The Betrayal of the Blood Lily

by Lauren Willig, 401 pages

Trapped by misunderstanding and circumstance, scandal-plagued Penelope has no choice but to marry and follow her cad of a husband back to his new administrative post in India.  She hopes being thrown together in the middle of a foreign country will give them a chance to salvage some happiness, but reality doesn't look to be granting her even that small comfort as he routinely abandons her for the card table and leaves her to fend for herself in an unfamiliar world of complicated--and often dangerous--politics.  Luckily, she has the unwilling company of their escort, Captain Reid, a no-nonsense soldier who doesn't care about her sullied reputation, doesn't cow-tow before power, and who may or may not be trying to kill her husband and sell out the English to the Indians and / or the French.

Willig moves all the action to India this volume, which is a pleasant diversion.  The history of England's colonial involvement in the country is less familiar territory for me and so an interesting addition to the slightly-more-scandalous-than-usual-for-the-series romance.  I don't know why I expect my romance novels to not be "romance novels," but I'm still disappointed when they fall into well-worn, too-easy patterns that sacrifice character development and emotional involvement for awkward, obligatory racy bits (mind you, I in no way mind the racy bits, as long as they fit who and when and where I think they should).  It's sad when formerly interesting personalities are suddenly unceremoniously forced into boring molds in which they don't fit and from which they emerge less than they were before.  I'm still enjoying the series, and I still like many aspects of the genre (witty repartee and guaranteed happy endings being two of them), but sometimes I get a little cranky and snooty and wish things could just be nudged into being a little more.  Ah, well.  I'm still happily putting myself on hold for the next one, so it mustn't bother me enough to put me off them all together.  And yet.  *sigh*

The Temptation of the Night Jasmine

by Lauren Willig, 388 pages

Quiet, naive bookworm Charlotte suffers the legions of titled dandies her  grandmother throws at her, but when she finds a long-absent childhood friend among them, she's sure she's found her true knight in shining armor.  Only she'll have to deal with his long-ingrained insecurity, self-loathing, and revenge-fueled plans--as well as a depraved gentleman's club, a handful of spies, and her own childish romantic illusions--before she has any chance of convincing him to stick around.  Meanwhile, in the twentieth century, Eloise overhears something that makes her wonder what exactly it is Colin really does for a living.

Willig adds repercussions of events in colonial India and her own imagining of a descendant of the Hellfire Club to her broader tale of the English and their protracted mutual distrust of those wily sneaks, the French.  Actually, the French spy here only makes a few brief appearances, but he's an amusing, odd enough duck that I hope we see him again in the future.  As I go through these, I find I have one eye on the principals and another on everyone else, wondering who might be up for a leading role in future volumes.  Robert and Charlotte's story has a sad beginning, an adventurous and rather melodramatic middle, and, obviously, a happy ending.  But I couldn't help but feel sorry for a few of their friends who get caught up in scandals or swept aside for less worthy rivals, so again with the hoping we find out what happens to them in their own stories later.

The Seduction of the Crimson Rose

by Lauren Willig, 385 pages

Between daydreaming about Colin and fending off the advances of a pompous archive curator, Eloise learns the story of a cool beauty drawn into the world of international espionage by a cynical pawn of the Pink Carnation as they finally uncover the true nature and identity of the deadly Black Tulip.

I like how this series flows from one interlinked story of the past to another.  It makes each new volume feel more grounded when you already know some of the people involved.  This particular installment also clears up some of Colin's less-than-genial behavior in the past, making it easier to like him now that his previous jerkiness has a logical explanation.

The Deception of the Emerald Ring

by Lauren Willig, 387 pages

Eloise decides to research the Pink Carnation by looking into one of the elusive spy's associates; but when she tries to find information on the young man by backtracking from documents regarding the beautiful socialite he was known to have been pursuing, she instead finds him linked with the woman's less celebrated younger sister.

The writing's still a little awkward sometimes, as Willig doesn't always remember to drop in narrative cues when transitioning between perspectives and time frames and the like, but it's still fun.  Also, despite the fact that she tweaks history a bit to make it fit her story, I feel like I'm learning a little something while also being entertained.  The modern-day framing story makes this series best read in order, since it covers only a few days each volume.  It amuses me that no matter how she describes Eloise's enigmatic source of historical documents, Colin, my brain insists that he looks like Colin Firth.  :P

The Masque of the Black Tulip

by Lauren Willig, 406 pages

Eloise once more throws herself into researching Napoleonic espionage, focusing this time on the lives of the Purple Gentian's sister, Henrietta Selwick, and best friend, Miles Dorrington, as they follow the elusive trail of Napoleon's deadliest spy, The Black Tulip.

Ha.  I liked this volume better than the first in the Pink Carnation series, as Hen and Miles's relationship has years of friendship at its foundation rather than a single big event / adventure.  It may take some danger to make them realize another dynamic has been sneaking up on them, but they would have figured it out eventually, even without the drama.  I also enjoyed the willingness to let the leads be a little doofy.  It will be fun to see which side characters get the spotlight next.

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation

by Lauren Willig, 388 pages

Eloise Kelly, a modern-day grad student working on her thesis, searches for clues to the identity of her favorite early nineteenth century English spy, the Pink Carnation, as her reading of historical documents tells the tale of a young half-French, half-English woman's adventures when she runs off to France a few years after the Revolution in order to join her brother (and secretly look for her hero, the Purple Ventian, so she can join his league of spies, save England from French invasion, and restore the monarchy).  Nothing goes quite as either young woman has planned, of course, and they find they must continually adjust their opinions of the people around them as more and more of the truth is revealed.

I very much liked this semi-historical romance in the beginning, with its witty banter (always a sucker for witty banter, moi), original plotting, plucky historical heroine, and Scarlet Pimpernel references (I had a crush on that character for years and years, thanks both to Baroness Orczy and Anthony Andrews).  A little of the shiny rubbed off for me along the way, however, as boring, unlikely, and (it felt to me) out-of-character standard romance tropes and conventions began to intrude on what had been up till then a fun, engaging tale of romantic suspense.  I still enjoyed it overall, and will probably give the next few in the series a read, anyway, as this was the author's first published novel and I'd like to see if she gets better and more consistently good as she goes.  Besides, I do love me some historical espionage, derring-do, and romance all rolled together.