Though I’ve read the entirety of the Pink Carnation series, this was my first time trying any of Willig’s other work, and while her voice was recognizable, it had a very different feel. While the Pink Carnation series certainly deals with dark subject matters (espionage, war, murder, and secret societies), especially the first few novels in the series were very light hearted. As a result, I was surprised by how much darker and more serious this one felt in comparison. While at her brother Bay’s […]
Becoming a Bright Young Thing
This book is set in the late 1920s in Britain, the era of the Bright Young Things who were rich and titled and carefree. Our heroine, Rachel Woodley, however is none of those things. At the start of the book, she is working as a governess to a trio of children in Paris and receives a telegram informing her that her mother is at death’s door. Due to the fact she rebuffed the advances of one of her co-workers, he delayed passing along the telegram […]
A Gilded Age mystery
From New York Times bestselling author, Lauren Willig, comes this scandalous novel set in the Gilded Age, full of family secrets, affairs, and even murder. This book is a mixture of historical romance with an intriguing plot of family secrets and mystery that is very well done. It’s set at the end of the 1800’s, in the wealthy environs of New York society where rigid rules of appearance were adhered to. Bayard and Annabelle Van Duyvil are the glamorous couple that appear to have it […]
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere
3.5 Stars. This book was suggested by a friend who knows her romances, so I was eager to dive in. Unsurprisingly, this historical romp was a complete delight. Willig deftly weaved the main romance from the early 19th century into a modern story featuring a quirky student doing her dissertation on English spies during the Napoleonic era. Eloise Kelly has always loved stories about the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian, but she can’t resist a mystery. When she gets the chance to go to […]