About this book:
“Caroline
Delacroix is at the pinnacle of Washington high society in her role as
secretary to the First Lady of the United States. But beneath the facade of her
beauty, glamorous wardrobe, and dazzling personality, she's hiding a terrible
secret. If she cannot untangle a web of foreign espionage, her brother will
face execution for treason.
Nathaniel Trask is the newly
appointed head of the president's Secret Service team. He is immediately
attracted to Caroline's quick wit and undeniable charm, but his job leaves no
room for distractions. Anarchist plots have led to mounting threats against the
president, forcing him to put duty before his growing love for Caroline.
Amid the glamorous pageantry of
Gilded Age Washington, DC, Caroline and Nathaniel face danger and heartbreak
that shakes them to their core and tests all they know about love and
sacrifice.”
Series: Book #2 in the “Hope and Glory” trilogy. Review of Book #1 Here!
Spiritual Content- Scriptures are mentioned, read, remembered, & thought
over; Prayers; Church going & going to churches to pray for someone; Visiting
a Jewish synagogue; Talks about God, being unconditionally loved, & being
forgiven; ‘H’s are capitalized when referring to God; Nathaniel wonders why God allowed
something bad to happen and struggles with finding the reason; Mentions of God,
Him knowing best, & Jesus forgiving our sins; Mentions of prayers, praying,
& thanking God; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, & books of the
Bible; Mentions of being a good Christian (& even when you don’t feel like
it) and Christian duties; Mentions of churches, services, sermons/messages,
& pastors/ministers/priests; Mentions of a Jewish synagogue, Torah scrolls,
& rabbis; Mentions of those from the Bible; A few mentions of a man reading
the Bible and swearing that he’s a changed man; A few mentions of an engraving
of the prodigal son; A couple mentions of Heaven; A couple mentions of godsends;
A couple mentions of Puritans like Jonathan Edwards “threatening sinners in
the hands of an angry God”; A couple mentions of a man wearing (no shirt and)
angels wings while holding up a Bible and preaching doom to a crowd; A couple
mentions of men living like a monk; A mention of a chaplain; A mention of a
book of sermons; A mention of a rosary; A mention of someone being as guilty as
sin.
*Note: A few mentions of two
different men’s demons & one battling them; A mention of a devilish smile; A
mention of a talisman.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘[didn’t] care a fig about
[something]’, a ‘drat’, a ‘oh my word’, three ‘idiot’s, three ‘shut up’, and three
forms of ‘stupid’; A couple mentions of curses (said, not written); Sarcasm &
Eye rolling; Seeing someone shot & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); An
assassination, assassination attempts, gunfire, & fighting the shooters (up
to semi-detailed); Being shot, gunfire, fighting, pain, injuries, & blood/bleeding
(up to semi-detailed); Caroline is trying to quit smoking, but craves cigarettes
when under stress to calm herself or when she sees someone else smoking (she
smokes cigarettes twice); All about many mentions of assassinations, assassins,
trying to keep an assassination from happening, shootings, shooters, gunfire, guns,
bullets, knives, blood/bleeding, injuries, pain, & how they happened (up to
semi-detailed); Many mentions of treason, traitors, a possible hanging/execution,
trials, jails/prisons, & arrests; Many mentions of alcohol, social drinking,
drinking, & drunks (Nathaniel says he doesn’t drink; Luke drinks once); Many
mentions of smoking, tobacco, cigarettes, cigars, & pipes (Caroline
struggles with quitting smoking); Mentions of nightmares of a death of a loved
one (drowning), their body, & a family member grieving them (including
recalling it, border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Mentions
of deaths, illnesses, & injuries (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of wars, battles,
fights, fighting, & deaths; Mentions of beatings & torture; Mentions of
rebellions, violence, & threats; Mentions of bombings & bomb threats; Mentions
of gangs, criminals, & crimes; Mentions of embezzlement; Mentions of con-artists,
forgers, forgeries, & counterfeit items; Mention of fires & burns (up
to semi-detailed); Mentions of break-ins & breaking in; Mentions of lies
& lying; Mentions of eavesdropping; Mentions of gossip & rumors; A few
mentions of a family member dying from falling down the stairs (barely-above-not
detailed); A couple mentions of possible kidnappings; A couple mentions of robberies;
A couple mentions of members of someone’s family being arrested to pressure
them to turn themselves in; A couple mentions of hatred; A mention of blackmail;
*Note: Mentions of Mrs. McKinley’s
seizures & terrible headaches (barely-above-not-detailed); A couple
mentions of a family grieving the deaths of their young daughters; A couple
mentions of a mother leaving her family to run off with a traveling salesman.
