DNF: An Indecent Invitation

An Indecent Invitation () Laura Trentham

Lily Drummond’s father is missing. Her brother returned from the war damaged, and she is navigating her first season.

Gray Masterson is a spy for the crown. His childhood best friend is a broken man, and in an attempt to draw him out, the wagered on a saber duel, as to who would escort Lily during her season. Gray lost.

By all rights I should really enjoy this book. It’s historical. It’s got a mystery. It’s got spies. What’s not to like?!

What’s not to like is that what little I read was full of inconsistencies and time jumps and confusion.

Lily to Gray:

“Blast, I think Lord Penhaven spotted me. Hide me. He’s been by the townhouse almost every day. He’s been very kind, but I’d rather not dance with him.”

Penhaven had always struck Gray as lonely and harmless.

The very next day.

“Lord Penhaven.”

“I don’t like that little toad. He wants something.”

Her eye roll was slightly insulting. “He’s old and lonely but quite amusing. What he wants is a friend. Anyway, he’s a neighbor. I have to receive him if he calls.”

Um… who dislikes Penhaven and who thinks he’s a harmless?

That already annoyed me, but the I reached a bit I had to re-read three times before I realized that we’d suddenly and abruptly moved forward in time and place.

Lily and her aunt / chaperone are sitting in the drawing room of the towmhouse.

Lily stopped short and turned to face her aunt. “Are you suggesting that I take our carriage to his rooms?”

“Why not?” Aunt Edie shrugged before picking through the rest of treats on the tea tray.

Was there a school for chaperones? If so, her aunt had slept through pertinent instruction.

Suddenly, there are brigands holding up the carriage.

But there was nothing adolescent about the feelings he engendered in the here and now. The feel of his body against hers in Napier’s garden had been a revelation, and the desire to kiss him nearly uncontrollable. Did he feel the same urges or was she still a nuisance?

A shout brought her back to the rocking coach with a start. A gruff, common voice rang out to her left. “Stand and deliver!”

When did they get in a carriage? Did the chapter end and I missed it? I thought she was in the drawing room whining?

It did actually say that they were in a carriage a couple paragraphs before, but it was completely abrupt, and the formatting was such that as I was skimming (since I was already irritated) it took me three times through to note that they were abruptly in a carriage.

I gave up after this section.

“No matter, Bertie, it’s good to be back again so soon.”

Cuthbertson visibly relaxed and smiled. “Indeed. You’re looking well, sir.”

“Do you know where my father and Rafe have gotten off to?”

“Your father is in his suite resting, and Master Rafe is out riding. He’ll certainly return before dinner. Shall I send up refreshments, my lady?”

She nodded, and Cuthbertson bowed himself out of the room, moving faster than she thought possible. Penny wasn’t nearly so accommodating. In his surliest manner, he examined Gray head to toe. Draping his coat over the back of an armchair, Gray seemed more amused than intimidated.

Still facing off with him, Penny asked, “Should I stay, my lady? Or get Mrs. Winslow?”

“There’s no need for either. This is Gray Masterson. He’s… practically a brother. You go finish pruning the roses.”

First, the butler recognized Gray as an old family friend.

Second, I had to go through that several times to figure out who was asking for whose father. Why would Gray’s father have a suite at Lily and Rafe’s house? If Penny (her bodyguard) has been keeping a close eye on her, then IF the father in question is Gray’s, then why is the bodyguard acting as if Gray is a threat if he’s already met Gray’s father?

I decided life was too short to keep trying to figure out what was going on and moved onto something else.

Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

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