Title: No Place For A Lady (Book #1, The Regency rags to Riches Series)
Genre: Historical Romance
Author: Jade Lee
Publisher: Createspace, 2003/2012
Source: Kindle, $.99
Rating: 4.5
Sexy Rating: 5
Description from amazon.com:
The London rookeries are slums, rife with criminals, and shunned by the upper crust.
But someone there intends to murder one of England’s greatest leaders, and Marcus Kane, Lord Chadwick, will follow every clue, even into the bowels of London’s underground. But he can’t find his way alone.
A partner is required.
Fantine (Fanny) Delarive is perfect. She knows the slums better any, has survived its labyrinth alone for years, and knows every criminal lurking in every dark corner.
Then, the investigation detours the pair into the bright ballrooms of the ton.
And Fantine fits in here, too. Which changes everything.
Lord Chadwick knows a woman of Fantine’s ilk is entirely unsuitable for him. But she’s infinitely more exciting than any well-born lady he’s ever met.
Now much more than an acquaintance with the independent, self-reliant Fantine is required… and it must end with nothing less than marriage.
**
I seem to be on a kick where I’m reading books about the seamier side of Regency England. Elizabeth Hoyt’s Maiden Lane series is like that and now I’ve discovered Jade Lee’s Regency Rags to Riches Series.
In this, the first book of the Regency Rags to Riches Series, we are treated to the fantastic Fanny who has grown up in the London slums where she has learned how to survive by her wits and ability to be an actress and disguise herself as a boy. She is also a spy and works for the crown at the behest of a Lord of the Realm. She is so fiercely independent that we wonder if she and Lord Chadwick, a fellow spy, can ever find romantic happiness across the social and economic divide.
Jade Lee has created two characters that are personality personified. They are so deliciously developed we can feel that each of them is an actual person not merely born of the imagination of a superb writer. Of course, a future Earl is not likely to fall in love and marry a slum girl back in Regency times but we can certainly love the idea that it might have happened.
The sexual tension is sizzling along with the satisfying conclusion. There is enough action in this book to thrill the adventure loving reader and even some delightful laugh out loud moments that although a mite bit farfetched are none the less delightful and welcome.
I love Elizabeth Hoyt’s Maiden Lane series and this series definitely sounds interesting. Another series with a similar theme is The Scoundrels of St James by Lorraine Heath. The three heroes and one heroine were all child thieves in the slums of London before fate stepped in. Great series!
I’ll add Heath to my wish list. Thanks Carol!
If you do get a chance to read this series, I’d love to hear what you think. Unfortunately, I read this series before I started writing reviews. Sometime I must do a re-read and review them.
I am getting this one. I like spy stories set in pretty much any time period. Also I am glad I gave this kind of a set up a chance (thank you Dot and Mo).
I like to break up my HR reading with these non ton characters
This book came as a surprise to me since I’ve read Jade Lee before where she has an oriental setting. I will try the rest of this series and I mean to try the Lorraine Heath books too.