Sexual Content- A palm kiss, two
cheek kisses, a forehead kiss, a barely-above-not-detailed, and four semi-detailed
kisses; Remembering a kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to kiss someone
& wanting to steal a kiss; Touches, Embraces, Electricity, Hand Holding,
Nearness, & Smelling (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed);
When Caroline’s shawl slips and show bare skin, Nathaniel is tempted and asks
her to pull it back up; Caroline bumps Nathaniel’s ankle on purpose & he
says he is “impervious to temptation” but notice the electricity; Mentions
of kisses & kissing (including a few conversations about kissing someone
and women wondering if a man is a good kisser); Mentions of a man swearing to
God that he not taking liberties with a girl besides a peck on the cheek; Mentions
of flirting (including Caroline & Nathaniel’s flirtatious conversations,
and Caroline pleading, bargaining, and flirting to get something done for her
job); Mentions of blushes & winks; A few mentions of sibling betting who
will get kissed first (which Caroline won when she asked a minister to kiss her
and he did); A few mentions of a man being told to keep his hands off of a
woman & her teasingly saying that she will keep her hands to herself; A few
mentions of crushes & being teased about having one; A couple mentions of affairs; A couple
mentions of Caroline flinging herself to Nathaniel; A mention of a man looking
up and down Caroline’s body (which she is used to and doesn’t mind if it snags
this man’s attention because she needs something from him); A mention of getting
an eyeful of married couple being affectionate; Love, attraction, falling in
love, & the emotions;
*Note: A mention of someone saying
about a tradition about taking off their clothes, drinking, & dancing
around a bonfire (not really, said to annoy someone else).
-Caroline Delacroix, age 28-29
-Nathaniel Trask, age 38-39
P.O.V.
switches between them
Set
in 1900-1901
356 pages
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New
Teens-
{ Add a ½
star for girls interested in American Political History. }
I truly enjoyed the different style
of pacing for this historical romance novel. Based on an interaction we see of
Caroline and Nathaniel from “The Spice King”, I was really expecting
this to be have the enemies-to-lovers trope between the two of them. I was
pleasantly surprised that it did not and that this book covered over a year of
their lives. While, yes, they were attracted to each other very quickly, because
of their work keeping them very busy, I would call it more of a slow-burn romance.
I really liked Caroline. She’s
good at damage control; She goes after what she wants in a strong (almost in a
polite but forceful?) way; She’s interested in fashion and high society but she’s
not shallow or ditsy. To describe her in a word: vibrant. I felt kinship with
Annabelle from the first book, but I admired Caroline. I honestly enjoyed that
they didn’t really get along (mainly Caroline towards Annabelle for her past
actions) because it was different from the typical new sisters-in-law fawning
over each other and because their personalities are so vastly different. I’m so
eager to read the third book and finally learn more about Luke.
Like normal with an Elizabeth
Camden book, I kept pausing reading to look up different historical facts and
events that were taking place and upcoming, waiting in suspense for different
events to happen.
While this one didn’t enthrall me
quite like “The Spice King” did, I still found this second book to be
very interesting and I enjoyed learning more about an administration that I
didn’t know much about. Definitely looking forward to reading the third and
final book soon.
See y’all on Friday with a new
review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this
author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
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