Gemma Blackwood

Review of Taming the Wild Captain by Gemma Blackwood

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Synopsis (from Amazon):
Most girls have only one objective on their first Season in London: to land a wealthy husband. Alice Sharp is no different – until a mysterious theft threatens to ruin a dear friend. The investigation leads Alice deep into London’s underbelly. But how is a young, unmarried woman in 1820 to catch a criminal?

Fate sends Alice a guide to London’s darkness in the form of Richard Kirby. A Captain of the militia, a prolific gambler, an established flirt and a notorious rogue, he is happy to while away his leave in the clubs and gaming hells of London.

There is nothing that should bring them together…except the magnetic power of the attraction neither Alice nor Kirby can deny.

Can Kirby help Alice catch her thief? Will Alice lead Kirby into Society’s good graces? Should a beautiful young debutante ever accept the hand of a wild Captain?

Alice must take matters into her own hands to find the answers…

Review:
Alice is both a well trained lady, but willing to do what it takes to help her friends, and learn more truths than what she was ever aware of within her family. She’s relatable, spunky, and one cannot help but see how frustrating it is for her to not be allowed to do what she feels needs to be done. Kirby, but experience, age, and sex, is far more capable of traversing the world, and finding himself realizing that there could be more to life than using your wits to overcome people. I quite enjoyed the mysterious twist, and how it was resolved.

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Review of The Duke’s Defiant Debutante by Gemma Blackwood

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Synopsis (from Amazon):
The reclusive Duke of Redhaven is not somebody to be trifled with.

Fortunately, neither is Miss Angelica Stirling.

Lively, clever, and rather too outspoken, Angelica does not have high hopes for her first London Season… not that she particularly cares. Who needs a husband when you have a good book?

When she receives a surprise proposal from Edward Thorne, Duke of Redhaven, it seems too good to be true. And it is.

The Duke is handsome, mysterious, and brooding – and everything Angelica doesn’t want in a husband. Is one of the biggest fortunes in England really worth the trouble?

Edward returns to London after a decade’s self-imposed exile in need of one thing: a bride. But his strategy of proposing to the first agreeable-looking girl he meets backfires spectacularly. Angelica is anything but the docile debutante he took her for.

Before long, Edward is facing a predicament he never imagined. Angelica has run away from London – and she’s taken his heart with her.

Review:
I absolutely adored Angelica as a protagonist. She’s spirited, opinionated, and not exactly willing to do what society deems acceptable just because that’s what is considered proper. Angelica’s biggest issue is trusting those she shouldn’t, which blows up spectacularly.

While I enjoyed the story, I did think that the melodrama could have been easily avoided had Angelica talked to Edward instead of taking flight, especially believing the word of someone that so far she had no reason to trust and didn’t actually know, except that there was something between he and her betrothed.

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