The Charmer

Assassins Guild #1

by C.J. Archer

He was the last man she needed, but the only one she wanted.

Orlando Holt has never assassinated a woman before. The lovely, feisty Lady Lynden will be his first. She's supposed to be a vicious murderess, but when Orlando begins to have doubts, he sets out to discover the identity of the person who hired him. What he learns will turn his world upside down, and propel him headlong into love with a woman who's immune to his charms.

Twice widowed by the age of twenty-four, Lady Susanna Lynden has had enough of charming men. Her last husband knew all the right things to say to get her to the marriage bed…then made her life miserable. Money may be scarce and her house falling down around her, but the exotic fruit from her orange trees will keep poverty away. Except someone is thwarting her at every turn. Someone who may even want her dead.

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Historical, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Mystery, Audiobook

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2013

About the author

C.J. Archer is the USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of historical mystery and historical fantasy novels including the GLASS AND STEELE series, the CLEOPATRA FOX MYSTERIES, the MINISTRY OF CURIOSITIES and THE GLASS LIBRARY series.

She has loved history and books for as long as she can remember and feels fortunate that she found a way to combine the two. She has at various times worked as a librarian, IT support person and technical writer but in her heart has always been a fiction writer. She lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband, 2 children and Coco the black and white cat.

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Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This might be a weird thing to say, but I can totally see Orlando as a good-guy vampire assassin. Like, he's charming and upbeat and yet he has this hidden darker side. One that likes to spill a little blood.

Yeah, it's weird, isn't it? It really has no bearing on the story, either. I just thought I'd share.

Anyway. Orlando and Susanna. She'd heartsore. He's a... well, a charmer. He lies with ease and insinuates himself into her life, all why trying to figure out if the charges against her are true. With her past, she's wary of allowing anyone into her inner sanctum (and I don't mean that in a dirty way) and she's determined to find a way to make it on her own.

Naturally, the two end up with some fierce attraction between them. Because an assassin and a maybe-murderess can't take the easy path.

Entertaining with a touch of mystery as Orlando works on unraveling why someone would want Susanna dead. I'm intrigued by the other members of the Guild and how they're going to end up with their ladies. Because watching strong men fall is my weakness.

-Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal

[HR-ML · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story took place mostly in the English countryside,
in 1598. A murder mystery mixed in w/ a romance.
I did not think the H & h had a solid foundation for love.

Hero Orlando belonged to the Assassins Guild (AG).
He described their purpose thusly, "We don't kill in-
discriminately. Every one of our targets is deserving
and thoroughly investigated 1st. We don't eliminate
anyone unless we are absolutely certain of their
guilt." Didn't magistrates already investigate?

The AG process: a person wrote a letter to the AG
via a neutral locale & provided money with the name
of the one who needed to be killed. The hero prided
himself on being on the side of "justice" when it was
more like a vigilante network? What was the criteria
for guilt vs innocence? Criteria for evidence? The AG
interviewed how many people per case? Did they 'flip
a coin' or arrive at a logical, objective decision RE
guilt? What about self-defense/ other explanations?

Lady Susanna had a series of men misrepresent/ lie
to her. Then she discovered the H lied also. Wouldn't
most women be worried/ freaked out to meet an
assassin (h learned this later) much less one who
became a love interest?

Sorry, this story did not 'ring true.'

[Graylark]

DNF at 37%.

It wasn't offensively bad, just boring. I couldn't feel anything between them, and their relationship was more tell than show. The guy was incompetent as hell at being stealthy for a secret assassin, too.

[Ambrosia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting premise and solid characters.

But there is a sense of "generic romance" about it, despite the H's unusual profession (assassin). It is putatively set in the late 16th century - presumably to explain the male characters' views in women and their attitudes towards the h. But other than some nominal political back story and those attitudes, really nothing gave the story a clear sense of time. The language is modern., and the h's situation feels modern - despite the aforementioned attitudes about women. This could practically be any romance set in any time period.

Also the "twist" at the end was obvious!

[Lindap · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 / 3 Stars

I've read the Glass and Steele series and like those. The Charmer an okay historical romantic mystery.

I listened to this as a Hoopla audio. I didn't care for the female narrator's voice for Susanna. When she narrated the story, and Susanna's inner thoughts, her voice was good, but when she switched to Susanna I didn't like her choice of voice. Naturally that's a personal feeling.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

I almost put this down within the first few chapters because women with any insistence of autonomy kept being referred to as shrews. However, I’ve read a lot of this author’s books and knew that it would get better, and it did. As usual, this was true to form - lighthearted, a strong female protagonist, and a man who is worthy of being her equal set in a time when women had no power.

