Monday, August 8, 2022

"The Prince of Spies" by Elizabeth Camden

About this book:

  “Luke Delacroix has the reputation of a charming man-about-town in Gilded Age Washington, D.C. In reality, he is secretly carrying out an ambitious agenda in Congress. His current mission is to thwart the reelection of Congressman Clyde Magruder, his only real enemy in the world.
   But trouble begins when Luke meets Marianne Magruder, the congressman's only daughter, whose job as a government photographer gives her unprecedented access to sites throughout the city. Luke is captivated by Marianne's quick wit and alluring charm, leading them both into a dangerous gamble to reconcile their feelings for each other with Luke's driving passion for vital reforms in Congress.
   Can their newfound love survive a political firestorm, or will three generations of family rivalry drive them apart forever?”


Series: Book #3 in the “Hope and Glory” trilogy. Review of Book #1 Here! and Book #2 Here!
 
 
Spiritual Content- A few Scriptures are mentioned; Prayers, Thanking God, & Blessings over food; A talk about honoring your father and mother; Luke talks some about his faith & Marianne is surprised that he is a church-goer (as she thinks that the Bible seems like a “weighty, convoluted book”); In a tough situation, Luke prays all the “passages of comfort” but thinks that God isn’t answering him; Towards the end, Marianne says that her mission now was to learn to live in a world in a way that “extended forgiveness to other fallen people”; A pastor is blunt to Marianne about her looking for a stronger faith;  Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers, praying, Thanking God, & blessings over food; Mentions of Bibles & Bible reading; Mentions of churches, church going, sermons, a pastor, & a minister (mostly for a wedding); Mentions of blessings & being blessed; A few mentions of monks & matrons in a convent/Mother Superior; A couple mentions of swearing or lying on a stack of Bibles; A mention of someone who was disowned from her family and her name being stricken from the family Bible; 
             *Note: Luke tells Gray he has three ghosts on his shoulders which Gray asks if they’re good ghosts or bad ghosts (Luke answers that they’re “The kind who wake you up at night and steal your joy and make you pray to God for forgiveness”); A couple mentions of Luke’s inner demons & another man not having any; A couple mentions of Marianne being compared to “forbidden fruit” for Luke; A mention of a husband worshipping the ground his wife walks on; A mention of a devilish smile; A mention of talisman. 
 
 
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blast’, a ‘damning proof’, a ‘darn’, an ‘idiot’, a ‘shut up’, a ‘witch’ (when referring to another woman), and three forms of ‘stupid’; A couple mentions of curses (said, not written); Some eye rolling; Being punched & bleeding (which Luke says he’s turning the other cheek, which upset the other man a lot, up to semi-detailed); Going to prison & running away from/fighting with an officer (both as a visitor and being arrested, barely-above-not-detailed); Headaches, Pain, & Being ill (up to semi-detailed); Marianne is shoved by her brother when he’s angry; Marianne’s father goes through her stuff and kicks some of it in anger & grabs her face forcefully; Throwing glass items are others in a fit of anger (common in Marianne’s family and she does it once); Luke struggles with claustrophobia & has “attacks of panic” (semi-detailed); To meet the weight requirement for something, Luke drinks a gallon of water to up his weight; Both Marianne & Luke have been raised to not like the other’s family & there are barbs against each other’s family; Trying to help a dog that fell in a frozen lake (& someone else falling in, the dog is okay, up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of jails/prisons, prisoners/criminals, treason, a spy ring, & a rebellion (Luke in Books #1 & #2); Many mentions of deaths (allergic reactions), poison, chemicals being in food, & human and animal test subjects; Many mentions of eavesdropping, gossip, & rumors; Mentions of wars, fighting, & losing everything; Mentions of a little boy’s dog being shot and killed because of his actions (the father was proud to get rid of the dog because his wife didn’t like it and was able to punish his son, barely-above-not-detailed but is very bluntly written; Marianne is very sad and disappointed that it happened; The young boy becomes very fearful of many things after & his father shows no remorse); Mentions of child labor; Mentions of a break-in & vandalism; Mentions of counterfeit items; Mentions of throwing glass items at others in fits of anger & Marianne’s parents argue; Mentions of a dog that fell in a frozen lake, his struggling, & a rescuer falling in as well (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of hatred; Mentions of smoking, cigars, & pipes; Mentions of alcohol/wine/champagne, social drinking, & a bar; Mentions of throwing up; Mentions of children cheating on a test; A few mentions of prejudice towards an Indian (Native American) man; A few mentions of insurance fraud; A few mentions of bribery; A few mentions of lies & lying; A few mentions of backstabbing; A few mentions of using the bathroom; A couple mentions of an assassination of a president (Book #2); A couple mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of hunting & skinning animals; A mention of the Ku Klux Klan; A mention of someone being accused of theft; A mention of being robbed; 
             *Note: Marianne shows her smallpox vaccination scar & says “People were once terrified of getting vaccinated, but they’ve been doing it for more than fifty years, and I thank God for it!”; Mentions of the book Don Quixote; Mentions of paintings & artists.
 
