The Betrayal of the Blood Lily by Lauren Willig
Published by: Dutton
ARC Provided by Dutton
Publication Date: January 12, 2010
Format: Hardcover, 401Pages
Rating: ★★★★ 1/2 ★
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The official patter:
"Everyone warned Miss Penelope Deveraux that her unruly behavior would land her in disgrace someday. She never imagined she'd be whisked off to India to give the scandal of her hasty marriage time to die down. As Lady Frederick Staines, Penelope plunges into the treacherous waters of the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad, where no one is quite what they seem—even her own husband. In a strange country where elaborate court dress masks even more elaborate intrigues and a spy called the Marigold leaves cobras as his calling card, there is only one person Penelope can trust....
Captain Alex Reid has better things to do than play nursemaid to a pair of aristocrats. He knows what their kind is like. Or so he thinks-- until Lady Frederick Staines out-shoots, out-rides, and out-swims every man in the camp. She also has an uncanny ability to draw out the deadly plans of the Marigold and put herself in harm's way. With danger looming from local warlords, treacherous court officials, and French spies, Alex realizes that an alliance with Lady Frederick just might be the only thing standing in the way of a plot designed to rock the very foundations of the British Empire."
The Lady Frederick Staines, the person Penelope has become. But she is not that person, but she's no longer Penelope either. She has become a stranger, not just to India, but to her newly inadvertently acquired husband and the name that came with it. Penelope's crisis took a back seat in the previous Pink Carnation book,
The Temptation of the Night Jasmine, where she was stained, in more ways than one. Following a hasty marriage we finally get to hear her story upon her arrival in India.
I really enjoy Penelope as a heroine and with her starting out the book already married to a man she doesn't love we are in a far different position than Lauren's previous novels. Instead of an innocent happy virginal character, we have someone a little flirty, a little more worldly, a little bitter and very much taken. What follows is typical Willig fare, there are spies and intrigues and misunderstandings, and romance all in the tradition of, and with a nod and a wink to, M.M. Kaye's
The Far Pavilions, but at a far more manageable size. At first I didn't know how I would take the new "hero" Alex Reid. I was very disappointed that Tommy Fluellen would not be returning somehow to save Penelope, but then I met Alex and all is forgiven. Tommy can find his own girl, preferably in a future book. Alex is a good, upstanding man with many a family woe, but with good morals and a fierce loyalty to India and eventually to Penelope. Their dialogue crackles and sparkles and just keeps the pages turning late into the night.
Lauren Willig has got to be one of the best writers of historical fiction today. She makes you truly love the characters despite all their flaws. The writing flows and is witty, fresh and not stayed and dull like history books sometimes make history to be. History could never be as dull as some of those academic books make it out and with Lauren's series you can see a glimpse of what it might really have been like back in the court of the Nizam. I also have a feeling that the sixth installment of her series could lure new readers. It's not just the exotic location and the romance of precolonial India instead of soggy wet old England that will do it. I feel that while Penelope does have a past that weaves through the previous books, India is such a break from who she was and Lauren has set out to create such a new environment that does not heavily relay on the previous installments that anyone could pick up this book and not be lost. Of course if they read this book they will have a desperate urge to read the other volumes.
Also I just realized, I haven't even mentioned Colin and Eloise! All I'm going to say is Valentine's Day. Not enough for you? Colin's family problems are nothing to Alex's, but Lauren has a clever little insertion of a quote from Mansfield Park that neatly ties their story and a little bit of a mystery together.
I really want to thank Jamie McDonald for the Advance Reader Copy, this book made me glad to get the flu. Truthfully! I would have had to fake an illness because I could not put it down until I was done. Also the lack of that final 1/2 star...due to the fact that Lauren is such a gifted writer I can't help but compare to her previous novels and
The Seduction of the Crimson Rose has set a standard that will be hard to beat...this is easily a 5 star book where it not for my little quirks. It is my firm wish that I get to spend many more years with these characters, and with Lauren's prodigious output, we've been getting a book a year from her, perhaps she will one day outstrip Georgette Heyer's output. Until then, I can't but help spread the love. I will be giving away my ARC in the coming weeks, as well as making January Lauren Willig month, with many a flowery spy themed giveaway! So be sure to stop back often, you never know when a spy may come calling.
I'm sure ever since September, when I casually announced that I had gotten Lauren Willig's new ARC in the mail... okay, I know there was really a lot of exclamation points and dancing around, none of which was very casual, but... you were all excited, yes? I have a feeling you've been waiting with baited breath since I said I would be giving my ARC away in my review of the book. Well the time has come my friends, to talk of many things, of spies and lies and secret trysts of dangerous flower rings of why India is boiling hot and whether marigolds have schemes... In other words... you want to win this don't you? I know you do, I know you can't wait till January, and here's where I come in to save the day.
THIS GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED
