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maferg01's review
5.0
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. I thoroughly enjoyed this book in the Pink Carnation series. Penelope was such an interesting character, tough on the outside and so broken on the inside. Alex was a great character opposite her. I really enjoyed their story but the mystery aspect of this book were not quite so riveting as some of the other novels in the series. With that being said, I feel like this is one of my favorites in the series. India was great to read about and was such a vibrant backdrop for this novel.
kimberly_b's review against another edition
4.0
I won my copy of The Betrayal of the Blood Lily through a First-Reads giveaway and I'm so glad I did! This was a really fun, lighthearted read, just like [b:The Secret History of the Pink Carnation|84351|The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (Pink Carnation, #1)|Lauren Willig|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442617435l/84351._SY75_.jpg|2950861]. It's a combination of historical-fiction, chick lit, and romance, with a little mystery thrown in. Willig does a refreshing bit of a twist on the usual romance in that the heroine, Penelope, is stuck in an unhappy marriage. I won't say more than that so as not to give the plot away. Suffice it to say, it wasn't the usual single heroine meets dashing hero and they immediately live happily ever after. I enjoy the brief forays Willig includes between the modern-day narrator, Eloise, and the historical-fiction portion of her stories. Both plots are interesting and entertaining and I find myself equally interested in both stories. I'm very much looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
kleedc73's review
4.0
I loved this 6th edition in the Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig. What I like about Lauren Willig's brand of historical fiction is that it is light and fun without being fluffy or losing a firm grounding in actual historical fact. This installment takes us away from the traditional societies of London and Paris to join Lady Frederick Staines (Penelope) in exile in India. All of Lauren Willig's historical heroines are charmingly fabulous in their own ways but I think that Penelope successfully dethroned Henrietta as my favorite of all of them. No modern woman with any spirit could fail to like Penelope and feel for her "fish out of water" personality. She just wasn't made to be appreciated in her own time. This book maintained the common thread of characters sussing out undercover operatives -- this one by the facially unimpressive name of the Marigold -- but having the plot woven through and interwined with the intrigue of India during that time period had a welcome freshness. Willig also throws in a plot twist in that Penelope starts the book already married -- a forced marriage to nip a scandal in the bud -- and so she isn't in the ideal position to meet the man of her dreams and fall in love. All in all, this book (and its heroine) was refreshingly original and a wonderful opportunity for escapism.
santonss's review
4.0
Overall, I liked this book, but not as a part of the Pink Carnation series. It feels more like a different novel, set in a very different place, India instead of Mayfair. With such plot changes and new characters to explore, Freddy and Pen, it is to be expected. First we have the change in location, which in of itself is a big part, but not unheard of, the reader was taken to Ireland in the " Emerald Ring" , France, in the first "Pink" and outer estates and country homes. But this is a different culture,and requires an appreciation of " non-western" history, the Mughals, Islam, Hinduism, many languages like Urdu,even food. While I was reading this book, I saw in the store a kit to make Hyderabadi briyani. It was really good, and the best part was I was curled up on a cold winter night, enjoying my fake Indian food while reading about the chase scene in the market. I could quite literally smell the spices.
Next we have another change in the series. For the first time, we start out our main heroine already married. While this volume is more sexually charged like the "Secret History" and the "Black Tulip" it is not nearly as explicit. This is not necessarily as bad thing. Hot steamy sex scenes are all well and good, but this kind of book, so accurate in many historical aspects, made it almost tawdry. So I am pleased with this level of detail.
Now, added to this mix is adultery. This book more than any other questions the roles of women in the 19th century. As Pen says, she is thought of as Freddy's wife, as much as Freddy's horse or Freddy's chattel. Here, we have a strong minded woman chafing against the roles of women as she knows them. While women's rights were common as a result of the change in ideas, they were far more demure than we think of the role of the so-called Femi-Nazi. This was about control over ones life, and having freedom to make choices. Some might call Pen and her choices in life selfish, simplistic and a result of boredom in a leisured lifestyle. WOuld Pen have felt as unhappy with her forced marriage to Freddy if she had been a laborer or servant. But as daughter of a baroncy she has the idle time to feel used.