 
Sexual Content- Two fingers-to-lips touches, two hand/palm kisses, a neck kiss, jaw kisses (barely-above-not-detailed), a forehead kiss, an almost kiss, a not-detailed kiss, four barely-above-not-detailed kisses, a border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kiss, and four semi-detailed kisses; Recalling a kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Hand Holding, Nearness, Warmth, & Electricity (up to semi-detailed); Wanting & Longing for someone; Blushes & Winks; Noticing; Luke says Marianne is pretty enough to tempt and monk & that he’s no monk; Many mentions of Marianne’s fathers infidelities, affairs, mistresses (including his grandson’s nanny, which he tried to hide from his wife by kicking out the woman saying that she was a thief), his illegitimate children, & others in the family being mean/rude/hateful to those children (Marianne says that her father does love his wife *Spoiler* Marianne’s “real mother” had an affair and was then paid well to hand her over after the birth; Marianne is very thankful that her father didn’t abandoned her; Marianne’s brother makes snide comments about her birth & later tells a reporter the secret to hurt her; Marianne’s (adoptive) mother also makes slips about not wanting to raise another illegitimate child; Marianne’s (adoptive) mother get very mad at her husband and throws things at him when he comes home late from the city where his illegitimate son and his mother live *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of blushes & winks; Mentions of flirting; Mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of a couple showing their physical appreciation of the other (mostly her: her sitting on his lap and tracing his neck, barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of men not laying a finger on a woman; A couple mentions of a wife wanting her husband’s secretary to have the face like a bulldog; A mention of a secret meeting between lovers; A mention of the slang about a child being “born on the wrong side of the blanket” (illegitimate); A mention of a tramp; Love, falling/being in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: Luke compares Marianne to a beautiful Botticelli (painter) nymph, which she replies that they’re all naked (he says “not all of them”); Mentions of a man’s bare chest (no details); A couple mentions of Marianne’s mother’s figure and having her corset tight to “put other women in the shade”; A couple mentions of a painting of a woman with a low-cut dress (Nell Gwynn, the mistress of King Charles II); A mention of going as a half-naked strumpet to a themed ball; A mention of bosom buddies.
 
-Marianne Magruder, age 26
-Luke Delacroix, age 30
                                P.O.V. switches between them
                                             Set in 1902 (Final Chapter set in 1906)
                                                        352 pages

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Pre Teens- 
New Teens- 
Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 
My personal Rating- 

{Not for those sensitive to animal (dog) deaths and/or affairs, cheating, and hatred towards illegitimate children.}

The final book in a trilogy I’ve been eager to finish.

Unfortunately, It was nowhere near the first two for me because…well, I’ll get into that in a moment, but I did like a few different aspects.

I find the topic of chemicals used in foods to be fascinating and that’s truly what pulled me into this series. I quickly fell for the sibling dynamics between the Delacroix trio. Seeing a certain couple’s wedding in this book was particularly sweet.

When the reveal of their last names happen, I did really like how it was handled—like adults. They still kept seeing each other, though, which added the Romeo and Juliet-ish trope. For the first, oh, 40% I was very interested and smiling like a fool at parts—even if it was insta-love. But my enjoyment started dwindling as it continued.

While it could be refreshing to have a main girl not be super strong-willed (like most in the Christian Fiction Historical genre) or very being a wallflower (like many others in the genre), Marianne was in-between those two in terms of her personality. And I really struggled with her.

Because Marianne and Luke are fictional (I would never say this to a real-life couple) and I viewed their relationship from a not-involved point-of-view: I don’t think Marianne was good enough for Luke. He was constantly showing his loyalty to her, but all she cared about was her family’s stats on things and their approval—even when certain members of her family are just absolutely hateful and evil. She had an opportunity to do something very important for Luke, but instead she doesn’t do anything until she receives something sweet from him that finally kicks her into gear.

Speaking of her family’s evil actions, a beloved dog is killed (technically off-the-pages, but is mentioned often) and it about tore my heart out to read it. As a sensitive dog lover, I truly think that every time I see this book I’ll be reminded of those parts. It was completely unnecessary and used just to make the reader hate a certain character even more (when he didn’t need help in that regard).

There’s also a lot of mentions of cheating, affairs, illegitimate children, and hatred towards those children.

The faith content was…interesting. I really enjoyed Luke’s parts with his faith, but I wish there would have been more on Marianne’s parts other than a quick skimming towards the end about giving forgiveness in a fallen world. (Particularly after her comment about the Bible always seeming like a “weighty, convoluted book” closer to the beginning. I wasn’t satisfied at all with her faith parts.)

The ending was odd for me. I knew that it wouldn’t follow the typical “normal” route, but it still felt like a strange and random way to end the book.

I’m a bit sad, because I was so looking forward to reading Luke’s story and seeing all the photography elements. Unfortunately, there were just too many other parts that took away from my enjoyment.

 
 

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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