| Title | : | Sweet Revenge (A Lady Arianna Regency Mystery #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 336 |
| Publication | : | First published February 23, 2011 |
Because of his expertise in chocolate, the Earl of Saybrook, Alessandro De Quincy, is the ideal candidate to investigate this crime. When the Earl’s intuition leads to Arianna’s exposure, she convinces Saybrook to keep her secret in exchange for help in tracking down the real culprit.
As their search takes them from the glittering ballrooms of Mayfair to the slums of St. Giles, it becomes clear that someone is looking to plunge England into chaos—and Arianna and Saybrook to the bottom of the Thames…
Sweet Revenge (A Lady Arianna Regency Mystery #1) Reviews
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This was a fun Regency historical mystery. Fairly predictable, I still really enjoyed it, and it was a quick read. This is one that I think Regency fans would enjoy, and it's a shame more of them don't know about it. There's not much romance so far, but it looks like that might change in the next book. The Regency flavor is there, though.
I have to say all of the chocolate descriptions and recipes made my mouth water, and may have influenced my rating. Yum. I'm off to eat some truffles. -
Arianna and Sandro are just perfect for each other... if only they would admit it to themselves and each other! LOL
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Clever mystery featuring an unconventional heroine as well as lots of chocolate lore and recipes.
I liked our two main characters (Lady Arianna and Sandro de Quincy, Earl of Saybrook). I found the mystery twisty, with a very clever and unusual scheme at its core. There are some nicely fleshed out secondary characters, especially Saybrook's doctor friend Baz and the Machiavellian government minister, Grentham.
I'm looking forward to the next book. -
This is a gritty mystery. Unlike most Regency set mysteries, it's a true crime mystery. The crime is of monumental proportions that could have worldwide consequences if allowed to continue. Ariana is not a sheltered young lady. She's had a tough life and she knows lots of dirty tricks, dirty words and isn't afraid to trade sexual favors with gentlemen if necessary. Though I like smart, strong heroines, Ariana is too tough for my tastes. She's very single-minded in her purpose and very bloodthirsty. She goes beyond the limits of what's considered proper behavior and gets involved in something very scary and nasty. At first I did not think Saybrook would be an appealing hero being drug addicted but he grew on me. Sandro is darkly mysterious and has a bad boy appeal. He's smart, dashing, reckless and caring all at the same time and who can't love a man who loves chocolate? The author's research is excellent and really shines through in the novel. The setting is well done and the mystery is specific to this period. Each chapter begins with trivia and a (modern) recipe for chocolate desserts which I really liked. I would have preferred period recipes in the text and modern ones at the end though. The author is certainly very knowledgeable about chocolate. The author doesn't write in a period voice and there are far too many slang words for male body parts on nearly every page. In spite of that, there are no love scenes or even any kisses. Though I enjoyed the chocolate trivia and couldn't put the book down until the mystery was solved, I really didn't like this book. I didn't like the grittiness of the story. I think I'll stick to drawing room comedies and genteel mysteries.
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I’ve already read Andrea Penrose’s other series (Wrexford and Sloane) twice, so it was time to dive into her other series. I love that she doesn’t shy away from complicated mysteries - I am not into finance, but she makes me think I can sort of grasp the complicated ways of finance and trade at the time.
There are aspects of the story that are familiar - an aristocratic woman who has had to shed her old life to survive, an earl who doesn’t fit in with the vapid ton, and a Scottish surgeon who can help determine how people were killed.
I love that Adrianna is the math genius who can make sense of things the earl can’t. I also loved the use of chocolate and an old diary as a vehicle for the story.
I almost wished what happened at the end didn’t happen…but perhaps this wasn’t originally supposed to be a series that went on for many books. -
This historical mystery was pretty far fetched, but I did enjoy the characters and thought it was engaging.
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Pros
-Arianna had a strong personality (I find that readers are often told that a historical fiction hero[ine] is strong when they don't act that way)
-Quite a few of the standard regency novel tropes are avoided or subverted
-Chocolate appreciation.
-The mystery had intriguing elements, which I didn't guess
Cons
-Purple prose! Every dialogue was a witty repartee, and after awhile it became exhausting to read. You can have too much of a good thing. Real people don't always have time to come up with a clever answer, especially in the heat of an argument.