[Elizabeth Bennet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, so me and some friends regularly checked out the freebie list and I have bunches of these books piled into categories on my kindle. This was one of them and I've noticed this author has quite a few of her books on the freebie list so I wanted to see if I liked her writing. She's retry good. Her H is written as a typical love and leave them type and the h is a strong, independent widower. The book was a bit predictable but still an enjoyable read. The love scene was hot and the ending was everything I hoped for. I would be willing to check some more out by this author. There is no cheating or whining going on. The h is a bit stubborn but with good reason. Not one but two husbands wanted a trophy wife and than cheated and one even beat her and so it was hard for her to trust again. There's more but you'll have to discover it on your own. Enjoy!

[Seon Ji (Dawn) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this one. Very different from the typical romance style novels. Good plot, lovable hero. Well developed characters. Conflict was good and kept me interested throughout the whole book.

[Katie Utterly Unashamed · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure what it is about this writing that intrigues and pulls me in so much, but every book that I read captures my entire attention.

Each book is similar yet so different. There is something about historical english books that make me so happy.

Note, I have already finished book 2, and in true Katie fashion, I'm going to bulk review them.

Loved it, loved the next now. These are just easy comfort reads.

[Wonda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yeesh...I felt like I was reading some weird romance written by a child...I was bored and expected so much more from an assassin novel...I am officially stating C.J. is a one hit wonder for me with the Glass and Steele series!

[Narules · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

I hands down enjoy Archer’s later mysteries.

I appreciate this early work as it demonstrates how she’s refined her skills (more intrigue and facets in her mystery where the romance is backstage, and no sex scenes). This experience also illustrated why new authors need a second chance.

Though this mystery was predictable, there was solid character development. Time to have some marmalade.

[Linda]

DNF after 2 chapters.
I love the Cleopatra Fox series by this author, but this was just boring.

[Dee Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable story.

I am not a big fan of historical romance but at times find a book that is intriguing to read. This was a solid story, has an HEA and believable characters. The mystery was well-plotted and story-line enjoyable. Those who love a mysterious historical romance would truly love this adventure.

I would rate this as R for slight violence and some sexual scenes.

[CK · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pleasantly Complex

This romance is set in Elizabethan England. Our two main characters are a charming assassin afraid of himself, & a woman too young to be a widow twice over.
Between murder, house invasion, jealousy, mistakes, regrets, & Oranges, a story is woven. Narrated in equal parts by our two heroes, trust & love are explored in detail.


I didn't actually realise that I've enjoyed other books by this author until I reached the end. It was a pleasant surprise. I figured out some plot points a little further in advance than I would have liked, but the complexities that surrounded those plot points made the story interesting enough that I still felt a good bit of tension & surprise.
My usual bug-bear, line editing, was buzzed a few times, but overall the structure was excellent & the mistakes few.

I'm more than happy to suggest this book to someone looking for an interesting romance with history, plot, & no false naïveté.

I apologise if I'm not making much sense, I've been reading this book at strange hours while I deal with illness.

[Jason Ellis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wish Hoopla had the same cover art as Goodreads. I would have never subjected myself to this particular drivel had I seen the lusty abs art.
I really like CJ Archer’s other work series, but this story was just too damn slow. We knew who the person was who hired the assassin 1/4 of the way into the book. And her normally strong female leads were replaced by confused hit men who were acting like love sick puppies.
Absolutely have been loving the Glass and Steele series and have just started the Ministry of Curiosities series. Money goes to the same author and you won’t regret your decision to invest in a CJ Archer book if you go with one of these, but skip this book (and series?? Don’t know because I won’t give book two a chance)

[KC · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a HUGE fan of the Glass and Steele books so was very interested in trying another series by this author. The premise is VERY interesting and the characters were intriguing. I enjoyed there being an unraveling mystery. It didn’t at all seem like a romance to me and I was eager to start the second in series until I stumbled upon the cover here. If this is a romance novel/series I will likely not keep up with it.

[Michele bookloverforever · Rating 2 out of 5]

who hired the assassins guild to kill an impoverished widow? a family of mad people it turns out. luckily the hired assassin realizes the widow is innocent of any crime and then protects her from the person who hired him. turns out jealousy, envy and greed were motives. then the killers obsessed brother destroy a the poor widows property and ultimately tries to kill her...an observer saves her.

