Short and Sweet Book Reviews # 260 - Black Chamber by S.M. Stirling, An Affair with a Spare by Shana Galen

Black Chamber by S.M. Stirling
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This started with a bang as Teddy Roosevelt became president a second time as WWI started but then bogged down as the story progressed. The Black Chamber is the spy agency and the main character is Luz O'Malley Aróstegui. She is ruthless and on a mission to discover what the German's have developed in secret. The secret is indeed deadly but in setting the scene and telling the back story the tension left the story in the middle but returned in the end. It will be interesting to see where Stirling will go with this series. This history is set up with the US in grave trouble and the German's close to winning. That makes the Black Chamber more important than ever.

I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.


An Affair with a Spare by Shana Galen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This has a nice twist. This survivor spent his time seducing secrets from the local women while his squad mates fought. Rafe is a great character. He is so charming that no one takes him seriously. Enter Collette Fortie, a French woman on a quest. Everything changes as Rafe first sees her as a job and then gets drawn into more danger than he ever faced during the war. This has great characters an interesting plot, a unexpected romance and a surprise ending. Another survivor finds his HEA but there are still more who need their story told.

I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.

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The Proposal by Mary Balogh

Historical Romance

Finally Gwendoline, Lady Muir gets her story.  I have wondered about her since she first appeared in One Night For Love.  She has had bit parts in many of book that followed.  She has always been portrayed as happy with her life as a widow but there has been a bit of a mystery about her marriage and how it ended.  We find out the truth in The Proposal.

Mary Balogh has woven a story that touches on issues that are still important today and set them in a believable historical setting.  Hugo, Lord Trentham is a war hero who is still suffering for the effects of the Napoleonic wars. He is one of six veterans who healed together and meet once a year.  He is from a working class background his father having made a fortune and left it all to Hugo.  He does not like or trust the upper class.

Guin is from the upper class. She also has trauma in her past.  When they meet there is instant attraction but both feel it will not work because they come from different backgrounds. 

It is fun to see how they work around all of their problems and how they help each other continue to heal. 

If you have read all of the Simply and Slightly series you will see some of the previous protagonists make brief appearances in The Proposal.  I had to check out who some of them were as I did not remember their rank only their names.

This is not my favorite Mary Balogh book.  It did not catch me as some of the others have but it is still a good story.  That being said I was glad to finally get Gwen’s story.  This is the first book in a new seven book series titled The Survivors' Club Series.  The other six books will be about the other veterans who we meet in The Proposal.  That should keep us supplied with our Mary Balogh fix for the next several years. 

Delacorte Press published The Proposal by Mary Balogh in 2012.

I received an ARC of The Proposal from Amazon Vine.