-...Too much chocolate appreciation. I love chocolate but once again, you can have too much of a good thing.
-Although I like cooking, I found the recipes boring & not to my taste.
-Romance for the sake of romance, without much chemistry
I recommend Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (Cecelia and Kate #1) by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. -
Meh. I like historical mysteries, but while the research is clear in this one, there is also a messiness about how the characters think and act that made it not work for me.
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Lady Arianna Hadley has been exiled in the Caribbean for years due to her father's disgrace. When he father is murdered Arianna vows to get revenge. Years later Arianna is finally in the position to exact her revenge and disguises herself as a male chef in an English household. However, when the Prince Regent falls ill after eating from her table, Arianna finds herself under suspicion, bringing her plans for revenge to a halt.
The half-Spanish Earl of Saybrook, Alessandro De Quincy, is called in to investigate the apparent poisoning by chocolate of the Prince Regent due to Saybrook's his eccentric interest in all things chocolate. Saybrook not only discovers that the accused chef is a woman, but also that she has a target on her back. These reluctant partners have to work together if they hope to discover who truly has it out for the Prince Regent, and it just might coincide with Arianna's revenge. Sweet Revenge was not as cozy as I was expecting it to be. When I first saw the cover I labeled this as your typical cozy mystery, it's mystery centers around food after all, how complex could it be? Quite complex as it turns out. I was quite surprised by the level of historical detail about both the time period and chocolate as a new substance for consumption in England. While all of these detail created an authentic mystery, I personally found that it came at the expense of fully developed characters.
The novel focuses mainly on the mystery element both Arianna's investigation into her father's murder and Saybrook's into the poisoning of the Prince Regent. At first the dynamic between Arianna and Saybrook was great. They were both interesting and enigmatic characters; I wanted to know more about both of them. The initial interactions between them were entertaining and fraught with tension:
"How do you intend to stop me? Chain me up in some remote castle dungeon like the dastardly Spanish villain in that silly horrid novel by Mrs. Radcliffe?" Actually, Arianna had found the book quite entertaining, but that was beside the point.
"Ye mean The Mysteries of Udolpho?" asked Henning helpfully.
"Yes, that's the one," she said.
"Montoni was Italian," murmured Saybrook.
"Mea culpa," retorted Arianna.
"And that is Latin," he pointed out.
"You," she said slowly, "are an overeducated, aristocratic ass."
Hemming stifled a snort.
"And you," countered Saybrook, "are a bloody thorn in my lordly posterior" (p. 166).
While the initial tension between the characters was good, it never really went anywhere. The romance or attraction between the characters came second to the mystery plot and because of that, I never really got the sense of a real relationship between the two. Now, you may say "But this is only the first book! Surely, this will change as the series progresses?". At this point, I have read all three books in the series and there is never any real development in Arianna and Saybrook's relationship. Readers are simply told that a relationship has developed, but I never got any evidence of this. So, if you're going into this one intrigued by the romantic element to the books, expect a very toned down romance that is more "tell" than "show.
Another thing to note is that the author intersperses chocolate recipes at the beginning of each chapter in all three books of the series. While these recipes are tempting, I really felt that they serve to bring the reader out of the historical setting, at least, if you bother reading them (which I eventually stopped doing). The references to modern conveniences in the recipes served to jar the reader right out of the historical atmosphere that the author did such a good job of creating. Further, I didn't really feel that the recipes really added anything important to the story, they were simply a distraction for me.
While I like the historical setting of Sweet Revenge and the next two books in the series, I couldn't get past the rather flat characters. Further, I thought the mystery plot came at the expense of character development. Anything related to the characters seemed to be simply tossed into the book so that the plot could return to the mystery, which ultimately let to a disjointed reading experience.
Review originally published at
The Book Adventures. -
You can find this review in English below.
Esta historia me ha estado incordiando desde la primera página, así que, antes que nada, notas aclaratorias sobre mi reseña:
-No me he terminado la historia, con lo cual mi opinión no va a ser completa.
-Bien puede ser que mi humor no fuese el adecuado, porque se me conoce por haber disfrutado de historias aún menos realistas.
Así que habrá que leer mi reseña con reservas.
