My Notorious Gentleman

My Notorious Gentleman by Gaelen Foley

Lord Trevor Montgomery is back from his duties for the Inferno Club but after being missing for so long, his fiance has jilted him. His entire family is after him to wed and after a chance encounter with a vicar he finds himself to drawn to the vicar's daughter. He decides to buy a house in the community so that he can be closer to Grace Kenwood and so that he will have something to do by fixing up the dilapidated house. Grace can't help but like the handsome and kind former spy, especially once he begins to use his wealth and influence in the community to help out those who are still suffering from the after affects of the war. Unfortunately Grace is not the only one in the community who has her sights set on Lord Trevor and Grace has to maneuver the problems of living in a small town where gossip spreads like wildfire. And Grace's dedication to helping others, including a former prostitute whose pimp is not too happy she has left, lands her in a world of trouble. Trevor has to call on all of his friends from the Inferno Club to help him rescue the woman he loves so that they can marry and continue to set to rights their new community.

Grace is incredibly good; she is always thinking of others and completely unselfish, always helping people, always working, basically just being so perfect that it was impossible to like her or think of her as a real person. My favorite part about her was when she let go of her morals and had sex with Trevor, even if by that time she realized they were going to get married. And the consequences of that action were so over the top and frustrating it was almost like a lecture on the evils of pre-marital sex. Trevor was a typical former spy romance hero, but I did like how open he was to the idea of marriage and didn't try to hide or fight his feelings for Grace. Lots of side characters really made this story far more interesting than it would have been otherwise; her understanding father, the former prostitute, the spoiled rich girl, the equally spoiled young man the spoiled rich girl was in love with, and the gossipy community members.

Rating: A quick read, with really nothing special to recommend it, but it was fun enough even while it could have used a more interesting heroine.

My Scandalous Viscount

My Scandalous Viscount by Gaelen Foley R

Carissa Portland and Sebastian, Viscount Beauchamp, have always had a rather antagonistic relationship with each trying to one up each other even while all of their friends have paired off and married. Carissa knows that Beau can tell her where her best friends have gone, but as part of the Inferno Club, Beau is honor bound to protect the safe location of his friends' wives while they have gone to Germany to try to put a stop to the evil Prometheans. Carissa has established herself as a "lady of information" among the ton and so she finds herself caught up in Beau's scheduled rendezvous with a mysterious lady. Unfortunately Beau is actually meeting his friend, a fellow Inferno Club member who has turned rogue as a hired assasin and is threatening to murder another of their Inferno Club members, who he has hostage, if Beau doesn't agree to stop searching for them. Carissa ends up shot and when Beau takes her to the Inferno Club for overnight care, it causes a scandal and both of them realize they must marry. Carissa and Beau are both determined to make the most of the situation and believe that they can have a happy marriage, even though both of them are entering it with secrets. Carissa is hiding her past affair with a poet while Beau is trying to protect her by disguising some of the more dangerous aspects of his life as an Inferno Club member.

Beau discovers on their wedding night that Carissa is not a virgin and while at first he is hurt, it causes him to reflect on the pain he has caused in other marriages with his rakish ways, so he is more upset at her for not telling him the truth than at her not being a virgin. Carissa worries that if she tells him she will ruin any chance of a happy future with him and is very aware that he is keeping secrets of his own from her. The Inferno Club has come under investigation from the government and Carissa decides to take matters into her own hands and do a bit of spying on her own which of course infuriates Beau and he forbids her to continue. But with the Inferno Club on the line and someone high up in the government obviously trying to create massive problems for Beau and his fellow spies, Beau must learn to finally open his heart and trust his wife in order for both of them to solve their mystery and ensure the safety of England and their friends.

