by Elizabeth Squire
Releasing
April 15th 2016
Escape Publishing
Escape Publishing
Elizabeth Squire brings a fresh voice to historical romance in this tale of intrigue and passion.
From The Book Junkie Reads . . . Closer to Sin . . .
I love getting wrapped up in the time and place of a romance. There is something about a historical romance that transports you to a new world, time, place and the ambiance of the era. This one was no different. I felt cocooned in the era of Napoleonic France. Spies. Ladies. Mystery. Conspiracy. Passion. Romance.
Closer to Sin almost lost me in the beginning. But I am a long standing trooper. I persevered and was rewarded with a a debut novel that can have more to follow and have a following. The time. The place. The storyline. There was much here to draw you in. The impossible mission. The idea that this could be happening. The perils thrown at Liliane and Sinclair (Sin). The trek across France. The adventure.
Elizabeth Squire have given me a new type of historical romance to enjoy. The vivid world. The details in the vivid descriptions of the time, place, characters, actions, and the adventure experienced. I would say open it up and take a ride Closer to Sin.
**This ARC was provided
via NetGalley in
exchange for an honest review.**
Liliane
Desailly travels to Napoleonic France after receiving a plea for help from her
French cousin. She learns she is the key to fulfilling her grandfather’s
legacy, but to do so she must masquerade as a spy and courier secrets on behalf
of the British Admiralty.
Sinclair
Charlcroft is the British Admiralty’s last hope. Napoleon’s Grande Armée is
poised to invade Britain, an English spy is missing and a traitor has
infiltrated the Admiralty’s intelligence network.
Pursued
by Napoleon’s agents, Liliane and Sinclair cannot reveal their true identities
until they unlock the secrets of the legacy—and only then can they unlock the
secrets in their hearts.
Buy Links:
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Chapter
1
France,
February 1805
Liliane sat opposite her cousin Solange, gingerly sipping
a mug of honey mead. Around them the air was thick with smoke, layered with the
pungent smell of onions, hops and sweat. The local village inn was loud with
the lunchtime patronage of local farmers and fishermen whose conversations were
punctuated with raucous laughter and ribald jokes. One of the men nudged his
companion and gestured towards her. She fidgeted self-consciously and tucked
her blue woolen shawl more securely across her shoulders. Goodness, they
behaved like they'd never seen a woman in here before.
A hush momentarily descended upon the room. Solange
leaned towards her and whispered. ‘Be ready, ma petite. He's here.’
Liliane glanced over her shoulder. As her gaze swept the
room she was arrested by the sight of a figure silhouetted in the doorway.
Heavens
above. She momentarily closed her eyes, his image imprinting
upon her brain. Now this man was definitely no fisherman. Even in the crowded
noisy tavern his presence was imposing. Mesmerized, she studied him further.
His body was encased in a white linen shirt and buff breeches, while ink black
hair fell across his brow, drawing her attention to hooded eyes and a firmly
set jaw. He stepped into the room and casually looked around the tavern,
running his hand through his hair to push it back from his face. Her fingers
tingled, and she lifted her own hand to her hair, twisting the sable strands
between her fingers, wondering if his hair would feel as soft and silken.
Liliane froze. Oh
Lord, he was watching her. The loose tendrils that tangled about her
fingers singed as though she had been caught running her hands through his
hair. The air around her seemed to ripple and she felt, rather than saw, the
moment he decided to move. Holding her gaze, he moved from the doorway and
light flooded back into the room. Her breath caught in her throat. It was
incongruous that a man of his height could move with such surety and grace,
almost a menacing prowl. Although one thing was certain, there was absolutely
nothing dandified about him. As he made his way through the tavern his
commanding posture induced the inn's patrons to step aside in deference.
He drew closer and she jerked back around to face
Solange. How mortifying to have been caught staring at him. She flicked a look
of uncertainty towards her cousin. Surely he wasn't the man they were here to
meet? This man didn't accord with the image she'd painted in her mind. She
wasn't sure what she'd been expecting—perhaps someone older, less imposing.
Someone safe. Not someone whose very presence drew the attention of every
person in the room. And certainly not someone who, with a single glance, could
induce her to forget precisely why she was on the wrong side of the Channel,
drinking mead and speaking in French, instead of shopping on Bond Street.
Buy Links:
Amazon | B & N | Google Play | iTunes | Kobo
Author InfoElizabeth Squire’s love of writing romance couldn’t be further from the life she had carved out for herself. Raised in outback and rural Australia, Elizabeth was determined to live a life vibrant with passion, travel, adventure and discovery—other than the one she had already lived through the pages of the innumerable she read and loved. And so, turning her back on a life in the bush, she invested a lot of years chasing her dreams—she enjoyed a career as a commissioned in the Royal Australian Navy, and counts white-water rafting the Zambezi River, travelling by safari truck through Africa, and back-packing through Eastern Europe with her young family as just a few of her many adventures.
But amongst the adventure, the
urge to write intensified as story lines and dialogue continued to materialize
from the recesses of her mind. She finally accepted that the voices in her head
were really characters enmeshed in the tumultuous Georgian and Regency periods,
vying for life on paper.
After a nomadic lifestyle, Elizabeth has now settled into her own home and
loves nothing better than bringing her passionate heroines and daring rakes to
life. She lives with her own hero and one true love, two beautiful daughters
and two delinquent miniature long-haired dachshunds. Closer to Sin is
Elizabeth’s debut novel.
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