Banquet of Lies (Regency London, #2)
Michelle Diener
A Secret Treaty and a Secret Life LONDON, 1812: Giselle Barrington is living a double life, juggling the duties of chef with those of spy catcher. She must identify her father’s savage killer before the shadowy man finds her and uncovers the explosive political document her father entrusted to her safekeeping. Posing as a French cook in the home of Lord Aldridge, Giselle is surrounded by unlikely allies and vicious enemies. In the streets where she once walked freely among polite society, she now hides in plain sight, learning the hard lessons of class distinction and negotiating the delicate balance between servant and master. Lord Aldridge’s insatiable curiosity about his mysterious new chef blurs the line between civic duty and outright desire. Carefully watching Giselle’s every move, he undertakes a mission to figure out who she really is—and, in the process, plunges her straight into the heart of danger when her only hope for survival is to remain invisible.
Publication Year: 2013
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What a fun, fun book! Fantastic premise, great execution and full of vivid, lively characters! You know, if she'd just thrown in a bit more romance—a sex scene or just a bit more mushy stuff towards the end—this would have been 5 stars for me. Easily.
BANQUET OF LIES is a character-driven novel built upon a thrilling, suspense-filled storyline. It kicks off straight away with the murder of Giselle's father over the whereabouts of a political document. The only way she knows how to hide from the killer whilst still keeping an eye on who's snooping around her London home, is to pose as chef for her neighbour, young (and rather handsome) Lord Aldridge. Luckily, she doesn't have to fake her cooking skills. She's always loved to be in the kitchen, working recipes with her family's French chef, which is not the norm for a lady of quality, as Giselle is. Which was the other very entertaining part of the book—her posing as "the help" when in fact she's a lady born and bred. The way she handled this deception was to adopt a French accent and a haughty, superior attitude and attempt to bluff her way through it. She's been surrounded by temperamental, demanding chefs all her life, and knew this would be better than trying to skulk around and stay small and unnoticed. Well, let me tell you, it was all highly enjoyable watching not only the other staff members as they stood agog when she breezed through the door, but also Lord Aldridge's own reaction! Just pure fun.
There are several twist and turns as you'd expect from this kind of book, and it was nigh unputdownable. Like I said earlier, the only thing I would have wished for more of would be romance. That's not to say there wasn't any, but it was clean, subtle and only promised what's to come for the couple rather than showing it to us... Unless there's a follow up book? One could only hope. But I loved it anyway!
4 Stars! ★★★★
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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