°o*ENGAGING *o°
The Cotswolds, Ralin Castle March 1913 Lady Ella Myerston is featured on the cover. The model beautifully captures the essence of the character, with her sneaky little smile & lovely red hair, though Ella would call it auburn (smile). She has such a wonderful outlook on life & is very inquisitive. She chooses to find joy in the moment, be an explorer of her world, but is also fiercely protective of those she loves, as she proves by trying to unravel the mystery of the Fire Eyes diamonds in order to keep further harm from coming to her family. I really enjoyed her character from the get-go. Cayton was a bit complex, but never annoyingly. His great love of his 9-month-old daughter, & his overwhelming desire to become a good and God following man for her sake were both charming and admirable. Ella does a wonderful job of breaking through his walls, & seeing past his masks. Paris, France - Kira, the prima ballerina, has made some bad choices in life, & her conscious will constantly remind her of it. However, it's a very dangerous game she is playing at, in order to keep her Russian benefactor/boyfriend happy. In fact, so many people in this book play at being spies, certainly someone is bound to get caught, or worse. Lady Catherine, having suffered a terrible loss in book 2, is barely living, just a waif-like shadow of her former, blustery self. No longer inclined to be conniving & conspiring for the Fire Eyes with her brother, Lord Rushworth, she simply lets him steer her life. Lord Rushworth, however, has nothing else on his mind, & is quite determined to acquire them, no matter the cost, dragging his grieving sister from France, to the Cotswolds, where he believes the jewels are. It was unexpected, & fun to have three pregnant women all due at essentially the same time. Each woman shows remarkable strength & resilience when push comes to shove. While there were sad moments, they weren't overly so. I never felt them weighing me down. There were many happy & amusing moments. There was a bit of danger, which enhanced the story. I was pleased to see faith beautifully woven into & throughout this story.
Scriptural Reference: Beginning of book, and again in Ch. 24 - "Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." -Romans 5:5
Tea Moment: Ch. 12 "The tea room wasn't nearly as grand as the ones in London to which she was permitted to slip away unchaperoned - no orchestra, no dancing, no high-arching windows. But it was lovely, all fair, bright colors and copious amounts of light, ...The waitress headed their way, wheeled cart before her and a casual smile upon her lips. Conversation halted while the girl set out their teapot and sugar and cream, the tiered tray filled to bursting with sweets.