My Surrender by Connie Brockway

Charlotte Nash is the most impulsive of the Nash sisters. Using her position as one of London's most popular and naughty debutantes, she assists English spies in conveying messages that will help them infiltrate Napoleon's inner circle -- and fulfill the mission her father died trying to achieve. But only as a courtesan can she infiltrate London's most notorious gatherings and retrieve a crucial document. Is she ready to take part in a deception that will leave her reputation in shreds? And when Highlander Dand Ross -- a dangerous, disreputable blackguard -- reappears in her life and offers his aid, dare she accept it? The exquisite pleasure she finds in his arms might be worth the price of her surrender, but is the dark Highlander who loves her so passionately really just luring her toward the ultimate betrayal?

This is the third and final book in the Rose Hunter trilogy, following on from My Pleasure, and features the youngest of the Nash girls, Charlotte. Charlotte has always been considered to be just on the right side of too fast, willing to shock the people of the ton with her behaviour, without doing anything quite so rash as compromising herself! It turns out that part of her reason for behaving this way is that she is involved in a spy ring. She's not really in the centre of the ring, but she does find information out and pass it on to others to be used in the defense of the country.

In an effort to step up her usefulness Charlotte is determined to diffuse a very sensitive matter - find some documents that have disappeared and return them to their rightful owner, thus ensuring that there is no great scandal in the royal family. When one of the three men who promised to look after her family following the deaths of her parents reappears in her life, he is sufficiently dangerous enough to be able to help Charlotte gain entry to some of the more notorious and seedy parts of the ton, most specifically a house party in Scotland, but the only way she can do so is to act as though she is Dand's mistress for a period of time. Whilst it may be only an act, her reputation will never recover, and Charlotte must decide if serving her country is worth that risk. Also at risk....her heart, for even if Dand is only pretending to be in love with her, he is a very fine actor! The other question is...exactly which side IS Dand on?

As with the other books in this trilogy, this was an entertaining enough read, but not excellent enough to stick in my mind all that well! Charlotte's brother-in-laws make a brief but memorable cameo at the end of the book, including one of the more interesting final scenes in a book proper (in other words, not including the epilogue!)

Overall, I rated all three of the books in this trilogy the same, being 4/5. When I read back the reviews for the first two books, I noted that I was a bit hazy on the details of those as well because I was (as always) behind, behind, behind on my reviews! Maybe if I had written all three reviews sooner, I might have been better able to compose my thoughts as to why I rated them that highly. I obviously pretty much enjoyed them at the time of reading! Oh well.

I do have other books by this author on my TBR list, but I am not sure about how much of a hurry I will be in to read them. Anyone have any must read Brockway recommendations?

Rating 4/5

My Pleasure by Connie Brockway

Connie Brockway draws readers into the breathtaking love story of a dashing Scotsman who is duty bound to protect the one woman who incites in him a wild passion. How exactly can he save her from himself?

By day, celebrated beauty Helena Nash works as a proper companion to one of London's most disagreeable ladies. By night she acts as an illicit messenger between two separated lovers. Masked and disguised, she falls into the path of a shadowy stalker. Fearing for her safety but unwilling to halt her nocturnal forays, Helena seeks out Ramsey Munro—one of three men who pledged years earlier to serve her family in times of need. Handsome and elusive, the notorious Scotsman is London's most accomplished swordsman and represents everything Helena wants but can't have—freedom, adventure, and passion. Now she demands that he teach her his formidable skills, a commission that may prove cool, collected Helena's undoing. For Ramsey has seen through her disguise...and soon vows to teach her both the way of the sword and the deliciously wicked pleasures of the flesh.

This the second book in the Rose Hunter trilogy by Connie Brockway, following on from My Seduction, featuring the middle Nash sister, Helena and Ramsey Munro. I actually finished this book ages ago, so the details are a little hazy in my mind!

Helena has a reputation as something of an ice princess, someone who is untouchable within the ton, but when she finds herself in a very dangerous situation whilst incognito, dashing Ramsey Munro comes to her rescue.

Eventually Helena convinces Ramsey that she needs to be taught self defence, which leads to a series of very enticing sessions of fencing! In fact if I was going to summarise this novel in just a few words, then they would be Masquerade and Sword Play!

I enjoyed the thrust and parry of the dialogue in this novel (sword play pun completely intended!). I have ended up rating both Brockway novels I have read so far the same. They are good, but not in my opinion, completely fantastic! Still, I like them enough to keep reading the series!

Rating 4/5

My Seduction by Connie Brockway

Connie Brockway sweeps readers back to the rough beauty of Regency-era Scotland and into the scintillating, passionate, and surprising love story of a mysterious Highlander and the woman he is pledged to protect.

Desperate to keep her two sisters and herself from the poorhouse, Kate Nash Blackburn embarks upon a journey to northern Scotland, where she hopes to gain the gratitude and patronage of a wealthy marquis. When fate maroons her at a tavern full of ruffians, a brawny Highland soldier comes to her rescue. It's Kit MacNeill, the man whose pledge to her family has haunted her for years. When he offers to escort Kate through the treacherous Highlands to Castle Parnell, she accepts even though her instincts warn her against trusting this rough and dangerous man. But soon Kate is startled by the Highlander's cultured speech and courtly manners. Who is this man of contradictions, shaped by a shadowy past, who fiercely wards off an attempt on her life, whose broad shoulders beckon her touch, and in whose arms she comes fully alive?

So what does it mean when you read a book, you enjoy it, you mark it quite high (in this case 4/5) and then when you come to post about it less than two weeks later and it has kind of blurred into all the other Scottish historicals that you have ever read before? Should be bad shouldn't it?

Yet I did enjoy this. I liked Kit, although I do have to say that it felt as though the author was trying too hard to make him have the tortured and tormented past that so often accompanies the Scottish historical hero. Now you know that I love a tortured hero - they are among my favourite heroes ever - but this time it didn't quite feel as organic as they usually do!

As for Kate, well, she was there. She was the widowed heroine who comes feels a strong attraction for our hero, and acts on it. She is also destined to be the martyred heroine, the one who must marry someone in order to save her sisters and inevitably that someone is not the hero, but during the time that he is escorting her to Scotland they feel a growing attraction to each other.

There is an underlying mystery about who killed Kate's cousin, and where the smuggler's gold is hidden, and also about who it was that betrayed Kit and his friends in Paris years before, in an incident that ended up costing Kate's father his life.

Connie Brockway is a new to me author, but she is one that I have been intending to read for a while, mainly because it felt to me as though she was one of the current authors that I had to read. Part of my reason for reading it now is that she was chosen as Author of the Month for January in one of my groups - yep...late again!

If it sounds as though I didn't like this book, it isn't that at all. I fully intend to continue to read this series. It is just that whereas I generally can remember the details of a book for a while this one faded really, really quickly! I have the next book in the series here and will get to it....eventually!

Rating 4/5