Liz Carlyle is so consistently good that one almost starts to take her for granted. Her historical romances are always well-written and compelling. Her characters are well-developed, interesting and rarely TSTL. Her books are a marvelous blend of humor and angst with a heaping helping of hotness thrown in the mix just to keep it spicy! Her latest book, One Touch of Scandal, continues her long string of entertaining historicals.
OToS in the first in a new trilogy by LC featuring the Fraternitas Aureae Crucis. This is one of those groups or clubs that occasionally appear in romance novels where the members all seem to be devilishly handsome and full of secrets. This type of thing is not one of my favorite devices in a romance, but LC uses it effectively and never lets it take over the narrative. It actually lends a nice, almost gothic, tone to the book. OToS opens with our heroine, Grace Gauthier about to be engaged to her employer. The engagement is cut short when someone murders her intended and the police decide that Grace is their top suspect. Grace goes to the aforementioned gentlemen's club in search of a family friend who may be able to help her out of this mess. Instead of finding the family friend, she meets Lord Ruthveyn, a dark and mysterious war hero (I told you these clubs are full of dark and mysterious guys) who agrees to help her prove her innocence. It's at this point, that we almost had a problem. Turns out that LC has added a touch of the paranormal to her latest and we all know how I feel about paranormals (not good, in case you don't know), but I kept reading and found that this twist didn't bother me too much. Seems the dark and mysterious Lord Ruthveyn has some very helpful psychic abilities. Thanks to LC's careful handling, this element never overwhelms the rest of the story and thus, I was able to move on. Per usual, with LC, the characters were well drawn and complex. I liked them both and enjoyed watching their relationship develop. The mystery is well-plotted and compelling. The book is just, in a word, smooth.
So, once again, Liz Carlyle has turned out yet another stylishly written, wickedly entertaining read. Oh, and one more thing, as a bonus for the cat lovers amongst us, LC has made Lord Ruthveyn a cat lover! He has two lovely felines named Silk and Satin on which he dotes. Is there anything sexier than a dark and mysterious man who also loves cats? Not in my book.
PS. Liz Carlyle and her publisher, Avon are sponsoring a great charity tie-in to the release of One Touch of Scandal. Here's the info, please go and help LC and Avon support cat rescue.
http://www.avonromance.com/2010/09/27/welcome-liz-carlyle/
No comments:
Post a Comment