Desde el momento en el que la autora nos presenta a Lady Arianna bajo la guisa de un cocinero francés con sobrepeso, bien dotado y todo el vello facial que se pueda imaginar, mi cabeza rechazó la idea y no hacía más que poner pegas a la credibilidad de la situación. Para más inri, se nos dice que dicho cocinero trabaja solo, rodeado de hornos y cacerolas y con apenas luz o ventilación para evitar ser reconocido…
Madre del amor hermoso, esa cocina sería lo más parecido al Sahara que puedo imaginar, igual es que el s. XIX no daban lipotimias…
Entra el héroe en escena, y tarda, exactamente, unos 5 min en descubrir la identidad de la protagonista. Otros 5 min en confiar en su inocencia y otros 5 en adoptarla y ser convencido de que ella lo puede ayudar a descubrir el misterio-asesinato sin desvelar demasiado sobre sus intenciones.
Y el golpe de gracia llega cuando ella, en su campaña personal para descubrir al asesino de su padre, se relaciona con los personajes más peligrosos de Londres, pertenecientes a un club sádico-secreto que se jacta de hacer todas las atrocidades de las que el ser humano es posible. Y déjenme decirles quién acompaña a la heroína a esa reunión sádico-secreta: ¡nadie! Va sola, porque ella es smart-street, tú sabes.
Y, adivinen qué hacen los personajes una vez que están todos reunidos… Pues algo bestialmente peligroso, arriesgado e ilegal: beber brandy y charlar…
¡Chicos malos!
En fin, que además de aburrida estaba encontrando la historia difícil de creer. La dejo aquí.
:(
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This story has been bugging me from the first page, so, before anything else, explanatory notes about my review are due:
-I have not finished the story, so my opinion is not going to be complete.
-It could be that I was not in the right mood, because I'm known for having enjoyed even less realistic stories.
So my review should be read with a grain of salt.
From the moment the author presents Lady Arianna under the guise of an overweight, well-endowed French cook with all the facial hair you can imagine, my head rejected the idea and I couldn´t stop finding faults to the credibility of the situation. To top it all, we are told that this cook works alone, surrounded by ovens and pans and with hardly any light or ventilation to avoid being recognized ...
My goodness, that kitchen would be as close to the Sahara as I can imagine, maybe it´s just that in the 19th century people did not faint ...
Enters the hero, and it takes him about 5 minutes to discover the heroine´s ruse. In another 5 minutes he trusts in her innocence and 5 more minutes later he adopts her and is convinced that she can help him discover the mystery-murder without revealing a thing about her plans.
And the coup de grace comes when she, in her personal campaign to discover her father's murderer, mixes with the most dangerous characters in London, they who belong to a secret-sadistic club which boasts of doing all the atrocities that the human being can possibly do. And let me tell you who's accompanying the heroine to that sadistic secret meeting: Nobody! She goes alone, because she's smart-street and all that, you know.
And guess what these sinister characters do once they are all together ... Well, something bestially dangerous, risky and illegal: drink brandy and talk...
Tsk, tsk, bad boys!
Anyway, besides being bored I was finding the story difficult to believe. I leave it here.
:( -
While I have enjoyed her romances (written as Cara Elliott), this was my first time reading one of her mysteries. It was a delight, and I will definitely be back for more. And as an added bonus, not only is there a good story, but each chapter starts with a delicious chocolate-themed recipe!
As the book begins, we learn that Lady Arianna Hadley has disguised herself as a male French chef working in the home of a lady known to entertain aristocrats and even the Prince Regent himself. She is on a quest to discover who murdered her father, an aristocrat who was forced to flee to the Caribbean in disgrace.
The sudden illness of the Prince Regent following one of Arianna's unusual desserts brings trouble to the house, including the Earl of Saybrook, a chocolate aficionado. The initial verbal sparring between Arianna and Saybrook is highly engaging and when it becomes obvious that Arianna is in grave danger, the two must flee. Arianna abandons her male disguise and can move fairly freely as a woman since her previous ruse was largely unknown.
The number of mysteries Arianna and Saybrook must solve continues to build and yet they all seem to tie together. That was one of the aspects of this book I greatly enjoyed. I really liked the lead characters, but I also enjoyed seeing how the various threads of plot kept weaving together to build quite a web of intrigue.
The book drags at a few spots because the time dedicated to explaining the characters and their world sometimes interrupts the flow of the story. However, this was a very entertaining read overall, and I want to read more of the series. -
Needs a better narrator.