This book raises a lot of questions, the role of race in 1804 as well its impact now. Questions of loyalty, to ones partner, to ones family, to ones country (or country of origin) are pretty deep thoughts for a romance novel. Its so much more than that. It is an enjoyable take on the Post- colonial other.
As the series progresses, I keep feeling that with each new character match, one of Amy's and Henrietta's friends or RIchard's -to even almost enemies like Lord Vaughn, we get further and further removed from the Pink Carnation herself. But It does explain bits of hints from Eloise about her legacy and impossible far reaching network. But the question is how would Alex and Cleaver get the credit for the Marigold, by ways of the Carnation, if they did not know her identity? How did Jane and Miss Gwen get involved?
Alas, far too many thoughts, far too many questions. As for Eloise and Colin, its pretty slow,nothing as exciting and the nighttime haunts of Selwick Manor, Or interludes in a chapel. But its real enough.
So maybe I appreciate this book more than the others, but my favorites are still the first two for overall plot.
Next we have another change in the series. For the first time, we start out our main heroine already married. While this volume is more sexually charged like the "Secret History" and the "Black Tulip" it is not nearly as explicit. This is not necessarily as bad thing. Hot steamy sex scenes are all well and good, but this kind of book, so accurate in many historical aspects, made it almost tawdry. So I am pleased with this level of detail.
Now, added to this mix is adultery. This book more than any other questions the roles of women in the 19th century. As Pen says, she is thought of as Freddy's wife, as much as Freddy's horse or Freddy's chattel. Here, we have a strong minded woman chafing against the roles of women as she knows them. While women's rights were common as a result of the change in ideas, they were far more demure than we think of the role of the so-called Femi-Nazi. This was about control over ones life, and having freedom to make choices. Some might call Pen and her choices in life selfish, simplistic and a result of boredom in a leisured lifestyle. WOuld Pen have felt as unhappy with her forced marriage to Freddy if she had been a laborer or servant. But as daughter of a baroncy she has the idle time to feel used.
This book raises a lot of questions, the role of race in 1804 as well its impact now. Questions of loyalty, to ones partner, to ones family, to ones country (or country of origin) are pretty deep thoughts for a romance novel. Its so much more than that. It is an enjoyable take on the Post- colonial other.
As the series progresses, I keep feeling that with each new character match, one of Amy's and Henrietta's friends or RIchard's -to even almost enemies like Lord Vaughn, we get further and further removed from the Pink Carnation herself. But It does explain bits of hints from Eloise about her legacy and impossible far reaching network. But the question is how would Alex and Cleaver get the credit for the Marigold, by ways of the Carnation, if they did not know her identity? How did Jane and Miss Gwen get involved?
Alas, far too many thoughts, far too many questions. As for Eloise and Colin, its pretty slow,nothing as exciting and the nighttime haunts of Selwick Manor, Or interludes in a chapel. But its real enough.
So maybe I appreciate this book more than the others, but my favorites are still the first two for overall plot.
librovert's review against another edition
3.0
At the end of [b:The Temptation of the Night Jasmine|3701590|The Temptation of the Night Jasmine (Pink Carnation, #5)|Lauren Willig|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406968184s/3701590.jpg|3752586], Miss Penelope Deveraux is caught admitting to a rather salacious (though not unvirginal) encounter with Frederick Staines. After their hasty marriage, they remove to India where Staines takes up a position in Hyderabad. Charlotte and Henrietta are sure that this will help them create a happy marriage, but we can all tell from the book description that it doesn't.
Penelope is not a typical heroine for this time period. She has no patience for the strict rules of the ton and she relishes in the freedom riding a horse gives her. In contrast, Alex Reid does everything he can to appear the perfect gentleman. Snubbed for his involvement with the army in India, Reid is not generally accepted among the elite in England. I don't agree with all the choices these two make in their relationship, but I did root for them.
The spying in this novel was a bit detached from the arc thus far, but being able to read this for the first time in 2014 makes me super excited for the last of the series to be published in 2015, [b:The Lure of the Moonflower|21938183|The Lure of the Moonflower (Pink Carnation, #12)|Lauren Willig|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-6121bf4c1f669098041843ec9650ca19.png|41242249].
