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Continue shopping Checkout Continue shopping. Chi ama i libri sceglie Kobo e inMondadori. Buy the eBook Price: Available in Russia Shop from Russia to buy this item. Or, get it for Kobo Super Points! Spymaster Harry Harmon's new assignment is to spy on enemies at a country house party. To do that, he'll require a courtesan: Poor, sensible, smart Simone Ryland has come to Mrs. Burton's bawdy house in search of work.
The house party is set up as a contest, wherein the 20 mistresses compete at various tasks such as watercolors and fashion. The comparisons between them rapidly wearied me: Simone is continually the kindest, most ladylike, most unaffectedly pretty, and smartest woman, and the other mistresses are all 2 dimensional they're each allowed a talent or two and then at least one way in which Simone can pity them. And the reason Harry and Simone are attending the party is pushed far into the background--several hundred pages in, Harry barges into a billiards game and demands the men there tell him who's plotting against the Regent.
The one person in the know immediately fesses up. I thought this book would be Simone and Harry trying to maintain their respective disguises in a louche atmosphere that ramped up the sexual tension between them, all while finding clues and weighing tidbits of information.
"The Scandalous Life of a True Lady" by Barbara Metzger
Jul 05, Julie jjmachshev rated it really liked it Shelves: Barbara Metzger is a writer I can count on to deliver a few hours of pleasureable and entertaining reading. Her heroes are heroic and her heroines are smart. They each try to do the right thing and somehow find their way to each other in the process. Harry is tired of his life as a disguised spymaster. He's decided to stage the death of that character so he can quit constantly looking over his shoulder.
The Scandalous Life of a True Lady — All About Romance
Everything's set, n Barbara Metzger is a writer I can count on to deliver a few hours of pleasureable and entertaining reading. Everything's set, now all he needs is to find an intelligent, beautiful, and trustworthy courtesan Simone is at the end of her choices. With brutal honesty she realizes all she has left to barter is her virginity so she makes a furtive visit to the bawdy house madam. The madam immediately realizes she's found just what Harry's looking for. It was fun and a pleasure to read about the antics of these two as they learn about each other, try to rout out a spy, foil a plot on Harry's life, and compete in a Queen of the Courtesans tournament, all while 'enjoying' a country house party.
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Apr 30, skein rated it really liked it Shelves: More a romantic novel than a Romance, but -- funny, sweet, thoughtful, without a speck of rape apology -- charmed me right out of my stockings. Oct 28, Phylisha Stone rated it really liked it. An enjoyable regency romance with a twist. Will read the other two in this series. Bring a notebook and pen to keep track of characters and their assorted talents and foibles. Not great literature but an easy read.
Jul 17, kris rated it really liked it. Royce "Harry" Harmon can taste lies. Simone Ryland used to be a governess and now thinks she can make it as a courtesan. Harry hires herine; to help him complete his final mission, and they fall in love. I really, really enjoyed this book. The semi-fantastical element all the Royce men can 'sense' a lie--one by sight, one by taste, one by color was played with a light hand: It was just well done and interesting a Royce "Harry" Harmon can taste lies. It was just well done and interesting and definitely something that makes me want to read the rest of the series.
I liked Harry and Simone for the most part! The writing itself was fine: There were a few instances where waaaay too much stuff happened all at once, without any space given to let those events land. It allowed things to get muddled and easily overlooked. For as frustrating as this book sometimes was, I had a hard time putting it down and will be definitely checking out the others in the trilogy. It entertained me on a long, dull afternoon, and for that, I award it 4 stars.
Jan 03, Jackie rated it really liked it Shelves: What can a respectable lady do when she cannot find employment in any of the limited occupations allowed for a lady and she has a young brother to support? In desperation she walks across the street to a house her prim landlady despises and prepares to bargain strenuously for her last possession, herself. Harry thinks Simone What can a respectable lady do when she cannot find employment in any of the limited occupations allowed for a lady and she has a young brother to support?
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Harry thinks Simone will do nicely except for their conflicting outbreaks of conscience. But Harry be seen and seen with a noticeable companion, if he is ever to retire from his work at the War Office.
Espionage and blackmail raise their heads as we read about the life of a kept woman in Regency England. Somehow Simone and Harry manage to find a way to create a happy ending for just about everyone. Oct 14, Gail rated it liked it. Yeah, it's a little on the silly side, but I liked it anyway. The hero is a bastard son of a family with the ability to discern whether someone is telling the truth.
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This hero gets a bad taste in his mouth if someone is lying. The heroine needs a job. I don't remember exactly why she does, but she does, and she's decided that becoming a courtesan is the way to go. As I was reading, I was struck by the feeling that plot threads were being clumsily handled one at a time instead of being seamlessly interwoven. Romantic moments seem to only happen when the two characters are alone together, which leads to a seeming lack of passion between them.
Reading the book felt like changing channels. On channel one are all the interactions that occur between Simone and Harry, with most of these being behind closed doors. The transitions between each of these three scenes felt about as smooth as clicking a button on a remote and watching the picture change completely.
Channel three was also particularly frustrating to watch because Harry has so much trouble finding his intrigue that he severely compromises his cover by asking the group of men directly if they had heard anything about plots against England. Honestly, what spy worth his salt would risk blowing his cover, especially if there are good reasons why that cover should not be compromised? The cast of characters can also get confusing.
The party begins with twenty men and their courtesans. Thankfully not all of them are named, but most of the women get a couple of opportunities to be seen by the reader, and this can get a little confusing. I found myself having to go back and double check who did what to keep the story straight.