I had definitely grown tired of the Inferno Club and the last entry in the series was one of the worst I have ever read, but I picked this up because the big Promethean conspiracy part was over and I was hoping that Foley would get back to writing fun and truly romantic novels. This book started that journey, but still was a long way from the best that she can do even while the mystery plot was far more interesting and did not complete overwhelm the story. Carissa is a nosy busybody whose inability to mind her own business is extremely unlikable even while we are supposed to believe she only does it to cover up her own indiscretion; this explanation makes no sense and does not make me likely to forget her issues. Her dedication to helping her husband is admirable but throwing herself into harms way, especially since she knows it is a dangerous situation, really puts her into TSTL territory. Honestly it is her fear of revealing the truth to Beau about her virginity, that most humanizes her to me and really makes her a relatable character because in that era it would be an anomaly for a man to forgive this in his wife.

Beau has his own secrets and it is far less forgivable that he continues to keep so much of his life secret from her than when she does the same. Even when she proves herself to be trustworthy and helpful, he throws up roadblocks to their happiness and it comes across as just a means of extending the novel. I did like reading about him developing feelings for Carissa and coming to love her and I really felt that if the book had focused more on the romance and their relationship that it would have been better off. Many of the problems I had arose from issues that only appeared during the mystery/ Inferno Club part and perhaps without that, they would have been perfectly wonderful characters. There was a decent amount of sex and it was pretty hot, but about halfway through the book other things started to take over and it kind of went by the wayside. The mystery plot was certainly interesting and involved conspiracies and secret identities and people coming back from the dead and I was actually intrigued by what would happen, and I liked that it meshed fairly well with the romance.

Rating: I did not precisely enjoy this book and would have definitely liked more romance, but I was interested in the mystery and it was an improvement.

My Ruthless Prince

My Ruthless Prince by Gaelen Foley

Emily Harper was the woodsman's daughter on the Westwood estate and had been in love with the son of the house, Drake, since she was little and though he returned her feelings it was made clear by both their family's that nothing could come of their relationship. So Drake went to fulfill his familial duty by becoming an Knight of the Order of St. Michael and studying to defeat the evil Promethean Council while Emily learned how to live without the man she loved. Drake was kidnapped by the Prometheans and after undergoing torture and refusing to break he lost his memory before being released by the Council President, James Falkirk, and now he feels he owes his loyalty to James. Even when he is brought back to England he cannot comprehend his old life and that his savior is evil, but he does understand that he has a special connection with his nurse, the beautiful Emily, and begins to regain his old memory. However, he cannot let his old Order friends kill James and he helps James escape and together they go to the Promethean stronghold in the Bavarian alps with Emily tagging along behind them.

Drake finds her and manages to convince the Prometheans that Emily is his mistress in order to save her life but Emily is still not entirely sure that Drake has truly returned from the dark side and worries that he may truly believe in the Promethean Plot to take over the world. Drake hatches a plan to burn the top 100 Prometheans during the eclipse when they all get together to sacrifice and innocent but his first duty is in protecting Emily and he still has qualms about putting James in harms way. But when the Prometheans discover the Emily is an innocent they decide that she would make the perfect sacrifice and Drake's plans are once again thrown to the wind. He and Emily realize they would sacrifice anything for each other, including their lives, and risk everything for one night together. However, there is also a Promethean civil war going on and a big battle between James and his enemy draws Drake back into the fray just as it looked as if and Emily were going to escape. Drake's fellow agents from the order show up just in time for the eclipse ceremony and they have one last chance to destroy the Prometheans and give Emily and Drake a chance for a happily ever after free from evil.

The first thing I quickly noticed was the Emily and Drake were going to take a backseat to the Promethean plot. This has been the case in most of this series, but in this book it was particularly bothersome to me because it was far more prevalent here than in the other books and because I felt like the author was really relying on the fact that they had fallen in love previously. They spent very little time alone together, probably 50 pages in the entire book if not less, and much of that was spent worrying about the Prometheans and what little was about their relationship was about their past and not who they were now. They had a strong connection from when they were little and they were destined for each other but I did not really get a sense for this at all and felt like it easily could have been two people in a desperate situation turning to each other for comfort which doesn't equal love to me unless they can be out of the stressful situation and still have that strong connection. The promethean plot finally came to a close in the only way it could have but I think it was a mistake for Foley to leave so much to be resolved in this book because there was so little room for the romance.

