Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Long continues her hot streak with the spicy sixth Palace of Rogues Regency romance (after You Were Made to Be Mine). Lady Daphne Worth, daughter of an indebted viscount, takes a job as a live-in companion to an older woman to improve her family's finances. Then her employer's husband makes unwanted advances, leading Daphne to flee through her chamber window using her bed sheet as a rope. It's not quite long enough, however, and she would be left dangling as the "storm of the decade" approaches if not for privateer Lorcan St. Leger coming to her rescue. The pair shelter from the flood at the Grand Palace on the Thames boarding house, pretending to be married to obtain a room. Lorcan grew up in the St. Giles slums while Daphne was raised in an impoverished aristocratic family under immense pressure to marry wealthy, but as the pair maintain their romantic charade, they come to recognize each other as fellow survivors. Their steamy budding love is imperiled, however, by the suspicions of the boarding house proprietress's husband, Capt. Tristan Hardy, who made his career catching smugglers. Heightened emotions, palpable passion, and just the right amount of suspense keep the pages flying. Readers won't want to put this down. Agent: Steve Axelrod, Axelrod Agency. (July)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
When privateer Lorcan St. Leger sees Lady Daphne Worth dangling out of a window on a rope she fashioned of bedsheets, he offers aid, and the two find themselves arm in arm as a storm that will shut down their part of London begins to break. They take refuge in the Grand Palace on the Thames, which series fans (the last was You Were Made To Be Mine) know is the boarding home of Delilah and Tristan and Lucien and Angelique. Lorcan has complicated history with both men, and Daphne and Delilah were somewhat spiky childhood acquaintances. Needing refuge but caught in a web of past relationships, Lorcan and Daphne pretend to be married. The delightful plot dances from there, but the strongest part of the reading experience is Long's deft writing. She creates deep emotional attachments across characters, both romantically and companionably, and her dialogue simmers and sparkles. Reading the book is akin to sinking into a sofa in the boarding home and being welcomed to great company. VERDICT Series readers will be delighted, and those yet to discover Long will have found a treasure, quickly seeking the full series run.--Neal Wyatt
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A smuggler-turned-privateer and a lady on the run are forced to seek shelter together in a stormy London. The latest guests in the Grand Palace on the Thames boardinghouse have never known the safety of a loving home. When Lorcan St. Leger crosses paths with Lady Daphne Worth, he's just brought his ship into port ahead of a storm that's shutting down the city. Lady Daphne is escaping out the window of a house where she fears assault from her new employer's lecherous husband. Unwilling to abandon her to the dangers of the docklands, the hardened sailor escorts her to what he first assumes is a bordello but discovers is a cozy hotel filled with unusual occupants. Learning that there is only one available space--a two-bedroom suite--they claim to be married so they may wait out the tumultuous weather. Thus begins a lovely new episode in the Palace of Rogues series, in which the author works romance alchemy on the familiar tropes of forced proximity, opposites attract, and a fake relationship, with magical results. Along with the pleasures of peeking in on series regulars, readers will witness the slow build of sexual and emotional ties between a former orphan from the slums and a woman once destined to marry a fellow aristocrat. As they spend time alone in their suite to build a convincing story about their nonexistent couplehood, Lorcan and Daphne realize they're revealing hidden facets of themselves that no one else has known or could have been trusted with. Long imbues their every gesture and utterance with delicate weight. Metaphor and similes abound, making visible the ineffable threads that weave two people into one self when they share past griefs, present desires, and future wishes. The emotional punch is lightened from time to time by the other guests' quirks, culminating in the classic arc of a harmonious society. The couple's dark moment of choosing between prescribed paths and taking a risk is inevitable but the narrative moves past it speedily. The epilogue might split readers, but most will enjoy its promise of more stories to come. A Regency romantic drama seething with emotional quakes in the vein of Lisa Kleypas. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
