Sweet Revenge

Sweet Revenge (2011) Andrea Penrose

Set in London in 1813.

Arianna Hadley is working in Lady Spenser’s kitchen as a chef, in the hopes to find information about the men who murdered her father.

The Earl of Saybrook was invalided out of the Army, and seems to spend most of his days in misery, escaping what he can with Laudanum. His uncle recommends that Sandro be asked to look into the poisoning of the Prince Regent at Lady Spenser’s home, where things are now what they seem.

I started reading this book more than a year ago, and couldn’t get into it. But I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to read, so I decided to try this again.

It has weaknesses, but the mystery and the characters were both interesting and kept me in the story.

It also has some secondary characters I quite enjoyed.

“Does that mean your visit is not simply about making amends for your shocking neglect of your elderly great-aunt?”

“My favorite elderly great-aunt,” amended Saybrook.

She gave a snort. “Your only elderly great-aunt.”

I can see this story isn’t for everyone–there is a LOT of history here, in this case discussion of the South Sea Bubble, but since I find things like that fascinating, it worked well for me.

It also had some weaknesses, but since this is a self-published first-in-a series, I’m willing to cut the book some slack. We’ll see how the next book goes.
Self-published

Rating: 6.5/10

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