Emily was flat out impossible to like because her following him to Bavaria was so incredibly stupid that everything she did from that point on was just tinged with my knowledge of how dumb she was. I know we were supposed to see it as a sign of her love that she was willing to sacrifice so much for him, but since the plot that created those problems was so impossible to like in this book, I couldn't like anything that sprang from it, including her "noble" actions. Drake was teetering on the edge of complete destruction after being tortured and losing his memory and we are supposed to see how the love of a good woman can save any man but there were so many problems with this because it didn't really seem to make a difference. There were so many times it seemed like they could have gotten away but Drake's duty got in the way or even his loyalty to James prevented him from securing her safety. He claimed she was the most important thing to him but his actions really proved otherwise and it seriously annoyed me and made it impossible for me to like him. And last but not least the writing was horrible and purply and flowery and every other page there was something ridiculous that made me want to laugh, for example this gem, "she was not prepared to take the chance of leaving this life without having poured out the fullness of her love upon him." Seriously, wtf?

Rating: Two awful characters, overly awful flower writing, a overwhelming "side" plot, and a complete lack of romance leads to a terrible romance novel.

My Irresistible Earl

My Irresistible Earl by Gaelen Foley 428

Mara Bryce, the widowed Lady Pierson, has devoted the last years of her life to her toddler son, Thomas. She is not prepared when her childhood sweetheart, Jordan Lennox, the Earl of Falconridge, reappears in her life. Jordan is the only one who knows how horrid life with her family was and yet when he left to serve his country, he did not send her a single letter. Feeling she had no other choice, she married Lord Pierson, only to find out later that he was not the caring man he seemed, and his death was not something she mourned. Jordan is actually a member of the Inferno Club, a secret Order that works for the crown and is devoted to destroying the Promethean Council, a club of evil-doers who want to use black magic to gain control over Europe. He has never forgotten the beautiful young woman he fell in love with and had to abandon because of his duties to his fellow Inferno members, and upon first seeing her again he is determined not to let her back into his life. Mara remembers how it felt when Jordan abandoned her and she believes that he had been merely toying with her when she was younger and thus is equally determined to not let him back into her life.

Things never go precisely as planned and with the rest of the Inferno Club so happily married, Jordan wonders what he missed out on when he gave Mara up all those years ago. Seeing her with her son makes him yearn for what he never had and suddenly he decides that it would be a good idea for Mara to be back in his life, however he knows that he can never tell her about his secret life. Conveniently Mara is close with the Prince Regent, and his work with the Inferno Club, requires that he infiltrate himself with a member of the Regent's inner circle as he is believed to be working for the Prometheans. Like many in London, he worries that Mara 's closeness with the Regent means that she is his mistress, and it brings up all sorts of jealousy in him. Mara finds herself quickly falling back under Jordan's spell, he is courteous and charming and he is so kind to her son, but she feels like there is something he is hiding from her. Even when things begin to look to be going well for them the Prometheans come out in full force, using everything at their disposal to try to found out who the members of the Inferno Club are, and will stop at nothing to get their way. Jordan has to trust Mara with the truth and his heart, and she has to forgive him for the past before they can move on and love each other.

I have enjoyed the Inferno Club series so far because I like Foley's writing style and the way she blends serious intrigue and murder with some really great romance. She once again nails the characters with Jordan and Mara and I will admit I am a sucker for lost love and the angst that it brings. Mara is a passionate woman who cares deeply about her son and I really like the way that Thomas was the center of her life and yet she still came across as a well-rounded character. Jordan was also great as the hero torn between his duty and his love and who has lived his life trying to have no regrets, but is now realizing that he is due for a major change in life. Their relationship in the past was touched on briefly, enough for me to get a feel for how they got on and to recognize that they did have a deep attraction and set the stage for what was to come, but the main focus was on their current relationship and how it progressed. Their relationship felt very natural and they had so many qualities that complimented each other and they had to deal with so many fears that came in between them and deal with their past. The sex between them was pretty hot, but it wasn't as frequent as it could have been.

