Complicated!
Once a Spy (Rogues Redeemed #3) by Mary Jo Putney.
When Lady Aurora "Rory" Lawrence was rescued from the harem of a corrupt and powerful Turkish official by Captain Gabriel Hawkins, Suzanne Duval, the widowed Comtesse de Chambron, another imprisoned harem slave escaped with her. (Once a Scoundrel, Rogues Redeemed #3) )
As a sexual slave Suzanne suffered much at the hands of her master, Gürkan. This violation left Suzanne with a distrust of men and an obhoreance for intimate relations.
Simon Duval, a half French, British intelligence officer, and Suzanne's cousin by marriage has found Suzanne working as a seamstress in a poorer part of London. After hearing some of her story he offers to teach her how to use a knife and some defensive moves to protect herself. I particularly enjoyed the scene where Suzanne defended herself from a drunken lout at a gathering of upper class French Emigres.
Up until her marriage to Simon, Suzanne has been treated by the emigre community as some sort of exotic creature. She is a woman who has experienced unspeakable horrors, a survivor who deserved sympathy and respect. As it were many of the men tried to catch her unawares and the women gossiped about her. The stain of the harem talked to their suspicions and repressed desires, to their insatiable curiosities and prejudices. Unfortunately we as readers to some degree feed into that frenzy.
Simon is looking for a wife and it seems a marriage of convenience is a better idea than facing up to some immature débutante. He proposes to Suzanne and after further thought and consultation she accepts. All very prosaic and calculating.
The timeline is just prior to Napoleon escaping from Elba. Suzanne and Simon have already left for Brussels and from there intend to journey into France to look for Simon's foster brother who was presumed to have died in a naval engagement. Ostensibly they are on their honeymoon and taking the opportunity to check on Suzanne's dead husband's holdings and matters pertaining to the late Comte's will. Secretly they are also looking for Napoleonic sympathizers within the Emigre community.
Throughout all this, Simon and Suzanne venture towards full marital relations despite the sexual traumas that Suzanne's suffered through. I have questions about the reality of all of this aspect of the storyline, which I guess throws the whole novel off balance for me. The predictability of an HEA given Suzanne's history is suspect.
However as is originally posited, Suzanne has always been a woman of strength and as part of that trait. As true to the storyline, as she faces the future and events that unfold before and after Brussels that strength grows in many areas.
With Napoleon having escaped, Simon is recalled to continue his reconnaissance duties for Wellington. All of this, together with them finding a relative at Chambron, the continued spying in France, and then Waterloo, the story became so much more complicated. I struggled to finish. There were just too many threads that watered things down and affected the flow.
A Kensington Books ARC via NetGalley
**
As a sexual slave Suzanne suffered much at the hands of her master, Gürkan. This violation left Suzanne with a distrust of men and an obhoreance for intimate relations.
Simon Duval, a half French, British intelligence officer, and Suzanne's cousin by marriage has found Suzanne working as a seamstress in a poorer part of London. After hearing some of her story he offers to teach her how to use a knife and some defensive moves to protect herself. I particularly enjoyed the scene where Suzanne defended herself from a drunken lout at a gathering of upper class French Emigres.
Up until her marriage to Simon, Suzanne has been treated by the emigre community as some sort of exotic creature. She is a woman who has experienced unspeakable horrors, a survivor who deserved sympathy and respect. As it were many of the men tried to catch her unawares and the women gossiped about her. The stain of the harem talked to their suspicions and repressed desires, to their insatiable curiosities and prejudices. Unfortunately we as readers to some degree feed into that frenzy.
Simon is looking for a wife and it seems a marriage of convenience is a better idea than facing up to some immature débutante. He proposes to Suzanne and after further thought and consultation she accepts. All very prosaic and calculating.
The timeline is just prior to Napoleon escaping from Elba. Suzanne and Simon have already left for Brussels and from there intend to journey into France to look for Simon's foster brother who was presumed to have died in a naval engagement. Ostensibly they are on their honeymoon and taking the opportunity to check on Suzanne's dead husband's holdings and matters pertaining to the late Comte's will. Secretly they are also looking for Napoleonic sympathizers within the Emigre community.
Throughout all this, Simon and Suzanne venture towards full marital relations despite the sexual traumas that Suzanne's suffered through. I have questions about the reality of all of this aspect of the storyline, which I guess throws the whole novel off balance for me. The predictability of an HEA given Suzanne's history is suspect.
However as is originally posited, Suzanne has always been a woman of strength and as part of that trait. As true to the storyline, as she faces the future and events that unfold before and after Brussels that strength grows in many areas.
With Napoleon having escaped, Simon is recalled to continue his reconnaissance duties for Wellington. All of this, together with them finding a relative at Chambron, the continued spying in France, and then Waterloo, the story became so much more complicated. I struggled to finish. There were just too many threads that watered things down and affected the flow.
A Kensington Books ARC via NetGalley
**
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