Review by Booklist Review
Some people might think it very strange that Christian Hawkes would work for the man whom rumor has it was responsible for Christian spending the last three years in a French prison, but Christian has a plan. Accepting the job of finding the earl of Brundage's missing fiancée, Lady Aurelia Capet, will allow Christian to finally secure the evidence he needs to prove that the earl is guilty of treason against the British crown. However, when a badly wounded Christian turns up at the door of the Grand Palace on the Thames, Aurelia, who has checked in to the hotel as Mrs. Mary Gallagher, faces a real dilemma. Of course, Aurelia wants to help nurse Christian back to health, but the more time Aurelia spends with Christian, the closer he will get to the truth about who she really is. Each of the brilliantly written entries in Long's Palace of Rogues series, including After Dark with the Duke (2021), is a master class in how to successfully marry stunning sensuality with scintillating wit, and the fifth entry is no exception with its resplendent prose, impeccable plotting, and perfect-for-each-other protagonists.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Long brings the goods in her fifth Palace of Rogues Regency romance (after After Dark with the Duke). Newly released from a French prison, British spy Christian Hawkes is hired by the Earl of Brundage to find Brundage's runaway fiancée, Lady Aurelie Capet, a Frenchwoman whose family were killed during the French Revolution. Hawkes agrees--he needs the money--but he suspects Brundage of treason and intends to simultaneously investigate any connection between the earl and his own arrest. Hawkes's search for Aurelie takes him to the Grand Palace on the Thames, an upscale London boardinghouse with a host of colorful residents. After being stabbed on the way there, Hawkes collapses in the foyer of the Grand Palace, where he is mistaken for vicar Mr. Bellingham, who was expected. Aurelie, herself disguised as one Mrs. Mary Gallagher, helps care for him while he recovers. As the pair fall in love, Hawkes must choose between completing his mission or following his heart. Long enhances her complex narrative--loaded with wit, mystery, and sizzling romance--with attention to historical detail and the emotional depths of her characters. This may be the author's best yet. Agent: Steve Axelrod, Axelrod Agency. (July)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Christian Hawkes has been released from prison, exchanging his fortune for his release. When the Earl of Brundage asks Christian to find his missing fiancée, the former English spy jumps at the easy way to refill his coffers. Diving into the investigation, Christian begins to sort out where and why Lady Aurelie Capet might have gone, while also taking the opportunity to pursue his long-held instinct that the earl may be dabbling in treason. Between her fear of the earl and her growing desperation, Aurelie finds solace at the Grand Palace on the Thames and among the lovely company, as she attempts to secure passage to Boston. After a mysterious man shows up at the door, bleeding from a stab wound, Aurelie is determined to assist a fellow soul in need. When Christian awakes from the stabbing, he is aware of two things: he has managed to track down Aurelie, and his suspicion about the earl is dangerously correct. As the two, with the help of the Grand Palace regulars, work to secure their freedoms from the earl, they begin to dream of an idyllic future together. VERDICT With a new set of intriguing circumstances and the familiar cast of charming characters, Long returns to "The Palace of Rogues" series in this fifth welcome visit (following After Dark with the Duke) to the Grand Palace on the Thames.--Kellie Tilton
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
The runaway French fiancee of an English diplomat is followed to England by a recently freed spy with his own agenda. Having fled the man she was engaged to marry, young Lady Aurelie Capet finds her way to the Grand Palace on the Thames boardinghouse and manages to fake her way into becoming a temporary lodger under the name Mary Gallagher. Anxious to head to Boston and her only surviving family, she is only waiting to liquidate some assets for the trip when Christian Hawkes crashes into the dockside inn, bleeding from a knife wound. The motley inhabitants rally to his aid, mistaking him for an expected new guest. But it is Aurelie, posing as the widowed Mrs. Gallagher, who volunteers to watch over the feverish man, realizing that her recent misfortune has shown her how tough she is in dire straits. From then on, the tension ratchets up, both from the couple's magnetic sexual and emotional attraction and the reader's awareness of his real mission--finding her--and his chameleonlike skills. As always, Long's style, with its evocative phrases, casts a spell. She is also deft at weaving the protagonists closer to each other while building a sense of dread: How will the knot be unraveled, and will the truth of their past entanglements with the same man lance old poisons or infect their budding love? But the normally nimble writer missteps in forcing a conversation about Aurelie's flight after the third-act breakup, worsening the black moment through a choice that is inexplicable and unnecessary and potentially hurts the hero's heroic status. The eventual resolution involving the villain is somewhat hollow as well, because it makes Aurelie's recent past a tool to serve the hero's character arc. The familiar members and new guests of the boardinghouse provide needed comfort even as the new couple add a frisson of excitement and uncertainty. A tense and tender historical romance that may be the strongest and yet most flawed of the Grand Palace on the Thames books. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
