Lawson’s Duckies Do Series reviews of Traitor’s Kiss and Lover’s Kiss (Pennistan Family Series) by Mary Blayney
Historical romance released by Bantam 28 Oct 08
If I remember correctly, Traitor’s Kiss was supposed to come out earlier this year (April maybe?), but it was instead delayed until November and paired with next novel in the series about the Pennistan family, Lover’s Kiss. An interesting concept to say the least, though I’m not entirely sure why it was done. It does have a very pretty cover though. The two books in one follow two siblings in the Pennistan family, headed by the Duke of Meryon.
Traitor’s Kiss
The first story follows Lord Gabriel Pennistan, the third Pennistan sibling, and Charlotte Parnell, a woman of dubious origin. Gabriel is in a French prison in Le Harve after being captured as a spy in Portugal. Charlotte has been hired to spring him from jail and take him back to England by his family. Though Gabriel is very untrusting from the beginning, he does make it back to England, where Charlotte disappears. Gabriel is determined to find his rescuer, for more than just gratitude for his freedom.
Gabriel is a scientist, brought into spying in Portugal on an attempt to do something more with his life and make a difference in the world. When he’s caught, his circumstances, family and the vendetta of a French official against his father makes his life difficult in the prison. Gabriel is a good hero, if overly observant and with a quick fire temper. His skills of observation become grating through the story, as he does notice everything and thus figures everything out in the end and gets the girl.
Charlotte is carrying a lot of baggage from her marriage and the death of her husband. Though seen in Le Harve as a prostitute, she has another personal mission and is a master of disguise. She manages to fool everyone and accomplish her goals, and while she falls in love with Gabriel and demonstrates admirable qualities in relation to her personal quest, she still pushes everyone away in the defense that she’s broken and has iron for a heart and is not worth loving due to her treatment and some choices she made while married.
The story is interesting, with the prison break and escaping to England, and the ensuing search for a real life, but with Gabriel’s knowing everything due to observation and Charlotte always whining about the fact that she doesn’t deserve love due to her dead husband and how she acted, it took away what could have been a sweet love story based on redemption and what it means to make a difference in the world.
Grade: C
Lover’s Kiss
This story opens with Michael Garrett going through the woods in the Peak District and seeing a nearly naked woman. He rescues her from near death, as it’s very cold, and though she doesn’t tell him the whole truth about herself at first, does manage to get her home safely, as she’s Lady Olivia Pennistan. Michael is then hired to protect Olivia and the Pennistan family castle, since Olivia had been kidnapped.
Though she’s stubborn, Michael enjoys Olivia’s other traits and innocence as he’s spent the last seven years as spy in France. He’s seen the worst of humanity and committed various bad deeds and feels he needs to start his life new, and saving Olivia in his mind is the start of his path to redemption. Michael is a good hero. He knows his faults, strengths and works with them well. He’s not overbearing, but he’s not afraid to do what’s necessary either. A good, strong, quiet sort of Alpha hero.
Olivia came across as childish, spoiled and overly stubborn. From the start there wasn’t much to recommend her, even though she had been kidnapped and near death in the woods. She never trusted Michael, and even suspects him of being one of her kidnappers up until the point when he takes her to the vicar’s house in town. She’s also overly obsessed with food. While that’s fine, an aristocratic lady of the time would not have cooked the family meals and spent her whole day in the kitchen. Her childish tendencies made her want to hide from the rest of the world in the kitchen and not deal with real life.
I don’t normally quote things, but one line summed up my irritation with Olivia best, as she’s just broken up a boxing match (and got knocked unconscious in the process) between her brother David and Michael about the fact that David found her sleeping on Michael’s bed:
“What were you thinking Olivia?”
…
“See if you had come to me, none of this would have happened”.
Then she cries. It just makes no sense that Michael, being logical and practical would fall in love with someone so selfish, childish and impulsive. The kidnapping storyline moved the plot along, but in the end it was pretty useless, though I could see some desperate person perhaps planning that sort of thing. Michael was the best part of the story, the focus on the kitchen the worst (who knew I’d say that about food!) and Olivia just a child who gets patted on the head for her eccentricities.
Grade: D
It’d be interesting to see where this story goes, as there are three Pennistan brothers left, and the epilogue sets up the story for the Duke and possibly Jess, who wasn’t seen in either story.
Overall Grade: C-
The Summaries:
This beguiling pair of novels from author Mary Blayney delivers a double dose of romance and intrigue as two people from one extraordinary family find themselves on the right—and wrong—sides of love, and the law.…
Traitor’s Kiss
When an enigmatic beauty rescues accused traitor Lord Gabriel Pennistan from a French prison cell, it’s just the beginning of an adventure in mystery and seduction. For Gabriel has no idea who Charlotte Parnell is, or why she has saved him… and Charlotte has underestimated the sensual stranger who awakens in her a passion that culminates in a night of exquisite lovemaking. But when she abruptly vanishes, Gabriel will not rest until he finds her—no matter what the cost.…Lover’s Kiss
In her worst nightmares, Lady Olivia Pennistan never imagined she would be kidnapped. And retired soldier Michael Garrett never expected to be her rescuer. But he could hardly ignore the naked young beauty scrambling through the forest. Neither anticipates sharing a kiss—or wanting another. The final surprise comes when Garrett is hired to protect Olivia and her family from the insidious threats that persist. As their simmering attraction ignites, rumors of Olivia’s indiscretion surface—rumors she longs to make come true.…Read an excerpt