[Desiree · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping that because I'd liked her other book that I read, I would enjoy this one. I was very, very wrong. There were so many inaccuracies and it just sucked. I dragged myself through it because I was bored, but. . .severe disappointment.

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strangely, I enjoyed learning about early citrus agriculture from this novel. However, the story itself was okay, but very long winded - the start and the ending especially dragged. I found the characters a bit two dimensional and so I couldn't become invested in the love story.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

It dragged.

[Shelley · Rating 1 out of 5]

This may be a good book but I could only listen to 2 chapters of the audio book the narrators were terrible.

[Yaz Quan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Upside

The Assassins Guild series is well written, interesting, gripping, sexy, with strong heroines and buff, gorgeous, well endowed heroes. The four heroines are witty, courageous, smart, and self-confident. That is always a relief to find in historical fiction. Our four heroes, all introduced in book one, are assassins for hire who have become close friends, as well. Their individual missions and their relationship with each other are the threads that bind all the characters together, and it works very well as a framework for each of our heroines as they are introduced in their own stories. C.J. Archer's main characters are robust and believable and her villains are more than they seem. Together the four books present a captivating, if too brief, glimpse of the Elizabethan culture and court.

Downside

The books increasingly rely on homophobic tropes as the series progresses, distracting from the plot and character development. This is a deal-breaker for me, and a shame because they are otherwise entertaining, well crafted stories.

Perhaps you are thinking I'm being too harsh and whether or not a work is homophobic is open to interpretation. Or maybe it's just reflective of the times. After all, we are talking about the 16th century. To that I would respond, it's about the 16th century, not written in the 16th century. Judge for yourself. CAUTION: SPOILERS AHEAD. Not really. This has nothing to do with plot. You'll see.

In The Charmer, the sexuality of Lynden, the local nobleman, is alluded to vaguely and only near the end by way of his disinterest in women in general and our heroine specifically. Up to that point, he had been merely serious, status obsessed, and stingy. Oxley, another nobleman, is a pretend "fop" and "dandy" so he won't attract notice that would alert anyone to his identify as a leader of assassins, because being an effeminate flounce in 16th century England would not attract notice and not being one would immediately lead others to believe one was an assassin.

Lynden is mostly absent from book two, The Rebel, so Lord Oxley's pretend fop - by now, a clear code word often accompanied by adjectives such as ridiculous, preening, and frivolous - bears the weight of the stereotype. This, however, is just the setup.

In book three, The Saint, the author appears to be full on exorcising some personal homosexual resentment. By this point, Oxley flirts with Lyndon and poses with his hand on his hip. Lynden, now an inept and pathetic loser in love, moons hopelessly over the unattainable Oxley. Lynden is to be taken seriously by no one. Oxley, on the other hand, Archer makes clear, is to be taken seriously because he's only pretending to be "foppish" specifically so no one would take him seriously, which of course one naturally would not, or think him anything other than a fool, which of course one naturally would. The Saint then graduates to outright sneering speculation about Lynden and catamites, both an insult and a reference to pederasty, and so unapologetically conflates fop and pedophile.

By book four, The Sinner, the final glove is off: Oxley tosses his head and steps daintily, while Lynden's attraction to Oxley is played for comedy and derision, with the author always vigilant in drawing an explicit line between the pathos of the real fop and the ingenuity of the pretend, truly masculine, one. Finally, subtlety be damned, Oxley openly sneers at Lynden as one who couldn't know "what manliness was." And this last truly comes out of nowhere. Out. Of. Nowhere.

Note that what I describe in the preceding paragraphs reveals nothing of the plot of each book. That is because this unoriginal, gratuitous, relentless, homophobic stereotyping is completely peripheral to the plots. It does nothing to advance the story. It serves no literary purpose and furthers no plot point. I hope, at least, it worked out whatever trauma the author is so poorly and publicly flogging.

[Nancy Brady · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a historical romance of a little different story line. An assassin is hired to kill a young woman, who has had two husbands die while married to her.

Orlando Holt is the assassin; Susanna is the young woman who is just trying to keep her family farm going. In fact, she is trying to keep a small grove of orange trees alive so that her marmalade and succades will help add to the farm's revitalization. Sounds easy enough, but she, her father, and several servants live in England (hardly the typical environment for growing oranges).

