Traitor's Kiss/Lover's Kiss (Pennistan)

Terri of Night Owl Romance - © Night Owl Romance 2007-2008 [...] Traitor's Kiss 4 / 5 Hearts Gabriel Pennistan is a man of science. He enjoys studying things and paying attention to detail. This desire to learn had him travel to Portugal, though Europe was in the mist of a war with Napoleon, to learn about astronomy. While there his mentor urged him to do good for mankind. Upon the mentor's death, Gabriel takes this lesson to heart and approaches Wellington about buying a commission in the Army. Wellington asks if Gabriel could instead travel about as a man of science and collect details that he might use. Gabriel agrees and now finds himself in a French prison in Le Havre. Is he a man of science? A spy? A murder? Or all three? Charlotte Parnell needs money and will do just about anything to get it. She's also a master of disguises. So, when she is asked to help of man of science escape from prison for a large sum of money, she doesn't hesitate to take it. What she finds is not the man she expected. Still a job is a job and she is determined to deliver Gabriel to England. Georges is Charlotte's right hand man. He's right there with her all the way through all of her adventures. But what exactly is he to Charlotte? This book is divided into two sections. The first deals with getting Gabriel out of France and dodging the French troops, a horny officer and unexpected allies. The second section is once Gabriel is back in England where several high placed men are trying to get him hung for being a traitor! Once again, unexpected allies appear as well as one very good master of disguises. I enjoyed this book. The characters were believable. When Charlotte explains that if she walks around town with a very low cut dress no one notices who she is with because they are all too busy watching her, you know she has thought this through and knows how to play this role. Gabriel's reaction to the first hot bath that he has had in months is perfect. I think we all know that ahh feeling. The men trying Gabriel are also perfect. Seven men are died and Gabriel was the last to see them alive. They have to blame someone so who better than Gabriel? And who is the real Charlotte or is Charlotte even a real person? Why are they taking children with them to England? Where did these children come from? What is going on? Why does Charlotte need all this money? Poor Gabriel, these are the questions he is trying to figure out as Charlotte disappears from his life seconds after arriving in England. Better yet, how will he find her/them? Readers are also given some background of the war that is raging. You aren't given battles or a lot of details but simply little things like the French are fighting on two fronts. In other words, enough to round out the story but not enough to distract from it. Ms Blayney blended this into her story extremely well. The biggest question is will the man of science and this mysterious woman ever get back together and if they do, can

I've been reading Regencies for 40 years. Traitor's Kiss is up there with the best of them. Complex characters, witty dialogue, adventure. Plenty of romance but not swamped in pages of clinical sex scenes that border on porn that appear in many best-selling historical romances nowadays, which I dislike. Lover's Kiss is very good too, but the story is more subtle and the pace of the story is somewhat of a contrast to Traitor's Kiss. Just when it seems impossible to find the kind of intelligent, well written historical romance I love to read, I'm thrilled to find Mary Blayney. I couldn't disagree more with the one-star review.

Like Jane Stewart, this review is only on Traitor's Kiss, but other than that I could not disagree more with her assessment of this story. I won't give the story synopsis, because others have done that very well. There were, indeed, few "smiles and chuckles" in Traitor's Kiss, but this was a dramatic and emotional story. There was excitement and danger, narrow escapes and surprises. The tone of the story was consistent and appropriate. This was essentially a character-driven book, the story of how two strong characters gradually forgive themselves for their pasts and gradually allow themselves to love each other. I found Charlotte, the heroine, to be a fascinating character, a woman you know from the beginning is more than she seems to be. I loved how Blayney allowed the reader (and the hero) to learn about her in gradually unpeeling layers. Through the drama of the prison rescue, both Charlotte and Gabriel assess each other's character. That forms the basis of the attraction they both feel. Blayney's style of connecting events in the story is not heavy-handed. Readers who skim the book are likely to miss some of the connections Blayney makes between events. I never felt like Blayney was telling, not showing, the events of the story. On the contrary, I thought the way Blayney connected events was masterful. To top off a thoroughly fascinating and satisfying story, Blayney's prose was a pleasure to read. I loved it.

"Traitor's Kiss". In 1813 France, English scientist Gabriel Pennistan is imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. His brother offers money to Charlotte Parnell to get him safely out of France. She frees him from the jail and escorts him from Paris to Le Havre with danger every step of the way. As they complete their escape to the Channel, they begin to fall in love. However after a great night of lovemaking, Charlotte vanishes; Gabriel vows to find his beloved. "Lover's Kiss". In 1816 although retired from espionage, former soldier Michael Garrett proves he still has his skills when he rescues a nearly totally nude Lady Olivia Pennistan from abduction. Her brothers persuade him to protect their sister, offering him money. He accepts the duty, as he wants her safe, but has doubts about a fee. As they fall in love, Michael knows his lower social class must keep them apart; Olivia thinks otherwise and begins a campaign that the military would admire. These two exhilarating Pennistan family Regency romances are well written, filled with plenty of action and star great courageous lead characters. Sub-genre fans will enjoy both super tales. Harriet Klausner

TRAITOR'S KISS "Traitor's Kiss" focuses on Lord Gabriel Pennistan, an English spy who has been imprisoned in France for his spying activities against Napoleon. When the date for his hanging approaches Gabriel is rescued by a woman, Charlotte Parnell, who proceeds to hide him and then smuggle him back to England. Charlotte is something of a mystery, a woman who appears to be a prostitute, who seems remote and untrusting, and yet who needs money for some unknown purpose. When Gabriel discovers that Charlotte is rescuing orphans his attitude towards her changes. Yet Gabriel, once returned to England, still has to clear his name - and has to find the woman who rescued him to try to make a life with her. This story was rather uneven. There were interesting sections, particularly when Gabriel and Charlotte were trying to avoid him being recaptured by the French, but there were also rather dull and complicated parts where I wasn't too sure what was going on. The story moved in fits and starts and the characterisation of Charlotte was never very clear, although Gabriel's nature was well summed up by the end of the book. There were several side characters and it wasn't always clear the part that some of them played in the overall plots. The romance side of the book was also rather a disappointment. Charlotte and Gabriel seemed not to like each other too much and her motives were often unclear. The very end of the book played out rather more as I expected, with Gabriel working hard to try to show Charlotte she could trust him, but in much of the rest of the book the romance was fairly uninteresting. The setting of this book, at the end of the war against Napoleon, was interesting and, despite the occasional Americanisms that slipped into the dialogue and setting, it felt reasonably authentic. However the book felt somewhat unsatisfying and it didn't inspire this reader to search for any other books by this author. LOVER'S KISS Lover's Kiss was rather more enjoyable than Traitor's Kiss, interesting from the start and with a slightly unusual plot. When Major Michael Garrett comes across a semi-naked and half-frozen woman as he travels to Manchester after leaving the army, he can't decide initially whether to help her or whether to just carry on. She's probably a prostitute or some other trouble. However he does stop to help her and as she begins to recover he discovers that she's rather more of a lady than he initially thought and that she has escaped from kidnappers. Of course the lady, Lollie, is very suspicious of Michael, assuming he is one of the kidnappers. When she is returned to her home - her brother is the Duke of Meryon - Michael thinks that he will continue on his journey. But the duke is still concerned for Lady Olivia Pennistan's safety and hires Michael to guard the house - and Olivia is beginning to wish that she had been rather more intimate with Michael; after all, if your reputation is lost, you might as well have had some fun. But Mic