Lady Emily's Exotic Journey by Lillian Marek
Sourcebooks Casablanca
Book Two in the Victorian Adventures series
Historical Romance
Published August 4, 2015
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon Goodreads
Why I picked up this book:
Historical romance set in *not England* intrigues me.
Blurb:
From sensible, sheltered girl...
Safe in the embrace of her loving family, Lady Emily Tremaine longs to feel more intensely alive. Surely the magic and mystery of Assyria and the fabled ruins of Nineveh will bring about the transformation she seeks.
To the woman his heart desires...
Scarred by his past and estranged from his noble grandfather, French adventurer Lucien Chambertin desires neither a home nor the chains of emotional attachment. He seeks only to explore the far reaches of the world. But he did not know the world contained the likes of Lady Emily - whose curiosity and sense of wonder match his own.
Safe in the embrace of her loving family, Lady Emily Tremaine longs to feel more intensely alive. Surely the magic and mystery of Assyria and the fabled ruins of Nineveh will bring about the transformation she seeks.
To the woman his heart desires...
Scarred by his past and estranged from his noble grandfather, French adventurer Lucien Chambertin desires neither a home nor the chains of emotional attachment. He seeks only to explore the far reaches of the world. But he did not know the world contained the likes of Lady Emily - whose curiosity and sense of wonder match his own.
My Thoughts:
I reviewed the first book in the Victorian Adventures series last year. Lady Elinor's Wicked Adventures was not quite as wicked as I wanted, but a decent book overall. Lady Emily's Exotic Journey was even better, with a determined and brave heroine at the helm. It had that same 'Englishwoman in exotic locale' flair and a secondary romance that I actually did care about this time around, though that romance could have had a few extra moments just to make it as swoon-worthy as possible.
Emily and Lucien make a lovely couple. They're forced into close proximity by virtue of their travel arrangements, and it creates this unexpected bond between them. As those arrangements change, and they become separated, they have to individually cope with that feeling of loss, and what it might mean.
There's a few obstacles keeping Emily and Lucien apart--some more dramatic than others. I found their journey pretty entertaining, and the exotic backdrop definitely helped.
My only problem, in fact, with Exotic Journey was that it felt quite long. Not only do the hero and heroine need to meet and fall in love, plus the secondary romance, but there's additional story beyond what could have been the happily ever after point. It wraps up Emily and Lucien's story, but I found that, with the story broken into so many sections, the pacing lagged in spots for me, particularly through the last bit.
Bottom line:
I liked Lady Emily's Exotic Journey, and I recommend it for anyone who likes their historical romance to veer off the beaten path. I'm all for romances featuring the aristocrats of whatever time period in England, but this is an excellent example of a way to take those characters and shake them up.
4 stars
For fans of travel romance, longer romances, Frenchmen.
But don't just take my word for it! I grabbed a few links to other blog reviews of Lady Emily's Exotic Journey:
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