Disclaimer! I was granted an ARC of this from Pocket Books through NetGalley in return for a fair and honest review. I should also add that by the time I was granted the ARC, I’d already bought the book in pre-order, because with one horrible exception, she writes awesome books, and is on my automatic pre-order list.
Once again, the cover image has little to nothing to do with the contents of the book, although the cover model is at least a redhead, like the heroine. I don’t think she wears a bright orange dress and frolics around on the grass at any point, though, and the dress is not even a little bit period appropriate. It does have a nice bright colour that catches the eye, which I suppose is what the marketing department was going for.
But what is the book about, I hear you ask? Olivia Johnston is on her third assumed identity, having stolen a series of letters from her former employer, now Lady Elizabeth de Grey (see That Scandalous Summer. She’s now trying to infiltrate the household of the Duke of Marwick, her former employer’s new brother-in-law in order to get further incriminating evidence to help her blackmail Baron Bertram, the man who’s made her live in fear for years. Bertram was one of the duchess of Marwick’s former lovers, and Olivia has heard Marwick kept detailed dossiers on all his political and personal rivals. Hoping to get a post as a housemaid, she has an impressive reference from her friend Amanda, who recently became a Viscountess through an advantageous marriage. Yet the duke’s household is in such disarray that the desperate and distraught butler convinces Olivia to take the post as housekeeper instead. Olivia is elated, thinking this will make it all the easier to search through the duke’s papers for blackmail material. Her optimism doesn’t last long.
The reason that Marwick’s household is in such disorder is that Alastair de Grey, the duke, has holed himself up in his private rooms, nursing dangerous thoughts of vengeance against the men who cuckolded him with his now dead wife. He knows that if he leaves the house, he will murder each of the men who slept with and conspired towards his own political downfall with his faithless wife. In the months since she was found dead in a hotel room from a suspected opium overdose, the duke has become more and more distanced from his former life, driving away all who previously cared for him, including his brother (again see the previous book). Most of his servants have left, and the only retainers left have little to no work ethic and flirt, gossip and generally do as they please around the house. Marwick doesn’t care, he just wants to drink himself into oblivion and forget.
So how do these two crazy kids end up together? Go to my blog to read the rest of the review. Warning, it’s quite long.
Such a great review! That was a lot of plot to organize and gives a really good sense of how complex the story is in terms of character and effort.
This book put Meredith Duran on my autobuy list. I’ve already read 2 more I need to review and have one waiting on my Kindle. When, WHEN will I learn to listen to you the first time? You have never steered me wrong, although Flowers from the Storm nearly killed me.
My review of Fool Me Twice goes up here on Tuesday, but it’ll be on my blog tomorrow.