Sunday, February 15, 2009

The Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig

Copyright:2005
Publisher: New American Library
Genre: Fiction (historical)
Pages: 432
Challenges: Read-your-own-books
new-to-me author? No

Simple Description:
This is the 2nd in the series.  This one starts off with Colin taking Eloise to Selwick Hall, his house.  The library holds archives that will give her more info on the two spies she is interested in, the Black Tulip and the Pink Carnation.

It appears that lady Henrietta Selwick has a code book that is used to decode messages from Jane, who is the Pink Carnation.  Jane is still in Paris and is such a good spy that nobody even thinks about her.  However she becomes worried when she finds some documents that are orders for the Black Tulip, the most dangerous spy, to go to London and investigate lady Henrietta and Miles Dorrington.  Henrietta's brother was the Secret Carnation and Miles is her brother's best friend.   

Miles works for the war office and is asked to keep an eye on Lord Vaughn.  He is suspected of being a spy.  He also is asked to keep an eye on Henrietta, by her Mother.  Soon we realize that  Miles is attracted to Hen, but lies to himself about it since her brother is his best friend.  Soon Hen realizes that she is attracted to Miles.

While these two deal with that, they also deal with trying to track down and capture the Black Tulip before they are caught.

Oh...and let's not forget that Eloise is also attracted to Colin, and sometimes it seems that Colin feels the same way about her.   While most of the book is of the historical nature, there are parts with Colin and Eloise also. 

Why did I read this book?
I loved the first one, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation.  I wanted to immediately read the rest in the series, but well, you know how that goes.  I'm glad I finally read this one. 

What I liked most?
I loved the relationship between Miles and Henrietta.  We do get both their view points in this story and it makes it a very enjoyable read.  I like reading how they both like each other, but don't really want to like the other one or realize that the other one liked them. haha!  Of course I think it's fun to read about them snooping around too.

Was there anything I didn't like?
Not really.  There were some words/items that I didn't really understand but I think it's because the majority of the story takes place in the early 1800's (I think) and I'm just not that familiar with some of the words/items that are for that time period.  However, that did not ruin the story or make me like it less.

Do I recommend the book?
Absolutely!  I think this is a fun historical fiction read.  I love the romance in it, I like the historical aspect of it.  I do recommend starting with the first in the series though.  I'm sure you would be ok reading them out of order, you would still be able to follow along, but I think you would enjoy it more if read in order.

Have you reviewed this book on your blog?  Let me know and I'll link it below.


Happy Reading......and thanks for stopping by!   Kris

4 comments:

Beth F said...

This is series I really, really want to read.

Unknown said...

Beth - let me be an enabler - You should read it! haha! I think they are fun reads. I get so sucked in that I read them pretty fast.

Ladytink_534 said...

I like the cover! It sounds like a neat series.

Unknown said...

Ladytink - I think this is a very fun series, at least so far. haha! i liked the cover too. My book has a different cover that I like better, but I liked both.