Reviews for Fleet Blade

The average rating for Fleet Blade based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-06-09 00:00:00 Mary Chapel I'm definitely a fan of Beth Kery's work, but this particular book is one of her much earlier novels (originally released in e-book format only), and it isn't on par with her more recent books, which are far more polished. Still, there's plenty to enjoy here too. Set around about the 1850s in London, we meet young Lady Lora Alexander, a bored and sexually unsatisfied duke's wife who uses the subterranean tunnels of the dried up Fleet River to traverse London without being caught. She gambles with her husband and his aristocratic friends, and flirts with danger by dressing up as a man and frequenting a brothel with them, just for kicks. She's a friend of young Queen Victoria, so anytime a whisper of scandal threatens Lora need only speak to the queen to have her firmly on her side. Her nighttime adventures are threatened when, returning from a disastrous dalliance at the brothel, Lora encounters the infamous thief called the Blade, who also uses the Fleet tunnels to make his way unseen across London, stealing treasures from the aristocrats. The chance encounter sets Lora on a new path, one of real passion and danger, as she yearns to experience being a real woman at the skilled hands of this Robin Hood thief, and makes the decision to help him with his goals. Fleet Blade is lots of fun, and I certainly tried not to take it too seriously, but there are flaws in its historical accuracy that were a bit distracting, and the chemistry between Lora and the Blade, while believable, wasn't as powerful as in most of Kery's other novels. I don't think Ellora's Cave employed an editor to go over this text before publishing it; they could have caught a few things and polished it up. One of the errors is in the introduction to Lora: everyone refers to her as Lady Lora or Lady Alexander, but she's supposedly Lady Lora Pembroke, Duchess of Alexander. In formal terms, she should be referred to as Her Grace, and her surname is Pembroke while her "seat" is Alexander - however, after this one mention, Pembroke is dropped entirely and Lora becomes a very informal duchess. I don't know why so many romance authors go for the duke thing, it should really make things so much more complicated than they are in the books because dukes are also often princes or closely related to the royal family, meaning they have less flexibility in their choices and much more responsibility to their position. Another naming glitch - or at least, I consider it one - is with the Blade's real name. He's called "Sin" for short, but he spells his full name "Sinjin". That might be phonetic, but it should be spelt "St. John" - which is pronounced "Sinjin". That one made my eye twitch a bit. Also, I didn't buy that in the 19th century in Egypt, a woman would have a high (and highly educated) position in a museum - or any job, for that matter. But I could be wrong. The 19th century was a time of change, just not that much in terms of women's opportunities. It's a reasonably saucy novel, not as daring as her more recent novels - the characters built up my expectations but a lot of the scenes that would have been fun to read were passed over I felt. In an erotic romance (as opposed to a "regular" romance) there's a lot more sex for the sake of sex - gratuitous sex, that is. I felt a wee bit short-changed with this one, though Sin did ooze sex and there was great tension between the couple. I was disappointed in Lora, though - she seemed to have a touch of bipolar or something. When it was just her, she was strong and feisty and daring; but when she was with Sin she became a bit of a wet blanket, which was confusing because of how Sin saw her as a woman who either needed "taming" or to be "set free". She seemed pretty tame to me. The ending was a bit too pat, too convenient, but it did end well and tidy and leaves you with a good feeling of having enjoyed a fun adventure story with some spicy scenes.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-07-23 00:00:00 shawn banks 3.5