The Escape Artist Book Blog

Summary:

Years ago, Miss Esme Astell fell hopelessly in love with Charles Brittle, an unassuming and highly respectable London bookmaker.

Then he disappeared without a word.

The last thing Esme ever dreamed was to meet Charlie again —

In a dark alleyway —

In a drenching rain —

In a chase with the police —

In Scotland.

Can she resist falling again, this time for the dangerous scoundrel he’s become?

Review:

This picks right up from another novella of the author titled The Scoundrel and I. I realized this about 20 pages into the book and went back and re-read that novella out of curiousity but this was really not necessary at all. The book can stand-a-lone for sure. I actually liked it better than The Scoundrel and I - the characters were more likeable and relatable and had great chemistry. I really liked Esme. She was so spunky and vibrant that it was fun to discover more about her personality and the reader wasn’t the only one as the hero, Charles, was discovering her to be a revelation as well.

The story was very complicated and hard to follow at times. I marveled at where the idea must have come from to include a quest for a dog in exchange for freedom. I have to say though that many of Katherine Ashe’s books contain creative and complex plots and this really makes her unique. It’s hard to know what might happen next and I appreciate that as too many times books are so predictable.

This is a pleasant, sweet and endearing book that I tremendously enjoyed. It wasn’t too short and actually felt like a full and complete novel. Absolutely worth reading!

Received an ARC from the publisher