{"id":11665,"date":"2019-02-19T19:30:07","date_gmt":"2019-02-20T00:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=11665"},"modified":"2021-11-28T13:53:34","modified_gmt":"2021-11-28T18:53:34","slug":"the-cocoa-conspiracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11665","title":{"rendered":"The Cocoa Conspiracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cocoa Conspiracy<\/a><\/em> (2014) Andrea Penrose<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Set in England and Vienna in 1814.<\/p>\n

Lady Adrianna stopped at her husband’s favorite bookseller on the way home from the market, only to get into a scuffle with a strange man over a book on chocolate.<\/p>\n

Sandro, Lord Saybrook, is asked by his uncle, Lord Mellon, to attend a house party in which he hopes Saybrook’s Spanish blood will give him entree with the Spanish delegation.<\/p>\n

It is while at this party that murder is attempted and Adrianna discovered dispatches hidden in the book she purchased for her husband.<\/p>\n

While I believe in a good many radical ideas, I think fanatics of any cause are dangerous. Fomenting change through violence and bloodshed is not something I espouse.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The mystery here is interesting, and the historical period–the time of the Conference of Vienna, is a fascinating one, but some of the things that happened were–a bit beyond belief.<\/p>\n

I believe this passage sums up what bothered me.<\/p>\n

Arianna heard a drawer bang, and then he was back, brandishing two perfectly matched pistols. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t lend these to just anyone, but you strike me as someone who knows how to handle them.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Really? <\/p>\n

And also this:<\/p>\n

Drawing a steadying breath, Arianna took deliberate aim and squeezed off a shot. Bang. He wasn\u2019t. Through the skirl of blue-gray smoke, Arianna saw the key explode in a whirl of spinning shards.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Finest deuling pistols in the world or not, that’s just not a shot that someone whose life is threatened is going to take–shooting a key out of someone’s hands.<\/p>\n

I also took a little umbrage with the gentleman who had badly burned hands,–and then fought a sword duel.<\/p>\n

The bandages were gone, but the comte\u2019s elegant hands were still swollen and scabbed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With scabbed and swollen hands this person can still pick up a sword and duel well? I find that unlikely.<\/p>\n

Mind you , it wasn’t that the story overall was bad, it was just that there were a few too many unlikely events piled atop one another.<\/p>\n

Self-published
\nRating: 5.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Cocoa Conspiracy (2014) Andrea Penrose Set in England and Vienna in 1814. Lady Adrianna stopped at her husband’s favorite bookseller on the way home from the market, only to get into a scuffle with a strange man over a book on chocolate. Sandro, Lord Saybrook, is asked by his uncle, Lord Mellon, to attend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[30,33,8],"tags":[547],"class_list":["post-11665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-british","category-historical","category-mystery","tag-napoleonic-era"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-329","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23611,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/23611","url_meta":{"origin":11665,"position":0},"title":"The Emperor’s Conspiracy","author":"Michelle","date":"May 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The Emperor's Conspiracy (2012) Michelle Diener (Regency London) Set in England in 1811. Once you accept the premise of the relationship between Charlotte and Lady Howe, this is a fantastic mystery and romance. Lady Howe really is marvelous. \u201cThere is no man in this house,\u201d Catherine said into the silence.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Emperor's Conspiracy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/The-Emperors-Conspiracy-e1511011261344.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24413,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24413","url_meta":{"origin":11665,"position":1},"title":"The Emperor’s Conspiracy","author":"Michelle","date":"April 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Emperor's Conspiracy (2012) Michelle Diener (Regency London #1) Set in London in 1811 After being annoyed by the last regency mystery, I wanted to reread a favorite, and of course had to start at the beginning of the series. (H)e was looking at her hands again. \u201cShould I put\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Emperor's Conspiracy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/The-Emperors-Conspiracy-193x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21730,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21730","url_meta":{"origin":11665,"position":2},"title":"The Emperor’s Conspiracy","author":"Michelle","date":"March 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The Emperor's Conspiracy (2012) Michelle Diener (Regency London) Set in England in 1811. \u201cEm.\u201d Lord Durnham watched as his sister ushered her children out the door in front of her with disbelief. \u201cI don\u2019t understand . . .\u201d He caught Charlotte\u2019s eye as she waited for Ned to go through\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Emperor's Conspiracy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/The-Emperors-Conspiracy-e1511011261344.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11680,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11680","url_meta":{"origin":11665,"position":3},"title":"Recipe For Treason","author":"Michelle","date":"February 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Recipe For Treason (2014) Andrea Penrose Set in ~1814 The first two books in this series were fine. This one, however, irritated me. Let's start with first thing to drive me to a snarky comment, 5% into the story. The coachman had been knocked unconscious by a rock during the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Recipe-For-Treason.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19939,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/19939","url_meta":{"origin":11665,"position":4},"title":"The Emperor’s Conspiracy","author":"Michelle","date":"April 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Emperor's Conspiracy(2012) Michelle Diener (Regency London) I reread the second book, so then I had to go back and reread the first book. \u201cEm.\u201d Lord Durnham watched as his sister ushered her children out the door in front of her with disbelief. \u201cI don\u2019t understand . . .\u201d He caught\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Emperor's Conspiracy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/The-Emperors-Conspiracy-e1511011261344.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14157,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/14157","url_meta":{"origin":11665,"position":5},"title":"The Emperor’s Conspiracy","author":"Michelle","date":"March 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Emperor's Conspiracy (2012) Michelle Diener (Regency London) Set in London in 1811 Charlotte Raven is the ward of Lady Howe, and likely her heir. Despite that, she is almost a wall-flower in society, enjoying herself but never making splash. Emma tried to think if she had ever heard any\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Emperor's Conspiracy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/The-Emperors-Conspiracy-e1511011261344.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11665\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}