Lynne J. (Doughgirl) reviewed on 6/8/2011 + 138 more book reviews

PLOT SUMMARY: In this 8th book, we return to the location where the series started - revolutionary France in the early 1800's. Our heroine is 32 year-old Laura Gray, who, although raised in France, was orphaned at 16 while living in England and learned to make her own way in the world as a governess. After sixteen years as a governess, she decides she wants a little excitement in her life so she becomes the "Silver Orchid", a member of the Pink Carnation spy group. Her first assignment? To infiltrate the house of the assistant to Bonaparte's chief of police - by acting as governess for his children. Her new employer, Andre Jaouen, is a widower who was filled with revolutionary ferver when young, but is now becoming disillusioned with the politics and bloodlust of the French revolution.

The first half of this book is filled with Laura putting her new spy skills to use and figuring out how the Pink Carnation network of spies works in Paris. In the second half of the book, the action - and the romance - picks up on a plot that the author freely admits was inspired by the classic novel Scaramouche.

MY REVIEW: Last week was a busy and stressful one for me at work, and listening to the audio of the newest book in the Pink Carnation series on my commute helped keep me sane. Even in the 8th book, this series is still witty, supenseful and every book is inventive and unique.

As usual, the author added an epilogue to the end of the book to give details on the history behind the story, including what was real and what wasn't. And as usual, since I'm someone who enjoys history but can't always remember the historical details, I very much appreciate this factual summary. Saves me the Googling that I usually do after reading historical fiction to learn more :-)

Some of the reviewers of this book have said that this wasn't their favorite book of the series. Well, I beg to diifer because it was definitely one of mine. That's probably because the heroine and the hero were both older (than usual). She actually had crinkle lines around her eyes! And he wore glasses. I'm a sucker for a man in glasses. Plus I think the fact that they were older added to the maturity of the characters and made their verbal sparing even more witty. I say hurrah for mature characters!

ETA: I forgot to mention that for those of you who are audio book fans, these are EXCELLENT books on audio. The narrator, Kate Reading, is a natural.

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