Tag: Regency Lit

Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism

Review: India Black (Madam of Espionage #1) by Carol K Carr

by The Lit Bitch2 Comments on Review: India Black (Madam of Espionage #1) by Carol K Carr

This book has randomly surfaced on my Goodreads recommendations page and Twitter feed for the last few years now.

I personally love the cover and thought it sounded like an intriguing read. Well recently I saw someone else on Twitter reading it and I suddenly felt like it was time to check it out.

When Sir Archibald Latham of the War Office dies from a heart attack while visiting her brothel, Madam India Black is unexpectedly thrust into a deadly game between Russian and British agents who are seeking the military secrets Latham carried.

Blackmailed into recovering the missing documents by the British spy known as French, India finds herself dodging Russian agents-and the attraction she starts to feel for the handsome conspirator (summary from Goodreads).

So I guess the whole ‘deadly game’ bit had me thinking this was going to be more of a murder mystery but it wasn’t. This was more of a heist than a murder mystery by far. The whole novel is spent trying to track down a mysterious black case of English documents rather then trying to solve a murder.

It was much different than what I was expecting. I was actually kind of disappointed that this was all that happened throughout the novel though.

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Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: A Twist in Time (Kendra Donovan #2) by Julie McElwain

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: A Twist in Time (Kendra Donovan #2) by Julie McElwain

Long time readers of my blog know that I love time travel novels. I personally feel like I was born in the wrong era so I compensate by reading books on time travel and hope that I stumble upon my own vortex and end up in the castle of an insanely handsome duke to be, who just happens to be single and makes me a duchess and showers me with glittering jewels, titles, lands, oh and love of course!

Wow, I digress…I got wrapped up in that daydream a little too much I think haha!

In the spirit of my daydreaming, I picked up the latest Kendra Donovan novel which just so happens to have striking similarities to my daydreaming :).

When Kendra Donovan’s plan to return to the 21st century fails, leaving her stranded in 1815, the Duke of Aldridge believes he knows the reason—she must save his nephew, who has been accused of brutally murdering his ex-mistress.

Former FBI agent Kendra Donovan’s attempts to return to the twenty-first century have failed, leaving her stuck at Aldridge Castle in 1815. And her problems have just begun: in London, the Duke of Aldridge’s nephew Alec—Kendra’s confidante and lover—has come under suspicion for murdering his former mistress, Lady Dover, who was found viciously stabbed with a stiletto, her face carved up in a bizarre and brutal way.

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Review: Where the Dead Lie (Sebastian St. Cyr #12) by C.S. Harris

by The Lit Bitch7 Comments on Review: Where the Dead Lie (Sebastian St. Cyr #12) by C.S. Harris

When this one came up for review, I agreed because it sounded like a bit of a gritty Victorian/Regency mystery and I was ready for a bit of a new mystery series.

However, I was hesitant because this book was number 12 in the series. Lately I’ve been jumping into a couple of new series a little late in the game and I felt like at the very least, I should read the first book in this new series so I could get an idea of where things were at, at least with the main character, Lord Devlin.

London, 1813. Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, is no stranger to the dark side of the city, but he’s never seen anything like this: the brutalized body of a 15-year-old boy dumped into a makeshift grave on the grounds of an abandoned factory.

One of London’s many homeless children, Benji Thatcher was abducted and tortured before his murder—and his younger sister is still missing. Few in authority care about a street urchin’s fate, but Sebastian refuses to let this killer go unpunished. Uncovering a disturbing pattern of missing children, Sebastian is drawn into a shadowy, sadistic world.

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Review: What Angels Fear (Sebastian St. Cyr #1) by C.S. Harris

by The Lit Bitch11 Comments on Review: What Angels Fear (Sebastian St. Cyr #1) by C.S. Harris

Later this week I have another book in this series up for review. Having not read this series before, I felt like it might be a good thing to start with the first book to at least get my barrings. The book I am reviewing is the 12th book, so obviously there is a lot I will have missed, but I wanted to at least get to know the back story of the protagonist, Lord Devlin.

It’s 1811, and the threat of revolution haunts the upper classes of King George III’s England. Then a beautiful young woman is found raped and savagely murdered on the altar steps of an ancient church near Westminster Abbey.

A dueling pistol discovered at the scene and the damning testimony of a witness both point to one man, Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, a brilliant young nobleman shattered by his experience in the Napoleonic Wars.

Now a fugitive running for his life, Sebastian calls upon his skill as an agent during the war to catch the killer and prove his own innocence. In the process, he accumulates a band of unlikely allies, including the enigmatic beauty Kat Boleyn, who broke Sebastian’s heart years ago.

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Review: As Death Draws Near (Lady Darby Mystery #5) by Anna Lee Huber

by The Lit Bitch1 Comment on Review: As Death Draws Near (Lady Darby Mystery #5) by Anna Lee Huber

First of all, let me start out by saying how much I love this series. I love the chemistry between Gage and Kiera so much and each mystery reads very quickly. I’ve been binge reading the books since spring break so here we are with the fifth mystery which puts me officially caught up on the series.

June 1831. In the midst of their idyllic honeymoon in England’s Lake District, Kiera and Gage’s seclusion is soon interrupted by a missive from her new father-in-law. A deadly incident involving a distant relative of the Duke of Wellington has taken place at an abbey south of Dublin, Ireland, and he insists that Kiera and Gage look into the matter.

Intent on discovering what kind of monster could murder a woman of the cloth, the couple travel to Rathfarnham Abbey school. Soon a second nun is slain in broad daylight near a classroom full of young girls. With the sinful killer growing bolder, the mother superior would like to send the students home, but the growing civil unrest in Ireland would make the journey treacherous.

Before long, Kiera starts to suspect that some of the girls may be hiding a sinister secret. With the killer poised to strike yet again, Kiera and Gage must make haste and unmask the fiend, before their matrimonial bliss comes to an untimely end (summary from Goodreads).

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