Liviania’s review of Never Lie to a Lady (Neville Family Trilogy, Book 1) by Liz Carlyle
Historical romance released by Pocket Star 19 Jun 07

Before reading the Neville Family Trilogy, I had no experience with Liz Carlyle. I recognized the name and knew Sybil was head-over-heels for the latest book, but I didn’t know what to expect. The opening of Never Lie to a Lady disappointed me. Xanthia Neville meets Lord Nash on a terrace and they proceed to snog, an action both of them consider ill-considered and out of character. Xanthia thinks about how she drank a little, but neither of them had the excuse of drunkenness. A bit scared that I’d agreed to review the entire trilogy, Carlyle spent the rest of the book wowing me so much that I can happily ignore the first chapter.

Carlyle makes me believe in Xanthia’s independence. She does not desire marriage because that would mean her property, one-fourth of Neville Shipping, would become her husband’s property. She enjoys trade and would never give up her business for a man. Of course, she doesn’t give up men completely. She lost her virginity long before the story begins with no regrets. She knows the ton would find her lifestyle scandalous, but only worries about it for the sake of her niece, whom she’s chaperoning for the Season. Xanthia’s smart, sensible, and aware of her wants.

Lord Nash is mildly scandalous himself. He’s of mixed blood – part Russian – and made a large portion of his wealth through gambling. His brother, the politician, is the respectable one. He wants to court Xanthia, but she tries to stay away from him until two men from the government ask her to investigate whether he’s a smuggler. This introduces my favorite character, George Kemble.

He’s snarky, insouciant, and almost every line of his dialogue makes me laugh. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but this barb might be it:

Kemble looked at her incredulously. “This afternoon?” he echoed. “But we are talking about the Government here, Miss Neville. There will be forms. Procedures. Perhaps even a committee or two.”

In fact, I quickly looked at the other two books in the trilogy to see if either of them where Kemble’s. Alas not, although he shows up in all of them. Hopefully Carlyle will one day correct this tragic oversight.

In addition the wonderful characters, Carlyle controls the plot. As in most romances with a plot outside of the relationship, most of the action happens during the climax. Unlike those, it isn’t shunted to the side during the bulk of the story. Xanthia remembers that she’s supposed to be spying on Nash, and does so to prove his innocence. She holds meetings with Kemble and his boss to discuss what she’s discovered. It prevents the ending from being an abrupt, “Oh yeah, there was something about smuggling at the beginning.”

I apologize for doubting Carlyle. Never Lie to a Lady is a solid romance and an excellent start to a satisfying trilogy. Now I need to search for more books by her.

Grade: A-

Summary
The notorious Marquis of Nash is a creature of the night; his wealth and his title provide but a tenuous entrée into polite society. With his Eastern European manners and dark elegance, Nash tempts women even as he tempts the scandalmongers. Rumors abound of the men he has bankrupted and the hearts he has broken. But when Nash leaves his lair for a rare foray into the ton, and enjoys a moment of heated passion with a mysterious lady in the dark, he develops an obsession which will lead him into the hellish world of smugglers, spies, and political intrigue as the Continent edges nearer to war.

Xanthia Neville has arrived in London to expand her family’s most lucrative business holding—Neville Shipping. With her brother Rothewell all too happy to waste his life in debauchery, Xanthia opens up shop in London’s grimy Docklands, and sets about expanding the family fortune, all the while flaunting the ton’s silly strictures about how a lady ought to behave. But London, she soon learns, is not Barbados.

And when the British Government approaches Rothewell to ask the family’s help in exposing a dangerous arms dealer, Xanthia must enter society after all, only to find her loyalties torn. Someone in London is fueling the conflict on the Balkan Peninsula by smuggling illicit weapons into the Aegean—and there is only one likely suspect. The Marquis of Nash has the resources, the contacts and, quite possibly, the deeply divided loyalties. But can Xanthia’s subterfuge prove him a traitor to the Crown before her heart is broken?
Read an excerpt here.