Penelope is not a typical heroine for this time period. She has no patience for the strict rules of the ton and she relishes in the freedom riding a horse gives her. In contrast, Alex Reid does everything he can to appear the perfect gentleman. Snubbed for his involvement with the army in India, Reid is not generally accepted among the elite in England. I don't agree with all the choices these two make in their relationship, but I did root for them.
The spying in this novel was a bit detached from the arc thus far, but being able to read this for the first time in 2014 makes me super excited for the last of the series to be published in 2015, [b:The Lure of the Moonflower|21938183|The Lure of the Moonflower (Pink Carnation, #12)|Lauren Willig|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-6121bf4c1f669098041843ec9650ca19.png|41242249].
moviemavengal's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed the change of setting to India in this book. The author has extensively researched early 1800's India, and it was interesting how different it was than the later periods that we are much more familiar with.
Love this series!
Love this series!
salene27's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoyed this one, it had a different feel to it. I normally would not like to read about the heroine having an affair, but it worked in this book, and Freddy was such a toad.
kamreadsandrecs's review
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Well, this feels complicated!
So I want to say off the bat that I was a little worried going into this - more worried than I was when I first read it, mostly because of the setting: India. And during this time, India was being colonized by European powers, with the British winning out in the long run. Given how colonization absolutely fucked India up on several levels, I was concerned about how the political and social situation of India would be portrayed, as well as how any Indian characters would be depicted.
And I will say: some of it I think was done okay, but some of it was not. In terms of the political situation, I think those were handled fairly okay, in the sense that the struggle of the Indian city-states against the machinations of both the British and the French to bring more of the subcontinent under their control was touched upon, but it wasn’t something that the novel went into with a lot of depth, sticking only to tightly-controlled specifics that were pertinent to the plot and the specific moment in history that the story was taking place in. That was fair, in my opinion: the author had a specific plot in mind, and used aspects of the history that would work for that plot, without getting bogged down in too many details - details that, I think, they might not be best placed to talk about, given that they are a white American and some things are just better told by Indian writers and historians.
This whole situation therefore brought a certain depth the overall plot, which I appreciated because it also upped the stakes significantly. Prior to this book the plots had been rather simplistic; things had been ramping up starting in the fourth book, but this is the first one in the series that REALLY feels like a proper spy thriller. The complex, tangled loyalties of the characters and the equally complex and tangled relations between the Hindu Maratha leaders (Mahratta in the book), the Muslim Nizam of Hyderabad, and the colonizer British and French forces, all make for some fantastic moments of tension and intrigue throughout the book.
I was, however, disappointed in the way certain Indian characters were used. One character felt like all he was meant to do was function as the “native guide/friend” to Alex, the white male protagonist, and I wish said character had gotten a bit more depth to them than they got. I also wish that some of the more prominent Indian female historical figures had gotten some airtime - in particular, Khair-un-Nissa, wife of James Kirkpatrick. I guess her not appearing was the author’s way of making sure they didn’t muck up their portrayal of her, but given that the famous poet and courtesan Mah Laqa Bai puts in an appearance (and one that is pretty well-done in my opinion), I think it wouldn’t have been too terrible to have Khair-un-Nissa make an appearance, however, brief. After all, there are chunks of the story that takes place in the Residency, and the whole point of sending Frederick and Penelope to Hyderabad in the first place was because Wellesley strongly disapproved of Kirkpatrick’s marriage to her.
As for the romance between Penelope and Alex, I REALLY enjoyed that as well, because they are both fascinating characters. In Alex’s case, his complicated relationship to his father and brother Jack, as well as his own principles and ideologies, make navigating the political landscape of the novel’s setting rather difficult for him, but interesting for the reader. It’s also through his past that we get a glimpse of the racism that was prevalent during the period, given that some of his half-siblings were themselves half-Indian and therefore suffered discrimination.
