Eloise Kelly has gotten into quite a bit of trouble since she’s been spying on the Pink Carnation and the Black Tulip — two of the deadliest spies to saunter the streets of nineteenth-century England and France. Not only has she been unearthing secrets that will change the course of history, she’s been dallying with Colin Selwick — great-nephew of Mrs. Selwick-Alderly, the keeper of important hidden documents — looking for a romantic adventure to call her own.
Little does she know there’s another fierce heroine running headlong into history…
It’s 1803 England, and Letty Alsworth awakens in the middle of the night to discover that her sister, Mary, is about to make the very grave mistake of eloping with Geoffrey Pinchingdale-Snipe (second in command of the League of the Purple Gentian). In an attempt to save the family name, Letty tries to break up the midnight assignation — only to find herself accidentally carried off in her sister’s place. The ensuing scandal forces Letty and Geoff into a hasty marriage — and just as hastily, Geoff disappears on their wedding night, under orders to hurry to Ireland and help the Pink Carnation squash a ring of Irish rebels led by the Black Tulip. Not to be outdone by her husband, Letty steals away on a ship bound for the Emerald Isle, armed and ready to fight for her integrity, and to learn a thing or two about espionage — never imagining she might learn a few things about love on the way…
The deception of the emerald ring proves to be another fantastic book in the Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig. Now I will admit that several times while reading this novel, I wanted to smack Geoffrey and than toss him into a river or something. He so very richly deserved that! But as most heroes do, he eventually redeemed himself.
Once again we find ourselves following a duel story line. One of modern time, and one of history. Sadly we still find Eloise in her very Bridget Jones like love match and mooning over the handsome Colin Selwick. She also finds herself out on a date with someone that her grandma thinks she will like and that ends just hilariously. You will have to read it to find out though; I won’t be the one to ruin that one for you.
And in historical time we find the lovely Letty who mistakenly gets herself ruined and steals her sister’s beau and ends up marrying him! Hence you see why we wish to toss Geoffrey into a river. But alas none the less the story is filled with what I have come to expect from these novels. Fun, adventure, love and much more. So I say with this one, keep on reading.
Great review! I love this series as well and am looking forward to Colin figuring out how great Eloise really is!