Elizabeth Hoyt
Grade: A
Genre: historical romance
Sex scenes: hot
Source: own
Maiden Lane: (1) Wicked Intentions, (2) Notorious Pleasures, (3) Scandalous Desires, (4) Thief of Shadows, (5) Lord of Darkness, (6) Duke of Midnight
Romance RBC 2015: A book with a green cover
Artemis Greaves, lady’s companion
to her cousin, Penelope, is more than familiar with Penelope’s odd, whimsical
and often outlandish requests. When a wager sees them lurking on the dangerous
streets of St Giles after dark, they nearly lose their purses and lives – that
is, until the Ghost of St Giles comes to their rescue. The Ghost roams London’s
most dangerous streets after dark, ridding the city of its evil gin distilleries,
pickpockets, murderers and their ilk. The Ghost leaves an impression on
Artemis, as well as a ring which suggests he’s of noble birth …
It doesn’t take long for Artemis
to connect the Ghost to Maximus, Duke of Wakefield, currently the object of
Penelope’s undivided attention. With her twin brother Apollo wrongly imprisoned
in Bedlam for three murders he didn’t commit, Artemis has no qualms about using
her knowledge of the Duke’s secret identity to pressurise Maximus into setting
Apollo free. As they are brought together under Penelope’s suit and Artemis’
increasingly desperate pleas for help, they learn first-hand just how tempting
forbidden fruit can be …
Elizabeth Hoyt just gets better
and better. I think Maiden Lane is
the only ongoing historical romance series that I’m still following, and I
never want it to stop. A lot of authors slowly lose their spark with each book,
but it feels like Ms Hoyt has still yet to hit her stride. With a lot of
series, I’m content with just reading them once and remembering the plot
through subsequent books, but I’m sorely tempted with this series to buy them
all just so I can read them over and over again. The phenomenal covers just add
another layer of temptation to the mix.
Artemis is wonderful. She’s
grateful to Penelope’s family for taking her in when she would have otherwise
ended up on the streets. There had been enough money to send Apollo to school,
but Artemis was left behind with her sick mother and mentally ill father. When
they both died and Apollo was imprisoned, Artemis’ only choice was to accept a
position as Penelope’s lady’s companion and retreat into the side lines for the
rest of her life. She’s accepted the fact that once Penelope is married, her
husband may have no use for a lady’s companion, and so she enjoys it while she
can.
Maximus has been saddled with the
responsibility of the Dukedom since he was 14-years-old and witnessed his
parents’ deaths in the streets of St Giles. His incarnation as the Ghost has
been purely for selfish reasons: to find his parents killers, though he hasn’t
hesitated to also wield his political clout in St Giles too. Maximus recognises
that it’s time to do his duty to find a wife and produce heirs in order to carry
on his father’s legacy, but approaches the task as one might buy a horse:
having his valet produce a list of eligible young ladies and their desirable
(and not so desirable) qualities. Maximus has no qualms about keeping his other
identity a secret from his future wife, but Artemis is different. When he’s
with her, he doesn’t need to pretend that he doesn’t have a secret persona, or
worry about letting his other identity slip, because she’s already discovered
it. For the first time, there’s someone waiting and worrying if he’ll come back
in once piece and someone he can share the burden with. He knows that he can’t
marry her and uses her family’s history of madness as a flimsy excuse (yet by
the same rationale, he can still marry Penelope, her cousin …) yet he still
selfishly takes her virginity and ruins her for other men (this element is
super hot). I love the moment that Maximus realises that he can’t live without
Artemis, though of course he needed a life-or-death situation to see it.
Regardless, I think Maximus and Artemis have been my favourite couple so far.
Can Elizabeth Hoyt top Duke of Midnight? I know that I’ve said
with each new book that it’s been my favourite, but I’m really exaggerating,
however cliché it sounds. The next in the series features Apollo now that he’s
escaped Bedlam, and book 8 is about Maximus’ youngest sister, Phoebe who is
virtually blind, and Captain Trevillion who has made it a personal mission to
track down the Ghost of St Giles – some beautiful irony. Personally, I think
Apollo and Phoebe would have made a wonderful couple (Phoebe can’t see and
after events in Duke of Midnight,
Apollo has lost his voice) but we’ll see what the next three books (which is
what has been published and is planned so far) have to offer. If you haven’t
discovered the joy of Elizabeth Hoyt already, you need to see what you’re missing.
Image courtesy of Fantastic Fiction.
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