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I picked up this book after skimming the back cover...murder, mystery AND chocolate? sign me up!
Lady Arianna Hadley's had a rough life...traveling to the West Indies with her father after his "banishment" from England, she grew up with little money and then lost her father when he was murdered. She gets back to England with the determination to find the scoundrels behind her father's downfall and murder. Posing as a French chef, Arianna is staying "under the radar" until the Prince becomes ill while dining with his paramour Lady Spencer (interesting touch) and the chocolate dessert is the suspected culprit.
Enter Alessandro De Quincy, the Earl of Saybrook, chosen to investigate because of his knowledge of chocolate. It takes Saybrook little time to discover Arianna's subterfuge and soon approaching danger spurs him to get Arianna away from Lady Spencer's. The Earl devises a plan, giving Arianna a new identity designed to get her into the inner circle of the Ton, where she encounters some of the men she holds responsible for her father's death.
There are many twists and turns in this story, and while Arianna and Alessandro are attracted to each other, the romance takes a back seat the the mystery. The final encounter will have you unable to stop reading until the final page. The characters are well-written and you can easily see the scenes in your mind's eye. A very well-done first installment...the teaser of book two promises another great story! -
This was a decent, little cozy mystery set during the Regency period. It doesn't offer up anything surprising, and the proposed resolution to the heroine's situation at the end was obvious, but I liked the characters. I listened to the audiobook and, while the narrator did a good job, there was a breathy quality to her narration that took some getting used to.
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Liked it a lot. Different from most historical romances I read. More mystery and intrigue than romance.
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Loved this! I'd read Andrea Penrose's Wrexford and Sloane series and was looking forward to reading this. This is much more fund though it still remains dark (note: I DON'T like cosy mysteries) so I enjoyed it and hope to read more of this series.
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Series: 1st in Lady Arianna Hadley Mystery
Sensuality: light romance, heavy innuendo and period cursing
Main Character: Lady Arianna Hadley, although a lady, her father was disgraced and died when she was 15 and she had to make her way alone and penniless in the world.
Setting: 1813,England
Obtained Through: from publisher for an honest review
Since her father was murdered when she was fifteen, Lady Arianna lived through hellish times to survive, with her driving goal to find her father's killer and make him pay pushing her on. Which is why she is disguised as a French chef in Lady Spencer's home gathering information for her revenge. Her plans are interrupted when somebody attempts to poison the Prince Regent using her chocolate desert. Somebody felt the chef was the easy target to set up for such a treasonous act and Lady Arianna is now under scrutiny.
Alessandro De Quincy, the Earl of Saybrook is enlisted by an underhanded government official to investigate in spite of his war injury to his leg. Nevertheless Saybrook had been in the intelligence branch during the war and is sharp and devious. He sees through Arianna's disguise, just in time to save her from a bullet. He decides that she can be of use in the investigation and they reluctantly join forces to determine who tried to kill the Prince and why.
While this had all the ingredients to have been a good regency romance, the author kept the romantic tension in the background and focused on making a suspenseful mystery which paid off exponentially. Arianna is a heroine that you route for immediately. She has been through the school of hard knocks and survived with vengeance driving her. She picked up many skills along the way including the use of disguise from a theater group and especially how to fight dirty to survive. She has hardened herself and believes that she has no heart anymore after the things she has had to do in life. Trust does not come easily at all, and she sure doesn't trust the aristocrat Saybrook, after all, it was an aristocrat that murdered her father.
Saybrook has never been the same since the war and his injury. The assignment tossed to him by the government is clearly to let him be the fall guy for any missteps in the investigation. Saybrook takes this new lease on life and is inspired to get to the truth and not be used as a convenient scapegoat. The Saybrook character is just complicated enough with glimpses of his personal pain yet fire for life.
The plot has plenty of twists and surprises making it suspenseful. Who killed Arianna's father is not who anybody expected and that goes for the person who made the attempt on the Prince's life. The motivation for all this becomes clear as the story plays out.
The climatic confrontation with the killer is a nail-biter and gets the blood pumping, so kudos there. I must confess I didn't expect this level of writing, plot and character development that was balanced and polished throughout. I feel this should have been released in hardcover and spotlighted by the publisher more.
