Rating: 4 ♥’s
Published: March 2, 2021
Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Adult
Pages: 336
January 1889. As the newest member of the Curiosity Club—an elite society of brilliant, intrepid women—Veronica Speedwell is excited to put her many skills to good use. As she assembles a memorial exhibition for pioneering mountain climber Alice Baker-Greene, Veronica discovers evidence that the recent death was not a tragic climbing accident but murder. Veronica and her natural historian beau, Stoker, tell the patron of the exhibit, Princess Gisela of Alpenwald, of their findings. With Europe on the verge of war, Gisela’s chancellor, Count von Rechstein, does not want to make waves—and before Veronica and Stoker can figure out their next move, the princess disappears. Having noted Veronica’s resemblance to the princess, von Rechstein begs her to pose as Gisela for the sake of the peace treaty that brought the princess to England. Veronica reluctantly agrees to the scheme. She and Stoker must work together to keep the treaty intact while navigating unwelcome advances, assassination attempts, and Veronica’s own family—the royalty who has never claimed her.
I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
First and foremost happy release day to this awesome novel! Deanna has done it again! Also, look at the gorgeous cover! This book series truly has to have the most beautiful covers ever.
This book picks up right after Veronica and Stoker’s most adventure and it doesn’t take them long to be pulled into another one…well for Veronica to pull them into another one. It seems that their adventures just fall into their laps and they are just too good at what they do and have to solve them. This one not only involves solving a mystery but also impersonating a missing princess. This was a fun turn of events since we know that Veronica is part of the royal family, even if in secret. What I like about the books is that there is always a slight tease of her meeting up with her family and this one didn’t disappoint! She got to meet another of her family. I am really hoping that eventually, she does meet her dad.
The plot was well written. The story moved along nicely and I enjoyed that you uncovered more of the mystery as you went it wasn’t all thrown at you at once or just in bits and pieces. Instead, it was like the whole story you learn more about it as it went. I always enjoy that there is an adventure, some great humor, and of course some Veronica and Stoker romance. The way he can seem so stern and not the romantic he goes and says some of the sweetest things to Veronica. I think he is slowly whittling away at her cautious nature of relationships and settling and I love him all the more for letting her take her time.
The characters Veronica and Stoker, as always, are well written. I love the banter that happens between them and I find myself laughing out loud. I like that we still see some of the supporting characters from the other books and that you get to know more about them. I am curious to find out more about J.J. and what article she is trying to write. I did miss having some Tiberius time so I hope that he comes back because that trio is a fun one.
I definitely not only recommend this book but this entire series. I can’t wait to find out what mystery Veronica is about to take Stoker on that we were teased at the end.
Book Challenges
- Around the Year in 52 Books #21 – Whose title & author both contain the letter “u”
- 52 Books in 52 Weeks #34 – A book you’d rate 5 stars
- Popsugar 2021 #1 – A book published in 2021
- Magic in the Books #36 – A book with a flower on the cover
- Linz Bookworm #37 – The next book in a series you’ve started
- NJM Challenge #9 – With a sassy heroine
- A-Z Title – U & A-Z Author – D
- Booklist Queen #23 – Eye-catching cover
- The Nerd Daily #32 – A dash of royalty
- Wizarding World Tour #3 – In a series with 6 or more books
- Mount TBR, Virtual Mount TBR, Cloak & Dagger, Historical Fiction & Netgalley/Edelweiss
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