Review: TAINTED ANGEL by Anne Cleeland

Double and triple talk, threats and counter threats, plots and counterplots. Games of cat-and-mouse, crosses and double-crosses, lies, lies and more lies. Nothing is as it seems in Tainted Angel by Anne Cleeland, a complex tale of spy and counterspy in Regency England.

Vidia is no stranger to the double-dealing, underhandedness and betrayal of the espionage world. As a so-called angel, her job is to use her considerable beauty and charm to ferret out secrets from powerful men. But now, someone has fingered her as a possible traitor, and her own organization is out to trap her. She also harbors secrets of her own that she doesn’t want her employers to discover.

Lucien, also a spy, has been Vidia’s partner on occasion and has always been stunned by her beauty. Recently widowed, he can now pursue her. Or can he? He has secrets, too, ones that can tear him apart.

Tainted Angel is that welcome rarity, a Regency adventure story. Ms. Cleeland’s page-turner grips you from the start and yanks you along at breakneck speed into a maze of dizzying twists and turns where nothing and no one are what they seem. The surprises keep coming right to the end as the author reveals bit by tantalizing bit the secrets everyone in this novel protect.

I love adventure and spy stories, but most of them focus on the man, who does all the heroics, with the woman as an afterthought. Not here. Vidia is smart, sharp, beholden to no one and fights back. She takes care of herself, and is a match for anyone. I like her very much. I would love to see more heroines like her.

I also like Lucien. He operates under as deep a load of secrets as Vidia, but manages to navigate through them as he does his job and also helps her. A true hero. And he’s blond. I do like my blond heroes.

I stayed up well into the night reading this book. You will, too.

Thank you all,
Linda
ARC provided by Sourcebooks

Regency Railroads

We think of the railroad as a Victorian invention, but railroads as we know them today got their start during the Regency.

Goods and people have always traveled from one place to another. But such movement was limited to what animal power could provide (hence the term "horsepower") until the invention of the steam engine.

The first workable steam engine was the Newcomen engine, invented in 1712 by Thomas Newcomen. Better known is James Watt, who improved the Newcomen engine in 1765 and continued improvements for thirty-five years until his patent expired in 1800.

Mining played a large role in the history of the railroad. One of the Newcomen engine's first uses was to pump water out of mines and air in. Watt's improved engine harnessed steam for the locomotive, which powered the trains that transported the heavy ores from the mines to their destinations.

The steam locomotive pulling a train was a vast improvement in the hauling of freight. Trains now conveyed coal and ores, which previously depended on horse-drawn vehicles, in a much shorter amount of time and at a much lower cost

The name most often associated with the invention of the locomotive is mining engineer and inventor Richard Trevithick (1771-1833). He invented a steam engine of high enough power to move a loaded train's massive weight. He also built the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive in 1799 in Cornwall. The first railroad journey took place in 1804, as Trevithick's improved steam locomotive powered a train along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks, in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales.

Trevithick also built the first passenger locomotive, the Catch Me Who Can. In 1808, he demonstrated it in Bloomsbury, London, on a circular track.

Advances in railroad technology continued through the years of the Regency proper (1811-1820). Starting a company lagged the technology, since Parliament had to approve every railroad proposal. In 1821, Parliament authorized the Stockton and Darlington Railway, which would haul coal from the Durham mines to the North Sea ports.

The first inter-city passenger railroad was the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which was formed in 1823. The Railway opened in 1830, and the picture above (from Wikipedia) records its first journey.

I set my Regency comedy, Gifts Gone Astray in 1817 in Langley, England, south of the projected route of the Liverpool and Manchester. The planning for the railroad's proposal forms part of the plot.

Thank you all,
Linda

Review: A DASH OF SCANDAL by Amelia Gray

Not only scandal, but love, laughter, secrets and mystery abound in Amelia Grey's latest delightful Regency historical, A Dash of Scandal.

A mysterious thief has invaded the ton, stealing priceless objects d'art, including a gold raven sculpture from the Earl of Dunraven. Then the earl meets Miss Millicent Blair, who always takes notes at parties and secretes herself in dark corners. Could this charming young lady possibly be the thief? Not helping Dunraven's quest to retrieve his property are the daily doses of scandal offered by the ton's favorite gossip columnist, Lord Truefitt, who has the uncanny knack of skewering the rich and famous, especially the earl.

Millicent despises dashing young men of the ton--one of them ruined her mother. She wants nothing to do with the earl, even though he's the only man who has ever stirred her heart. But she also guards a secret not her own she must keep from him.

Ms. Grey has written another of my favorite type of story, romance plus. I prefer romances that contain another element in addition to the love story, and this one has plenty of mystery and humor to enliven the action. I also like honorable main characters, especially ones who are evenly matched, and Dunraven and Millicent are wonderful. Millicent, with her witty, spirited repartee, is the formidable earl's equal. And Dunraven honors her as a worthy opponent, even as he seeks to unravel her secrets.

Fresh and fast-paced, with abundant doses of humor, plenty of deceptive appearances, and a mystery to tantalize us until the end, A Dash of Scandal has everything.

Thank you all,
Linda
ARC provided by Sourcebooks

Book Review: SYLVESTER or THE WICKED UNCLE by Georgette Heyer

A duke who needs to be taken down a notch or fifteen and a battered down young miss who fights back the only way she can. Did I say Sylvester, or The Wicked Uncle by Georgette Heyer?

Sylvester, the Duke of Salford has decided to marry. And he has his list of requirements, and five prospective candidates. Why shouldn't he? He deserves nothing less.

And then he meets Phoebe, a young girl without money, connections or looks. A more unsuitable lady cannot be found. Her straightforward manner attracts a nobleman who has always been catered to.

But only up to a point. That point is reached when Sylvester discovers Phoebe is the authoress of a novel which skewers the rich the famous of the ton, but most especially him. Never expecting the novel to be published, Phoebe cast him as the villain, based on her then-limited knowledge. But when the ton fools blow up the novel's meaning to absurd proportions, everyone assumes she knew all the intimate details of her characters' lives, which she didn't. They punish her for it. Especially Sylvester, whom she has come to like.

Sylvester is a load of fun as the action ricochets from one improbably funny scenario to another. Ms. Heyer pokes fun at fatuous fribbles, feather-brained ladies, too-rich-for-their-own-good noblemen, spoiled brats, and horse-mad country squires who care more for their horses than their children. And she's wrapped it all up in her delightful Regency language.

Sylvester is also a tale about hiding--and what happens when you can't hide any more. Sylvester is an unusual type of hero, the closet tyrant--affable on the outside, but ruthless underneath. Phoebe also fits the closet motif. Powerless under the sway of a cruel stepmother and a weak father, she fights back against the brutal ton that disdains her by writing a novel ridiculing them.

I didn't care for either character. Sylvester is brutish in his attempts to punish Phoebe, and Phoebe accepts the blame for something that is not her fault. But they are appropriate to the time and partially redeem themselves by the end of the book.

I did like Phoebe's life-long friend, Tom, a decent, level-headed young man who calls a spade a spade and sticks up for Phoebe against Sylvester's wrong-headed treatment.

If you like Regency, Sylvester is another sensational ride into Georgette Heyer's historical world.

Thank you all,
Linda
ARC provided by Sourcebooks