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Celeste Bradley makes yet another sterling addition to her highly engrossing ‘Liar’s Club’ series with this latest story “The Charmer”. With his one arm rendered useless in war, Collis Tremayne has never quite recovered his confidence although his outward cheerful behavior and ever flirtatious ways do not reveal the hidden angst. As heir to the Duke of Etheridge, the head of the Liars, a group of incongruous but deadly spies recruited from all levels of British society, Collis is also a Liar-in-training along with Rose Lacey, the only female recruit who was a downtrodden housemaid before being rescued by Etheridge’s wife.
The sparks between these two are undeniable, but given their difference in social status, remains unacknowledged and only manifests itself in the regular pitting of skills they frequently dare each other into. When one such contest has disastrous consequences, as a punishment the two are given a mock case to solve together. The duo little realize how this one assignment will alter their individual destinies, for Rose will have to face demons from her past yet again, while Collis will have to discover for himself if he lost the use of his ingenuity along with the use of one arm on the battlefield. The question is will they survive this arduous job and if they do, will their feelings be strong enough to survive the insurmountable social barriers.
Like the other books in this bold and dashing series, “The Charmer” too succeeds in charming its readers out of their mundane lives and sweeps them into England of a bygone era where the threat of Napoleon is very real, daring spies are willing to risk all for their country, insidious battles rage quietly and naturally there are villains galore to disrupt the whole affair. But in this story instead of having a roguish spy hero and a beautiful and determined heroine, Bradley has made them both spies-in-training who’re not only fiercely competitive and equally matched, but also are desperate to prove their worthiness and are together sent to accomplish a dangerous mission. In the process, they also have to settle their differences and sort out their emotions, a task which may or may not have far-reaching consequences. The suspense is tremendous and keeps the readers wondering if they will ever make it as spies and/or a couple. As the plot progresses, some loose ends are tied up, characters from previous stories put in an appearance. Towards the end, the pace picks up and so does the passion; as a result the ending is a tumultuous amalgamation of love, romance, mystery and deadly danger. To sum up, Celeste Bradley has done it again!
Reviewed by Rashmi Srinivas
for The Road to Romance
November 10, 2004
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