Former heroes and heroines from Foley's other books make infrequent appearances, but I never felt like their appearances hit me over the head of took over from the main characters, rather they just served as a back drop and were colleagues of Jordan's. The Promethean/ Inferno Club plot has been one of the very few intrigue/ spy/ mystery/ conspiracy plots that I have been able to stand in romances. Most of the time they are either overwhelming or they just seem to be there to fill up space and are boring and not at all important. This plot is an integral part of the plot because it influences their relationship as far as them breaking up to begin with and then him "using" her to get closer to the Prince Regent, and also because his involvement in the Inferno Club really made him the man that he is today. It was also interesting and I love that she tells some of the story from the point of view of the bad guys and the suspense is just right. I also like that the reader is "in the know" about what is going on so we don't feel lost or too on edge, but that there is still a little mystery there about what is going to happen.

Rating: A strong showing by Foley who presents another strong romance with a fun side plot, but I would probably give it only 3 1/2 stars because it dragged at points.

My Dangerous Duke

My Dangerous Duke by Gaelen Foley 903

When Kate Madsen is kidnapped from her home and held for weeks she is terrified but nothing prepares her for her first meeting with "the Beast." When the man who paid to have her kidnapped disappeared, the local smugglers who were his hired guns panic and decide to drug her and give her to their Lord, the Duke of Warrington so that he will be involved in the problem as they are. They suspect that she is the daughter of the famous pirate, Gerald Fox and though many believe he is dead, they fear his wrath if he is indeed alive. Rohan Kilburn is furious when he returns to his drafty castle to discover that his tenants have been getting into trouble, but is slightly appeased when they gift with a beautiful young woman whom he thinks is planning on becoming a courtesan. However, his feelings rapidly disappear when on the next day he is told the truth about his present and he agrees to help her if she helps him.

Rohan is quite imposing physically but Kate finds herself very attracted to him and he certainly wants her, but he is wary of getting close to her as she is descending from members of the Prometheus Council. As a member of the Order he and his colleagues are dedicated to stamping out the scourge of the Promethean College before they can take over the world in tyranny. Because of a curse laid on his family by a Promethean Warlock, who happened to be an ancestor of Kate, Rohan thinks that he is destined to kill any woman he marries, so he is determined to remain single. The more he gets to know Kate the more he thinks he cannot live without her in his life and the joy and light she brings into his dark and dangerous existence as an assassin. But the Promethean Council wants to find the grave of the Warlock and think Kate holds the secret so Rohan must risk everything to save England and the woman he loves.

This is a sequel to My Wicked Marquess which I very much enjoyed and really drew me in to this whole Promethean Council plot. However in this story it completely took over and just got so crazy out of control that is really detracted from any romance that may have been supposed to occur in this story. Nothing was resolved about the most interesting aspect- the agent who had been tortured and his memory erased so he became a Promethean follower and really it just seemed so crazy to me. Halfway through everything that happened stemmed from trying to to find out some crazy secret code (which was ridiculously horrible and yet so easy for Kate to solve obviously) and get to this tomb. It also was not discussed as much in this book why the Prometheans were so intent on gaining all this power and what they planned on doing with it- so a whole secret organization kind of seemed non-functioning.

Kate was a little too perfect of a romance hero for me as she was amazingly smart (she could solve these crazy impossible riddles that were supposedly designed to be impenetrable) and she was saucy and feisty. Rohan was incredibly dark and brooding and it got a little irritating but too be honest I liked that he was an assassin and didn't shy away from killing because he didn't want to taint himself like so many other romance novel heroes. However, Kate falling in love with him was a little out of the blue as it really just came to her that he was deserving of love and needed someone to love him unconditionally. Of course this happened after she met with several of the numerous women he had slept with. Huh? Despite the immense attraction between them the sex was lukewarm at best and really pushed into overly flowery territory which did nothing for me.