And then there is Penelope. She’s loud, she’s brazen, she’s rebellious, she doesn’t think too much about consequences before getting into something. She is, in short, the ultimate Bad Girl, in the way that Regency women and even 21st century woman would recognize. But it also becomes very clear, fairly early on in this novel, that Penelope’s rebellious and frankly self-destructive and self-sabotaging tendencies spring from a deep well of trauma that goes all the way back to her family. I felt deeply for her while I was reading, even as I felt a deep urge to shake her too. But that just made her even more fun to read about I think.
Anyway, this was definitely an uptick in terms of quality of the books overall, sliding into some genuinely dangerous territory for once, and while the Indian colonization aspect was handled fairly well for the most part, I still think that it could have been rounded out a bit more.
So I want to say off the bat that I was a little worried going into this - more worried than I was when I first read it, mostly because of the setting: India. And during this time, India was being colonized by European powers, with the British winning out in the long run. Given how colonization absolutely fucked India up on several levels, I was concerned about how the political and social situation of India would be portrayed, as well as how any Indian characters would be depicted.
And I will say: some of it I think was done okay, but some of it was not. In terms of the political situation, I think those were handled fairly okay, in the sense that the struggle of the Indian city-states against the machinations of both the British and the French to bring more of the subcontinent under their control was touched upon, but it wasn’t something that the novel went into with a lot of depth, sticking only to tightly-controlled specifics that were pertinent to the plot and the specific moment in history that the story was taking place in. That was fair, in my opinion: the author had a specific plot in mind, and used aspects of the history that would work for that plot, without getting bogged down in too many details - details that, I think, they might not be best placed to talk about, given that they are a white American and some things are just better told by Indian writers and historians.
This whole situation therefore brought a certain depth the overall plot, which I appreciated because it also upped the stakes significantly. Prior to this book the plots had been rather simplistic; things had been ramping up starting in the fourth book, but this is the first one in the series that REALLY feels like a proper spy thriller. The complex, tangled loyalties of the characters and the equally complex and tangled relations between the Hindu Maratha leaders (Mahratta in the book), the Muslim Nizam of Hyderabad, and the colonizer British and French forces, all make for some fantastic moments of tension and intrigue throughout the book.
I was, however, disappointed in the way certain Indian characters were used. One character felt like all he was meant to do was function as the “native guide/friend” to Alex, the white male protagonist, and I wish said character had gotten a bit more depth to them than they got. I also wish that some of the more prominent Indian female historical figures had gotten some airtime - in particular, Khair-un-Nissa, wife of James Kirkpatrick. I guess her not appearing was the author’s way of making sure they didn’t muck up their portrayal of her, but given that the famous poet and courtesan Mah Laqa Bai puts in an appearance (and one that is pretty well-done in my opinion), I think it wouldn’t have been too terrible to have Khair-un-Nissa make an appearance, however, brief. After all, there are chunks of the story that takes place in the Residency, and the whole point of sending Frederick and Penelope to Hyderabad in the first place was because Wellesley strongly disapproved of Kirkpatrick’s marriage to her.
As for the romance between Penelope and Alex, I REALLY enjoyed that as well, because they are both fascinating characters. In Alex’s case, his complicated relationship to his father and brother Jack, as well as his own principles and ideologies, make navigating the political landscape of the novel’s setting rather difficult for him, but interesting for the reader. It’s also through his past that we get a glimpse of the racism that was prevalent during the period, given that some of his half-siblings were themselves half-Indian and therefore suffered discrimination.
And then there is Penelope. She’s loud, she’s brazen, she’s rebellious, she doesn’t think too much about consequences before getting into something. She is, in short, the ultimate Bad Girl, in the way that Regency women and even 21st century woman would recognize. But it also becomes very clear, fairly early on in this novel, that Penelope’s rebellious and frankly self-destructive and self-sabotaging tendencies spring from a deep well of trauma that goes all the way back to her family. I felt deeply for her while I was reading, even as I felt a deep urge to shake her too. But that just made her even more fun to read about I think.
Anyway, this was definitely an uptick in terms of quality of the books overall, sliding into some genuinely dangerous territory for once, and while the Indian colonization aspect was handled fairly well for the most part, I still think that it could have been rounded out a bit more.