📖 Book Review ~ The Secret Life of a Lady by Darcy McGuire

Boldwood Books
June 2024

The Queen's Deadly Damsels #1

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

Never Underestimate a wallflower!

Lady Hannah Simmons is a quintessential wallflower, unassuming, dowdy yet ignored by most. But underneath her plain exterior, Hannah is hiding a thrilling secret! Unbeknownst to the rest of the ton, she is Queen Victoria’s leading femme fatale, slipping unnoticed through the streets of London and listening to scandalous whispers from lords and ladies. But with daggers in her stockings and pistols in her pockets, Hannah's mission is to apprehend a deadly killer.

Private Investigator to the Prime Minister, damaged, yet devastatingly handsome ex-war hero Duke Robert Killian always puts duty first. However, when he finds himself competing with the intriguing Lady Hannah on the same daring task, his blood boils with frustration - and desire! Is it possible to seduce this vexing woman whose not afraid to put herself in danger and achieve the upper hand?

Hannah enjoys Killian's attempts to distract and tempt her, but she has never faced an adversary she couldn’t overthrow. And Killian has never met a challenge he couldn’t conquer...until now. The gauntlet has been thrown, can they finish their jobs and resist the temptation?

 My Review..

Feisty and fierce, Lady Hannah Simmons is more than a match for any man. She can wield a knife like a warrior and yet underneath her stern exterior there beats the heart of a passionate woman. Hannah's unexpected meeting with the devilishly handsome Robert Killian unlocks something and pretty soon sparks fly between them and even though both are caught up in a clandestine investigation this doesn't stop their attraction and desire for each other. 

Bringing the Victorian world alive, we flit from dark and dirty back alleyways, to the sumptuousness of a country house weekend and throughout it all this cat and mouse relationship kept me entertained in a story filled with passion, intrigue and danger. The story reads well, it moves quickly and the mystery at the centre of the plot keeps the momentum ticking over nicely however, it is the relationship between Hannah and the Killian where the passion really heats up and the story gets a bit spicy. There's quite a bit of explicit sexual content so perhaps that's not for everyone but putting that aside, I enjoyed the espionage and mystery. I would hope to be able to read the next book in the series in the near future as there are a couple of characters I would really like to know more about in further adventures.

About the Author

Darcy McGuire is a high school counsellor who grew up in the wilds of New Zealand but happily settled in the Pacific Northwest. Darcy loves writing about fierce female protagonists who may dodge daggers and bullets but never seem to escape Cupid's arrow.

 

Social Media

X #TheSecretLifeofALady

X @BoldwoodBooks #BoldwoodBloggers