Dawn Encounter

Masters at Arms #2

by Jennifer Blake

Lisette Moisant is a widow, courtesy of the swordsmanship of Caid O'Neill, one of the city's legendary maitres d'armes. He bested her loathsome husband in a duel, but now she is a pawn of schemers who wish to steal her fortune and see her dead. It is Caid to whom she turns for protection, and guilt leaves him no recourse but to agree to Lisette's request.

But soon a whispering campaign is being waged against them, suggesting the two plotted to kill Lisette's husband all along, that she is a woman of loose morals and he is nothing short of a murderer. In a society where reputation is everything, the scandal and accusations threaten Lisette and Caid with ruin, and the person responsible will stop at nothing until they have paid with their lives.

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical, Collections, Historical Fiction, Fiction

416 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2006

About the author

A pseudonym used by Patricia Maxwell.

Jennifer Blake has been called a “pioneer of the romance genre”, and an “icon of the romance industry.” A New York Times and international best selling author since 1977, she is a charter member of Romance Writers of America, member of the RWA Hall of Fame, and recipient of the RWA Lifetime Achievement Rita. She holds numerous other honors, including two “Maggies”, two Holt Medallions, multiple Reviewer’s Choice Awards, the Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times BookReviews Magazine, and the Frank Waters Award for literary excellence. She has written over 60 books with translations in 20 languages and more than 30 million copies in print worldwide.

Jennifer and her husband reside in a lakeside Caribbean-style retreat in North Louisiana where they often entertain family and friends. Always a gardener, she spends much of her time encouraging her garden to bloom with her favorite daylilies and antique roses. She also enjoys walking her two dogs, Buffy and Lucky, and indulging in needlework, painting, and travel.

Reviews

[Misfit · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good, Blake can always keep me entertained when I'm in a reading slump. This is the second in a long series Blake wrote with the heroes being swordsmen, teaching their craft to the elite gentlemen of New Orleans and of course - fighting a duel or two. A bonus with Blake, she excels at setting the local mindset, customs, etc. so I always feel right at home.

[Luvmyfamily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would say it's more like 3.5 stars honestly. The story was very sweet with good honorable characters. It was well written with a good, interesting plot. My biggest frustration was that the author EXPLAINED EVERYTHING. If she used a French word she told is what it meant and a little about it. If there was a custom they practiced, she gave some history on it. She even explained what mosquito netting was used for as if it's not self explanatory. My opinion was that such explanations disrupted the flow of the story instead of assuming that we could get a good idea of what was happening without it.

[Catalina Roman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adormita de mine a citit volumul 2 din serie 🤦.....imi era dor sa citesc historical romance și căutând am dat peste aceasta autoare.
M-a uimit enorm de mult cât de bine este construita actiunea, personajele din secolul respectiv,pur și simplu superb.
Avem o serie care pune în peisaj personaje care manuiesc cu măiestrie scrima🤺 și bineînțeles sunt cavaleri superbi. Era de așteptat sa găsești asa ceva în volumele de acest gen....dar nu ma așteptam să fie așa de frumos detaliat povestea din spatele personajelor🥰care mi-a lăsat un gust dulce de a citi și celelalte volume 😁
În acest volum care amețit de mine a început cu volumul 2 este vorba în prin plan despre un cavaler superb și un profesor în scrimă pe nume Caid, care îl provoacă la un duel pe Eugene Moisant. Câștiga duelul care aduc consecințe destul de grele pentru Caid.
Cosecintele sunt soția văduvă a lu' Eugene, Lisette pe care o găsește inconștiență în cămașă de noapte pe mormântul lu' Eugene....ce cauta acolo în halul acela și ce consecințe va aduce Lisette atunci când el o va salva va fi destul de dureros la început dar și o răsplată care pentru Caid nu se aștepta niciodată 😁.
Ce se va întâmpla cu Lisette și de ce dorește ea asa de mult o libertate din închisoarea socrului Moisent citiți volumul!!!
Volumul este plin cu personaje superbe al secolului respectiv , cu guvernate, sclavi, copii orfani și dueluri frumoase.
Îi dau 5🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺 frumos volum.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Accidentally started this book before I knew it was a series, but it was FANTASTIC! I loved the setting (having spent much time in New Orleans). Only complaint is her explanations in the middle of the sentence for certain words she uses, but even that was useful. Highly recommend!

