Review: Veiled in Blue (The Emperors of London #6) by Lynne Connolly

Print Length: 250 pages

Publisher: Lyrical Press (October, 2016)

From Goodreads.com: It is up to the Emperors of London to protect the throne—without risking their hearts… 

 
Governess Eve Merton would have fallen into serious trouble on her walk home if a handsome stranger had not stopped to help her. But when Mr. Vernon gives her a lift on his horse, he makes no secret of his attraction. As a well brought-up young lady, Eve does her best not to notice, but when he sets about courting her, she knows she’s in trouble. For she has a secret: she is the daughter of a deposed king, which means not only is she without a dowry, but also that her life is in danger…
 
Little does Eve know that Mr. Vernon has secrets of his own. In truth, his name is Julius, Lord Winterton, and he’s well aware that Eve is the offspring of the Old Pretender. In order to save his sister, he must convince Eve to wed—though he wants nothing to do with love. But as the two grow closer and an attempt is made on Eve’s life, Julius may realize that fighting his heart’s true desire is a battle most pleasurably surrendered…

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My Rating: 4 stars out of 5

WARNING: This novel contains several scenes of a sexual nature and I would not recommend this novel to anyone under the age of 18 for this reason. If those scenes are not your cup of tea, it is just as easy to skip over them without feeling like you've lost anything. 

I feel like I should begin my review by saying two things right off the bat. One - this is pretty much a stand-alone novel. What I mean by that is that while this book has a story that revolves around two central characters (in this case Julius and Eve) which has a beginning, a middle and an end of sorts, there is also another element of the story that has not been completely resolved at the end and therefore can be used to continue this story in the next installment. 

The second thing I want to get out is that while I am not a prude by any means, and I enjoy a good sex scene as much as the next person, there comes a point when those types of scenes become too repetitive and not only take away some of the enjoyment of the overall story, but also cause me to skip those scenes altogether - and unfortunately this story crossed that point. 

Now that I've gotten that out of the way - allow me to now move on to my thoughts on this story. 

I really enjoyed this story. I think the author does a fantastic job of taking a "what if" scenario from history and making it seem as though it could be a plausible event. I feel as though these are characters that could have indeed existed which to me gives the story a more "authentic" feel. 

I adored the romance between Julius and Eve as well. Even though it was somewhat of a "speedy" courtship, the way the author went about it didn't make it seem as such. She had these two strong characters, both with secrets, who found they could really only open up to each other which made the progression from friendship to romance feel natural. 

I do wish there had been more going on with the "bad guy" aspect of this story. It seemed as though just as soon as we might get some kind of answer to move that part of the story along, something happened to prevent that. And one of the things I enjoy about this series in particular is that element of danger that is ever lurking the background. 

Overall, I would recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a good historical romance novel, and I would read more from this author! 

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

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                                Veiled in Blue is available from Amazon.com