Jane Austen seems to be what my books are pointing me toward lately if my latest read is anything to go by. Dangerous Alliance is a fun novel about a young woman who seeks advice from her favourite Austen novels, when she unwittingly becomes a damsel in distress in her own story. Lots of fun banter, roguish characters, and a hero who can’t quite be ruled out as a villain yet await! Don’t hesitate to pick this up, especially if you love Jane Austen references in stories! This was the first story for me where the aforementioned author is publishing while the characters are alive. It was fun to read, and definitely a great December read!
In this story, Lady Victoria Aston has been living quite happily. Her sister is happily married, the future of her family estate is secure, and she has plenty of time to herself in the fields surrounding her home. Suddenly everything is turned upside down after she finds out she must marry or she and her family will be left penniless. Armed solely with the wisdom from the Austen novels she loves, she’ll have to navigate a treacherous season in society. Who’s to say if Mr. Carmichael is truly a scoundrel, or if her best friend Tom Sherborne is out for Victoria’s heart or her money? She’ll also have to fend off the attentions of Mr. Silby, a man with a terribly poor fashion sense. Most importantly, her favourite novels won’t be helping her figure out her survival until her wedding day.
When I first picked this up and read the summary, I wasn’t sure what I was going to get myself into. There seemed to be so much going on with Lady Victoria and this book definitely hits the ground running, and doesn’t let up until the very end. There’s the mystery surrounding who could possibly want to murder Lady Victoria, as well as her sudden marriage predicament. It was a little confusing for me because the story is told from Lady Victoria and Tom’s perspectives, and so I sometimes had to backtrack and start again when I realised there had been a character shift.
Lady Victoria was a vexing character for me, partially because I’m not the biggest fan of damsel in distress characters. She didn’t truly win my heart until she began interacting with her sister, because it was then that I could see more than one aspect of her personality. She’s definitely a headstrong young woman who’s been trained on navigating society, but seems to lack good self-preservation skills. Which at times felt the complete opposite of Tom, who was very calculating and epitomised the phrase: “think before you speak”. The dialogue between these two definitely cracked me up, because Victoria managed to expertly bring down Tom’s walls. Mr. Carmichael was also delightfully charming, if a little worrisome at times.
The mystery itself was fascinating, because we’re given so many clues that it’s impossible to know which lead is the right one to follow. There’s so many clues as to who the perpetrator could be, and although you know who one of the antagonists is, we don’t know if there’s something much more sinister afoot. Something that this story surprised me with was the fact that it tackles domestic violence and assault several times. The story looks at how the situation is responded by immediate family and the support that would have been involved given the time period that it was. More importantly, this isn’t just a little blip in the story. The character in question is working through emotions and it’s a process that is continually highlighted in the book. This was also addressed again at in the Author’s Note at the end of the book, which I really appreciated.
While I found the romance very sweet, I like the friendship aspect of this story more than the romance. Since everything is happening so quickly for Victoria, the romance feels a little more force than it should be. However, the friendships that occur between Victoria and a couple of her love interests felt very genuine and I loved seeing that play out on the page. I’ll admit that I found the courting aspect of this novel increasingly hilarious, especially when it came to one of the characters with poor fashion sense.
Something I wasn’t quite in love with was that I didn’t feel like we got to know some characters the way they should. Victoria’s parents especially seemed a little unconcerned with the fact that their daughter was in danger, but perhaps that was due to some of the situations they were dealing with. It just felt a little cold because it put much of the work on the hero, which while very sweet, didn’t feel genuine (at least to me).
The pacing of this story is great, the anticipation builds in a way that will keep readers turning the page until they find out who’s behind it all. While I’m here, if you are easily triggered by domestic abuse, or violence against a person, I might approach this with a bit of caution. While I found it very tastefully done, it may not be the case for every reader. I’m going to rate this story an 8/10. It was a fun and memorable Austen filled read.
Dangerous Alliance is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers as of December 3rd 2019.
Will you be picking up Dangerous Alliance? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue meets Jane Austen in this witty, winking historical romance with a dash of mystery!
Lady Victoria Aston has everything she could want: an older sister happily wed, the future of her family estate secure, and ample opportunity to while her time away in the fields around her home.
But now Vicky must marry—or find herself and her family destitute. Armed only with the wisdom she has gained from her beloved novels by Jane Austen, she enters society’s treacherous season.
Sadly, Miss Austen has little to say about Vicky’s exact circumstances: whether the roguish Mr. Carmichael is indeed a scoundrel, if her former best friend, Tom Sherborne, is out for her dowry or for her heart, or even how to fend off the attentions of the foppish Mr. Silby, he of the unfortunate fashion sensibility.
Most unfortunately of all, Vicky’s books are silent on the topic of the mysterious accidents cropping up around her…ones that could prevent her from surviving until her wedding day.
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