[☆.。.:*・°☆Love2Read♡HEAs☆.。.:*・°☆ {Anne} · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rated 4.3 Stars

The brotherhood is at it again!

Battling it out to keep their enemies at bay.

Romance is at an all time high even though they each fight it as if it might be a plague. They're bachelors after all, to be tamed by no dame.

I enjoyed this one a lot , just not as much as the first one. They're usually the best ones though anyway.

[Ana Rosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story

Jennifer Blake is an amazing writer. She captivates the reader with romance mystery intrigue. Can't wait to see what happens next.

[Angela Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second in the Masters at Arms series, and every bit as good as the first. It is such a shame that top-notch historical romance authors don't get the credit they deserve as researchers. Blake re-creates the world of 19th century New Orleans with tremendous care to detail and accuracy, right down to when and where the buildings stood, and the evolution of the streets and routes her characters follow. Not to mention her careful depiction of the art and strategy of sword-fighting, as well as the laws and traditions surrounding the duel. The romance never disappoints, but part of what makes you care so much is her ability to totally immerse you in their world and their reality. Time-travel with Blake - you will be glad you did.

[Cindy Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book!

Jennifer Blake has that rare talent of writing a historical novel that is sensual and romantic. The storyline here is another original plot worth multiple characters of interest.
I am always amazed that woman in the last several centuries are treated as children while used as brood mares and property. This story is a good example of this. Along with that, is the series itself set in mid 1800's New Orleans where life is one of honor and show! Very interesting and easy to read as well as highly entertaining. Definite must read for historical romance novel lovers.

[Stef · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great historical romance series by Jennifer Blake I read this month. Swords & hot men & mystery, suspense, romance, tied together in awesomeness.
Although I think I liked books 1-3 the best book 4 was very slow going. But the rest of the series was good. Read the series in 2 weeks.


I have enjoyed reading all of her books so far. She is a new author for me in 2018.

[Dinnl · Rating 3 out of 5]

mmm a 3 this time, I liked the characters actually but the level of conniving was a bit over the top. Will keep reading the series, I like the historical background and the male group it centres around.

[Loren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe it was me, but I didn't really enjoy it.

[Nicole alphAbet]

spring pile

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a little slower to get through. But it was an interesting read with just a touch of intrigue.

[Pinky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent build up to the love interest.loved the dialogues

[Elis Madison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maitre d’armes Caid O’Neill is in the habit of walking home from his evening entertainments via a graveyard.



He’s thinking about a guy he recently killed in a duel (the man in question was apparently responsible for Caid’s sister’s death). As Caid approaches the man’s tomb he finds an unconscious young woman—the dead man’s widow. She smells of laudanum and might’ve died of exposure had Caid not come along. He scoops her up and takes her to a woman friend’s house, where a doctor can attend her without wrecking her reputation.

When she awakes, Lisette Moissant asks Caid for his help. Her father-in-law, Henri Moissant, has been locking her in a room and trying to force her to hand over her dowry, which is legally in her control. She says she drank a tisane Moissant ordered for her, and the next thing she knew she was here, being told she apparently tried to kill herself.



Feeling a need to fix what he broke, Caid agrees to protect her.

For a lady who is in mortal danger, Lisette seems to have no regard whatever for risk management or… well, reality of any type. Nope, she’s not going to stay with Caid’s widowed friend, where she can more easily be guarded. She has to have her own house with lots of French doors on the ground floor. Nope, she’s not going to wait around for an escort when she wants to go out—not even a driver—she can drive her own gig, all by her lonesome, out on the darkest possible country roads (what can happen?). Caid’s just going to have to drop his life to watch her 24/7 and be handy when bad things happen. And especially nope, she’s not going to look for a husband who could protect her (Caid unfortunately deems himself ineligible for a lady of her standing). Caid’s got the "protector" title for life, or until he gets offed, whichever comes first.



