Lord Richard Selwick, a dashing yet dubious man who by all appearances has defected to the enemy. What Amy doesn't know is that Richard's true goal is to ferret out Napoleon's plans for invading England while keeping his true identity
a secret. But who could concentrate on saving Europe with Amy's decolletage invading this thoughts? Unfortunately, Amy is clearly an impediment to his mission - especially when one of the many lives at stake is her very own... (source - back cover)
Comments: This is really two stories in one. The first is of the historian that is looking to find out who, exactly, is the Pink Carnation, and the second is of the lives of Amiee de Balancourt and Richard Selwick during that tumultous year of 1803. Both stories, I have to say, succeed, though much more print space is given to Amy and Richard, rightfully so.
I have this unconscious habit of coming up with questions during reading. So was the Scarlet Pimpernel real - was Sir Percival Blakeney? Must look this up. Shall do now ... one moment please. Nope not real - I have read Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel, but just had to double check. Too bad, I do love that character. Okay, on the to characters in the book, Lord Richard Selwick, lovely, charming, smart. Uh, not much else to say. And his mother the Marquess of Uppington, I totally love her early in the book and even more so towards the end of the story. She is not one to be taken lightly. Very amusing read. I am looking forward to reading the next book, "The Masque of the Black Tulip"
