A Gift for Guile

A Gift for Guile (2016) Alissa Johnson (The Thief Takers)

Set in England in 1872

This series is just SO delightful.

As soon as the door shut on the last giggle, she darted out from behind the screen and pulled the lid off one of the platters.

Oh, asparagus. She adored asparagus.

Samuel gestured for her to take a seat. “You’re fond of asparagus, I believe.”

“Yes. How did you know?”

He pulled out his own chair and began removing the other lids. “You mentioned it.”

“Did I? When?”

“Last year. On the twenty-eighth of June.” S

he stopped midreach for her napkin. “That is very specific.”

“I’ve a keen memory.”

…

“I am not infallible. And it was nearly dark. I make mistakes.”

“Yes, you do,” she agreed, her voice laced with amusement. “Telling me of your extraordinary memory, for example.”

“Esther—”

“I’d wager you’re regretting that just now.”

“Bitterly,” he grumbled.

Samuel is a strong silent hero, and she does and excellent job of keeping him as such in this book. He has a lot of internal dialog, and all of it sits his behavior in the previous book as well as is in this one.

“I don’t see why this should be a point of contention,” she said, reaching for her wine. “You walk about London openly every day. There must be dozens of men who would like your head on a platter. Why is it you are allowed to thumb your nose at danger, but I am not?”

“It’s different.”

She took a long sip of her drink and set the goblet down slowly. “Is that a euphemism for ‘because you are a woman’?”

“No.” Possibly. He might give it some thought later.

And he does consider these things and admits when he has made mistakes, and apologizes for them.

Of course, sometimes he doesn’t realize he has made a mistake until it is took late, but the two talk things over, instead of letting things blow up and fester.

“Have I been clumsy again?” he asked.

She was beginning to wonder. “Maybe.”

“Ah.” He scratched his jaw and eyed her cautiously.

“Are you perhaps taking offense where none was intended?”

“Possibly.” That was always a possibility.

“Right. And do you suppose you could tell me what I might have done wrong so we can decide together if I need to fix it?”

Not without humiliating herself. But she couldn’t see any way around it.

And Ester is just lovely. She was broken in the past, but she has been working to make herself better, and knows where her flaws life.

“I just needed them to like me.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t know what I am,” she repeated. “But if people like me, then it follows that what I am can’t be all bad.” She laughed a little at his dubious expression. “It is not sound reasoning, I know.”

I really do love this series.

Publisher : Sourcebooks Casablanca
Rating: 8.5/10

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