"exhilarating Regency"

In 1801 their father died; one year later their mother passed away. Within six months of their mother's death, the three Nash sisters being practical females all found work. The oldest Helena was a companion (see MY SEDUCTION); the middle Kate provided music lesions (see MY PLEASURE); the youngest Charlotte became a companion to Margaret Weston.

By 1806 with her sisters married, Charlotte continues her father's work to uncover a French agent. She breaks the rules wildly flirting with Comte St. Lyon, hoping she can seduce him into revealing his work for Napoleon. Meanwhile, Dand Ross initially provides unwanted protection to Charlotte. However, as he gets to know her, he realizes they need to work together to uncover a spy. Neither expected to fall in love, but both intuitively knows that the world of espionage has no place for the feelings of desire towards others.

Readers will appreciate the exhilarating escapades of Daring Dand and courageous Charlotte even with the story line is over the edge. The audience is hooked from the moment fans realize Charlotte is masquerading as a loose woman to capture a spy. Connie Brockway closes her wonderful Regency trilogy with a smashing climax that sub- genre fans will enjoy as much for the romance as for the action-packed at times jocular capers.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted May 19, 2005

Summary

In the final installment of RITA Award--winner Brockway's Rose Hunters Regency trilogy (My Seduction; My Pleasure), Charlotte, youngest of the Nash sisters, behaves like a flirt and a romp (words trotted out by the author a bit too often to describe her) in order to spy more effectively on enemies of the Crown. When St. Lyon, a French loyalist resident in London, lays hands on a valuable letter, Charlotte is determined to do what she can to retrieve it. Unfortunately, the only way to get close to St. Lyon is to pretend to be his mistress—and to be convincing, she must allow herself to be ruined very publicly. Who better to do the ruining than attractive fellow spy Andrew "Dand" Ross? The two are unable to deny the passion they feel for one another, but Charlotte's decision to destroy her reputation strains their relationship. While readers will enjoy seeing Charlotte more fully developed than in her sisters' tales, the prospect of her impending prostitution casts a pall over the book. Dand, too, is so dark and brooding that he becomes almost a caricature of himself, and the novel's resolution feels almost madcap when compared to the narrative's earlier slow pacing.