This novel contains drama, mystery, intrigue, adventure, smuggling, an influential criminal ring, history, sharp wit, and a touch of romance all blended seamlessly. I found this novel easily rivaled the Sebastion St. Cyr series and for me may (may) have even out done it. If you enjoy historical mysteries with plenty of suspense and intrigue, Sebastion St. Cyr, Charles Lennox, the gaslight mysteries with Sergeant Frank Malloy, or the Lady Emily mysteries I think you owe it to yourself to read this novel.
Join me on my mystery book blog Mysteries and My Musings
http://www.mysterysuspence.blogspot.com/ -
Okay, it wasn't like AMAZING, and Penrose definitely reused some phrases/people/concepts in Wrexford and Sloane, but I was entertained by this and what else are books for? This is also a Smart Mystery with an emphasis on business and formulas and math, which I appreciate because they go way over my head but I know it must be difficult to write. I'll read more for the gothic, dramatic entertainment value
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I don’t know how I feel about this one. The setting was rich and this had tons of historical details tying into the central mystery, but I had trouble really connecting with the characters and the pacing dragged in places. I feel like it was hard to get a feeling for what the series will be like from this first book as the main plot here revolved around secret identities and a personal quest for revenge and those threads are sort of tied up. Also, the love plot line and its tidy resolution didn’t do much for me. In this book we had a sassy single girl, dressing as a man, a street urchin, and a noble lady. The future is sort of uncertain with the book ending with a not totally unexpected marriage proposal. I feel like I should see where book 2 goes before passing judgement on the series but I can’t say I’m in a hurry as this one just wasn’t as much fun to read as I had hoped. All the right elements are there but that magic spark just didn’t happen for me.
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This book was difficult to get into at first. It felt like the author just threw you into a situation and it took me a while to catch up. Once I did though it was enjoyable and kept enough secrets that I'd be interested in reading more.
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Interesting historical mystery. The heroine is bent on revenge, disguising herself as a male chef at the home of one of the Prince Regent's girlfriends. She serves some chocolate candies-- this is in the era when chocolate was first turned into something you ate, rather than drank. Prinny eats one and promptly keels over, poisoned. But nobody knows if it is actually poison, or if the solid chocolate is actually inherently poisonous. The chef is suspected. Enter the hero. He is a half-Spanish earl with a lot of knowledge about chocolate and also about investigation. He's the first one to figure out the chef is a female. There's a lot of combativeness between hero and heroine, both are holding back information. But they kinda like each other anyway. There are tricks played and bargains struck, and lots of actors working against each other, wheels within wheels, plots within plots. By the end of the story, you'll have learned a lot about the history of chocolate and financial chicanery. It's an entertaining story and I liked it quite a bit.
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A decent start to this mystery series. I liked the main characters alright. Arianna with the extra tough girl stance made me roll my eyes some but she wasn't bad. I liked the Earl. He's somewhere between a Sebastian St. Cyr and Wrexford (military but into science). My favorite character is Dr. Basil Henning--what a hoot! Some of my gripes: The plot got away from me some, it started feeling too complex at times. Also, lots of cliche's-- I can deal with that but the over mention of CHOCOLATE wore me out although I get that it's a part of the overall series. Ohhh, speaking of chocolate, I really enjoyed the journal entries that were read at the beginning of each chapter.
There's potential, just need to find a way to cut down on the cliches and find a way to not interject chocolate into every aspect of the story.
3.5 story and narration (I have love hate relationship with Mary Sarah) -
3.5 stars.
Not a bad start. I do favour series with a strong M/F couple. This one is set during the Regency era so there's a lot of political intrigues, especially with the French and the Spanish. The only problem I had was I did find it difficult to differentiate all the different baddies who for some reason, had very similar names? At least phonetically.
Let's see what the next one is going to be like. That constant mention of chocolate is definitely not doing anything good to my waistline! -
Death by Chocolate? I always tell my husband that at least I’ll go happy. 😊 Enticing regency romance involving chocolate, betrayal, and mystery, entwined with issues of trust, past connections, and intrigue in the Royal court. Delightful read with many twists and turns that keep you guessing. 😍
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I don't know how accurate the slang is here, but it was interesting enough to continue to book 2.
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The audio narrator was fantastic. Although if I were reading it, I would have scanned over or skipped the countess's journal entries completely.
