Boudreaux’s Lady by Lauren Smith – a Review

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Description:
Danger makes the heart grow fonder…
Miss Philippa Wilson makes the best of a bad situation. Her lot in life isn’t what she’d choose, but being an upstairs maid for a wealthy baron is better than living on the streets. Little does she know her lackluster days are about to become decidedly more interesting…and dangerous. When a madman wants Philippa dead, it’s going to take more than the plan of her good-hearted employer to save her and find out why she’s being targeted. It’s going to take a hero…or maybe a rogue.
Beauregard Boudreaux is a notorious rogue, living uneventful days and terribly scandalous nights with little thought to settling down. He needs nothing more than a strong drink, a beautiful mistress, and a spirited card game to be happy…When he intervenes to rescue a friend’s upstairs maid from a killer, he’s drawn into a game of cat and mouse with the maid used as bait to draw out the killer. But the more time Beau spends with Philippa as her protector, the more he has an irresistible attraction to this mysterious woman. He also can’t shake the feeling that he’s seen her somewhere before.
But Beau has lost too much in life to risk being hurt again. He can’t let himself fall in love, not even with the temptation Philippa presents to him.
And bloody hell, she is oh-so tempting…

Review:

Boudreaux’s Lady is a historical romance novel. If you are familiar with Lauren Smith’s League of Rogues Series, you will recognize many of the characters in this new novel. This is a wonderfully thrilling novel with mystery, danger, suspense and of course, sizzling romance.

The main characters of the story are Beauregard Boudreaux and Phillipa Wilson (Selkirk).

This novel begins with a prologue set in London in October of 1806. Lady Albina Selkirk, wife of Cornelius Selkirk, the Earl of Monmouth has given birth to twins. A boy and a girl. The first born was a son, but he was stillborn. The girl was born second and healthy. Lord Monmouth was furious that his only son and heir was stillborn. He cursed at his wife as she lay bleeding out, dying. He instructed the midwife, Lucy, to take the girl to the miller’s cottage (the Wilsons) and make a deal to swap her for their son. He would give them much money to start over and he would raise their son as his heir, but they must all keep silent about it, forever. If they would not take his offer, he would kill the girl child.

The story picks up twenty years later at a ball where the Duke of St. Albans watched his grandson, Roderick, dancing.  He spoke to his good friend and almost neighbor Beau Boudreaux. The duke remarked on how the boy did not favor either him or his father, the Earl of Monmouth. But he loved the boy anyway. He was a good man with a kind heart. Beau and the duke were good friends since Beau was a boy and his mother had moved them here after his father had (a marquess) been killed by a firing squad in France, for his political beliefs. Beau thought of the duke as a surrogate father. The duke told Beau was the anniversary of his daughter’s death during childbirth and showed Beau her portrait in his hall. She was the most beautiful woman Beau had ever laid eyes on.

This setup is a little long, but I’m attempting to let you know what the story entails. I am, of course, leaving out the juicy details and conversations. I don’t do spoilers and you wouldn’t want me to spoil this marvelous tale. The author has done a marvelous job of showing the characters and gently letting you get to know them and their motives.

Our second main character, Philippa, is introduced now. She’s a maid in the household of Lord Lennox and his wife Rosalind (League of Rogues). While making up rooms upstairs, she hears someone arrive to see Lord Lennox. It was Lord Monmouth. Something about his voice chilled her and she became curious. Watching from the staircase as he waited, he became aware and looked up. His face paled and he muttered “No, you can’t be… Not here. It’s not possible.” He suddenly rushed up the staircase and grabbed by the throat and began choking her…

And that’s as far as I go with the setup! Except, she first meets Beau when he helps Lennox try to rescue her after Monmouth has someone kidnap her to kill her. Yes, this is an exciting thriller from start to finish. I haven’t given you much of the details that are included…because I don’t want to spoil it. Grab yourself a copy and make sure you have time to read. You won’t want to put this one down! I couldn’t!

Congratulations to author Lauren Smith on a brilliant novel.

Reviewed by Georgianna

Copy supplied for review