Rating: A huge downhill turn from the previous installment in this trilogy. Found myself wanting to skim about 1/3 of this book. Not recommended.

My Wicked Marquess

My Wicked Marquess by Gaelen Foley

When Max, the Marquess of Rotherstone, returns from France after Napoleon's defeat he is determined to find himself a respectable wife. His reputation is in tatters as he is a member of the notorious Inferno Club which is presented to the public as a club for dissolute rakes. What nobody knows is that the Inferno Club is in fact a cover for the The Order, a powerful organization that has spent the last century trying to keep the "Prometheus Council" from taking control of the world. When presented with a list of possible suitors Daphne Starling immediately stands out to him as the Patron Saint of Newcomers. The feeling intensifies when he meets her and finds her beautiful and possessing a quality that draws him to her. He wants to bring that light and happiness into his own life and he knows that only Daphne can prevent the darkness from overtaking him. For her part Daphne is drawn to the dark, mysterious and incredibly handsome Marquess, but does not like the way he attempts to take control of everything; including her.

When Max repeatedly refuses to be completely honest with her she breaks everything off with Max. Since his childhood when his father sold him to the organization, knowing full well that his son could be killed, Max has tremendous issues regarding trust and love, but he realizes that he will have to take a chance with Daphne. When he finally announces his feelings for her she reciprocates and the two get married. Just as things begin looking very favorable for the happy couple, fate intervenes and Daphne discovers that Max has been hiding something from her. She is determined to get the truth from Max and he is equally determined to keep it from her- for her own safety. One Max's fellow Order members, who had been (believed to be) killed by the Prometheans, shows up in London and no one is sure if he has gone rogue or transferred allegiances. This debacle forces Max to make a final choice over where his allegiance truly lies: with the beautiful new wife with whom his future lies or with The Order who held sway over his past.

I have always found the heroine who just magically "draws" the hero to her with her beautiful smile to be rather silly and more than a little unbelievable. Foley manages to pull of this feat admirably well as we get a beautiful inner monologue from Max detailing exactly how he is drawn to Daphne; he sees her as a relief from his dark life and her smile makes him feel like a hero. It was simply amazing to read. I was quite surprised by how drawn into the Promethean/ Order plot I was and while the book does set the reader up for the next book in the series as a romance novel (and boy is that quite a set-up: it's a kidnap plot) I also want to read it to find out where this Promethean/ Drake/ Inferno Club plot goes. The big information dump about the history of the two organizations was a tad overwhelming, not to mention a conspiracy theorists wet dream, but still entirely engrossing. I loved both Daphne and Max. Daphne was genuine and confident in herself and Max was brooding and mysterious (but with quite an adequate reason) and was looking for the woman who could bring happiness back into his life.

I loved her writing style for the most part and she has quite the way with words, but there were definitely times when she was more than a little too descriptive for my tastes. I don't mind it for clothing, but for food and furnishing I was more than a little bored even though I know some people might like that. My other problem was with her interchangeable use of names and titles for Max's friends in The Order to the point where I was left with sometimes little idea with who was being talked about. There were quite a few steamy scenes and although some of them were a little abrupt several of them were incredibly HOT, such as when Daphne takes control and "seduces" her husband, and very emotion drive as the two of them take comfort from each other and the sex is really an expression of the love and trust they feel for each other. There is one occasion where he uses sex to manipulate her feelings, and while it did not bother me overly as she quickly realized what he had been up to, I know others really dislike this romance staple.

Rating: I adored this book and the characters as well as the side plot. My little peeves with the books were minor and did not at all take away from the sheer awesomeness of the book.