eyes.2c Reviews

A Rage of Souls  (Simon Westow Mystery #8) by Chris Nickson        ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Simon Westow, the thief taker is puzzled. He’d been hired by James Barton to find Frederick Fox. Fox had lured Barton in to trusting him to sell a gold bracelet of his wife’s. Fox seemed trustworthy until the day he wasn’t and absconded with the bracelet. Simon captured him and Fox was for the gallows. He was due to be hanged but at the eleventh hour was pardoned. No one could work out why. A number of theories were put forward.  Now surprisingly, James Barton employs Simon again. Fox has been following him. Barton  wants Simon to keep him safe However Fox and his wife seem to have disappeared. Is James imagining things or is something else at play? Neither Simon, his wife Rosie, nor Jane and Sally, the young women who worked with him can find the Fox’s. Sally has been assisting a group of children who live on the streets. They’ve been terrorised by some young upper class me...

A Ruthless Angel Weeps  (House of Croft #3) by Sophie Barnes ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Continuing the dramatic note that A Tainted Heart Bleeds ended on Samantha and Adrian Croft are in serious trouble. Adrian has been arrested and he’s to stand trial with Clive Newton’s father, Viscount Stanton orchestrating a hurried trial. Samantha is beside herself. Peter Kendrick is appalled. Meanwhile Adrian’s friend Lord Edward Marsdale is visiting Adrian in prison and doing all he can. A pretty young girl is grabbed of the streets and Chief Constable Peter Kendrick is furious that Bow Street is being too slow to investigate. All these factors will come together, lives will be overturned and shocks will reverberate throughout the populace  As we close Edward is coming close to another of Harlowe’s adopted daughters and trained assassin and investigator, Miss Melody Roberts. Now what? An ARC via NetGalley.                             ...

Twilight at Moorington Cross  by  Abigail Wilson  This story started with an intriguing proposition. The premise behind this gothic romance set in 1815 was both unusual and fascinating. Located in a sanitarium in Kent, far from London, patients attend the hospital prepared to undergo experimental and alternative methods of healing to combat their various complaints. One such client is Mrs Amelia Pembroke, the widow of a solicitor whose private face was so much darker than his public one. Mr Cluett the owner of Cluett's Mesmeric Hospital practises various aspects of mesmerism. Cluett has been attempting to cure Amelia from “sleeping” sickness. She has been in the sanitarium for two years. Mr. Cluett is very attached to her. We’re not sure why. Maybe because she’s the guinea pig for his research looking at the patient being able to self-mesmerise.  Confusingly, Amelia is made aware that she will be the sole beneficiary in Cluett's will if she marries one of two men he ...

Lost in Darkness (Of Monsters and Men) by Michelle Griep              ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Colin Balfour is a monstrous sight. Disfigured by a “disease that causes abnormal growth.”  His sister Amelia is a journalist and has just landed her dream assignment, a paid trip to Cairo to write a travel journal. Unusual for 1815. Strong minded and forthright, yet s he carries a black tipped ibis feather. A talisman?  A superstitious journalist it seems. At the same time as the Cairo trip news, she receives notice of her estranged father’s death and a letter from him charging her with the guardianship of her brother, seeing to the continuation of his treatment. Colin’s doctor “ Uriah Peckwood, [is] a prominent and—as some claimed—rather provocative surgeon.”  Graham Lambert, an ex naval surgeon and now Peacock’s partner, is troubled by Peacock’s treatment regime leading up to and including the operation.  A procedure set in motion by the Balfou...

Daring and the Duke (Bareknuckle Bastards #3) by Sarah MacLean          Another fantastic addition to the series that has had us all howling for more. What's not to love! My heart was in my mouth time and again as the story of Ewan and Grace played out. Oh, I knew it was going to be an HEA but the getting there is magnificent. For years Ewan the ‘Mad’ Duke of Marwick has been punishing Devil and Whit (Beast) because they didn't keep Grace safe. She’d died. Except she hadn't. Her brothers-in-arms (make that bastard-brothers-in-arms) were protecting her. Now, Ewan is the one who might need protection because he'd almost killed Whit’s wife, and had killed men they protected in his mad desire, nay focused commitment to  punsihing them. When we last saw the group, Grace Condry or rather Dahlia had taken Ewan captive, as part of a vow the three had made to take revenge on Ewan for nearly killing them and forcing them to flee so many years ago to the life...