Naturally, there’s an attraction between them—I say “naturally” because of course you know where this all ends up. But it takes a lot of twists and turns to get there, and there are quite a few revelations that I did not see coming.

After reading a few of Blake's books, there are lots of things I like. I love well-researched history, and Blake throws in awesome detail, not just about events of the time but about the daily details of people's lives. The fact that the story sometimes gets a little bogged down by those details—well, it can be tough to find balance. I also love a story that has more to it than the navel-gazing angst. I want action and adventure, and in this series, the mere fact that these heroes are constantly getting caught up in sword fights is a huge plus. I love me some swordplay—and yup, I'm sure there's symbolism there.

But I also need to identify with the protagonists. I kind of do with the heroes in this series, but the heroines thus far don't quite work for me. I don't dislike them by any means, but I never embrace them, either. I can't really put my finger on the problem, but when we get to the nitty gritty, especially in the most emotional scenes, I find myself paying more attention to the writing than what the writing is about. Lots of poetic prettiness that I appreciate intellectually, but I just don't feel it, if that makes sense. And when you're reading a romance, you kind of want to feel it.

In this book, too, some of the revelations at the end kind of blew up on me—the twists were definitely fresh, but the new info made me like one of the MC's less, which is never a good thing late in a book.

So this one gets 3 stars.

[Suzainur · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't read very many Americana historical romance. Primarily it's because the more I learn about the victimisation of the indigenous people of North America, the harder it is for me to read about the romantic half breed yearning for the blonde homestead daughter. So that takes the cowboy genre out of circulation for me and except for Pamela Morsi and Rebecca Paisley, I rarely come across other settings for Americana historical.

I liked the premise of New Orleans prior to the War Between the States and Ms. Blake did an excellent job of painting the atmosphere and society of the Deep South. I also liked that she didn't whitewash slavery in the premise and did it without contemporary moralising.

However, the female protagonist annoyed me with the way she vaccilated between being so die-away and bull-headed assertion of her independence. A bit like a spoilt brat, but I gave that a pass judging by her age and background. The male protagonist was a total dyed-in-the-wool hero; brave, self-sacrificing, painfully honourable etc etc, but a bit cookie cutter. I think that both characters could have done with greater character development, but alas, that territory was not ventured.

Male protagonist: 3/5 stars
Female protagonist: 2/5 stars
Storyline: 3/5 stars
Pacing: 2/5 stars
Fun Factor: 3/5 stars
Repeat Reading Factor: 1/5 stars

[Tabetha Waite · Rating 3 out of 5]

I definitely liked this book better than the first in the series. The dialogue and the plot was much more intriguing and we seemed to have more interaction between the MCs. The problem I had was Lisette's almost pitiful obsession with Caid and the fact she seemed to be running after him and declaring her feelings all the time while he merely brushed her off, simply because he retained some physical scars from his past. Not only that, but I almost found myself more interested in the side character of Blackford. Because, or rather, in spite of this, I will continue on :)

[Molly Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always loved romances with historical American settings, thanks to Jennifer Blake and her works in the 1980s. This is the first of her Masters At Arms series I read and I immediately fell in love with the characters, the steamy New Orleans setting, the social tensions and complex plot. It all works so harmoniously that I immediately set to by the first and third books and marked my calendar for the release dates for the rest of the series. I've kept them all on my shelf for those steamy summer nights when I can dream of gallant men wielding swords in old New Orleans.

[Anjeanette Porter · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a very well written love story. One of those books that won't let you put it down until the very end. I love this book.

[Tabby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess because I live in LA, I liked reading something where I could envision the settings and thinking about New Orleans "back in the day"

[Bettye McKee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved all of the Masters at Arms books. The settings and characters were very real and the stories were every one a masterpiece.

[Mandy Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

decent light. only had to skip 2 sections but overall quick read

[Louise Broadfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

the book started good but i did get bored with it.
it did take a long time to read.