In the Dark with the Duke (Lost Lords #2) by Christi Caldwell      I am so caught up in the Lost Lord series. I love it. This latest novel is another winner. Here we have I am so caught up in the Lost Lord series. I love it. This latest novel is another winner. Here we have Hugh Savage, the Savage Gentleman, a ferocious bare knuckled fighter involved in these vicious matches from childhood, starting on the road to salvation. Not through being a reinstated kidnapped child of the peerage, but through the actions of a woman, Lady Lila March, a recluse of eight years, living in the shadows of night, an agoraphobic, who turns to him to help free herself from her fears. Her's has been a stolen life! I love this trope, the flawed hero, and the damaged heroine, coming together and in the process, despite setbacks, being the agent of healing for each other. And Caldwell has so upend the dramatic ante! Sigh! Savage, the Savage Gentleman, a ferocious bare knuckled fighter in...

Night of the Scoundrel (The Devils of Dover #3.5)   by Kelly Bowen          King, "Lord of London's underworld," always enigmatic and aloof. Dangerous! I felt King's story was going to be something special, I knew this was going to be a five star read before I'd reached the end of the first page. King witnesses a fight in a darkened alleyway between three ruffians and a mysterious angel with a rapier and a knife. He is both disturbed and intrigued, "He might not know who this woman was, but he knew what she was—one who understood what lurked in the dark corners of the soul. Like recognized like, after all." What follows is a story that reaches into the depth of King's dark corners, exposing who he is and matches him with a stunning partner grown from similar hidden places. Adeline Archambault sees in King something that causes her to stumble, to be wary. He is "predatory and remote. Piercing and impenetrable." In her line of wo...

Brazen and the Beast (The Bareknuckle Bastards #2)   by Sarah MacLean          The cover has a quote from Entrainment Weekly citing MacLean as being "the...utterly intoxicating queen of historical romance." I certainly have to agree with the "intoxicating" moniker. I'd been feeling a bit disgruntled lately with the historical romances that had come my way. Very little new and exciting. Imagine my inner cheering when within the first pages of "Brazen and the Beast" I was hooked! I loved Lady Henrietta Sedley (Hattie) who had determined to take her fate into her own hands. And her list! Well not many would be so decisive. Hattie had perfectly thought out requirements for the salacious appointment she had that night. What a hoot! Beast was wonderful, despite the unusualness of their meeting. Their repartee was magnificent. The chemistry fairly zinged off the page even as they both fought it. As events unfold, Hattie, a woman ahead of her times, f...

Hanging Psalm, The: A Regency Mystery set in Leeds (A Simon Westow Mystery #1) by Chris Nickson                                  I'm loving the lead character Simon Westow and in particular his assistant Jane. A damaged young woman who does what she has to survive on the dark streets of the underbelly of Regency 1820's Leeds. Simon, a thief-taker has been asked to find businessman John Milner's kidnapped daughter Hannah. The taking of Hannah leads Simon and Jane down some twisted paths and into the path of a wholly unexpected enemy. A gripping story of revenge and corruption. The character of Jane is fascinating. Can she become more or is she destined to a life lived within the confines of her traumatic past, allowing it to define her? Exciting read! A NetGalley ARC *****

The Vixen (Wicked Wallflowers #2 ) by Christi Caldwell                                 I loved, loved, loved, Ophelia's story! I must admit to some teary moments during this reading. Oh, the courage of Ophelia Killoran! As her story evolves you are faced with the horrors and darkness of places like St. Giles, the depravities that lurk around every corner. Ophelia makes it her mission to find and protect the street orphans as she can. To have them work in her brother's club. And it's during one such foray that she comes face to face with a figure from the past--Connor Steele! Beyond this however, Ophelia's brother Broderick, in his quest for powerful alliances in the right places decrees that Ophelia will attend The Season. Of course everything begins to go pear shaped. Harsh truths are brought to light and Ophelia and Connor must confront some devestating facts, including a harsh wake up call ...

Duke of Desire (Maiden Lane #12)    by  Elizabeth Hoyt   As always I am in awe of the characters and situations Hoyt has created in the Maiden Lane series. An addictive collage of interweaving stories. The Duke of Desire is at once devastating and delicious, a Beauty and the Beast reflection that calls to the soul. Raphael de Chartres, the Duke of Dyemore carries scars that repel and attract. His emotions are bound by his past. Cynical, dark and damaged--he looms large. He  is a wonderful contrast to the intelligent  and stubborn Iris. Raphael has set out to destroy the Lords of Chaos. He had been introduced to Lords' depravity as a child when his father lead the group. A happenstance that has left him seared to his very being. He fled England and has just now returned. He is pursuing the hunt when fate intervenes and Raphael, having infiltrated the group, finds himself at a hellish  bacchanalia with Lady Iris Jordan  being served up...