As winter is nearing, she must figure out a way to prepare the trees for survival. This is when Orlando shows up. Before he will assassinate her, he wants to research the deaths of her husbands. Could she have killed them? If so, why? To get closer to her, he asks for a job. He claims he is a gardener, but he certainly doesn't act like one.

The servants don't quite trust him; Susanna certainly doesn't quite trust him; and her ailing father is hardly in a position to question his motives. The neighbors aren't particularly helpful, either. Yet, he gets the job, works hard, and finds only that someone wants her dead.

Who wants her death? Will Orlando figure it out and kill her despite a growing desire for her? Will she marry again? Her neighbor Walter asks repeatedly, but she doesn't wish to marry again. Can a woman run an estate considering the time this novel is set?

The chemistry between pair (Susanna and Orlando) heats up, but what will happen to them? She doesn't wish to ever be married again; he works for the Assassins Guild and can't be married.

A few What-the-tuck trends, but very few.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

No really, I read these for the story

I'm sure you've never heard that before.

I actually do, and it's because I started reading Archer's books with Glass and Steel, which has an almost frustrating lack of sexiness in them, because the slow burn romance is just THAT slow, it never catches fire IN the books.

Now, with that said, I enjoyed those books, and am still enjoying The Glass Library series as it's continuing to be released right now, and I truly do read Archer because she has an interesting knack for keeping fresh (most of the time) and driving plots in her books, for the flaws they do have.

That is all to say that this first book in the Assassins Guild series truly could have been better, but it needed at least another hundred pages probably to achieve it. There just weren't enough suspicious characters in this, and although I typically do a marvelous job of pulling the wool over my own eyes reading who-dunnits so that I can enjoy the reveal more, it was so painfully, glaringly obvious who the villain was in this one, I was rather disappointed. I also felt like Monk's character really needed to be expounded on more before the end, but I'm betting (without looking ahead) that one of the books in this series will be focused on him. I'm honestly a little surprised that Book 2 centers around Cole next.

Either way, I couldn't justify a 3 star on this considering how it felt like an opening series book on speed run. Hopefully the rest of the series is a little more fleshed out.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love C.J. Archer. I have read a ton of her books (multiple times) and loved all of them! But this is the earliest book I have read by her and it felt a little different. It didn't feel like one of her books. I did still enjoy it. I just thought it was interesting how her voice has changed over the years.

Okay, besides the point that it didn't feel like her other works, I did still enjoy the book. There was one "moment of passion" but it wasn't all over the book. This book focused a lot on the characters inner thoughts and the way they changed more. It also had some mystery.



One way it did feel like Archer was in the strong independent female character. Susanna was definitely a take action heroine. She had been through two rough marriages and she had learned to be strong.

At the same time Orlando was like many of Archer's hero's. Utterly handsome and strong, but gentlemanly. Gotta love em. Although, I didn't realize that this is a spinoff from the hawkesbury's Players so I might read those first. Though I don't think it really matters, but you get glimpses of a character from that in this one, and I want to know his story. Overall, another great Archer read.

[TheWidowRose · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could not finish, even at 80%…..I had to at least know if the main villain was the person I suspected all along - and it was, *sigh*.

The signs are there throughout the book, and it is so obvious that when the reveal comes late in the game, it is eye-rollingly trite. The circumstances that brings so many coincidences together, at the same time, in the same village, at the same house is just preposterous. The assassin guild characters did seem interesting as well as the red herring in the book. Pretty much all the male characters had varying intrigue. But unfortunately, so much else in the book felt like filler to a dangerous mystery that could’ve been wrapped up a lot quicker.

To make matters worse, which I don’t blame the book for – I listened to the audio version. Narrated by the famed “Duke DeFoix” and “Duchess DeFoix. He was fantastic. Varied range, character voices, sexy tone.

But her?!?! Trust me don’t ever listen to anything by the Duchess DeFoix.

She was abominable. If you could call someone an audio over-actor, that is her. She gave no inflection differences when reading the FMC. It was the same overdone script-reading where the anger, passion, fright, happiness all sounded pretty much the same.

Just a bad experience all around. Unless it were to come, highly recommended, I have no intention of reading the rest of the series.

[Suzanne Garrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sheer perfection

Who doesn’t like a piece of Elizabethan fiction combined with a little romance and mystery? You get an independent Elizabethan woman who’s been married twice and is determined to stand on her own two feet, and a very charming rascal for a hero who can’t understand why any man would be fool enough to fall in love. I had to force myself to put the book down last night or I would have been up until dawn.

The character arcs are extremely well developed, as is the story arc. You’re given plenty of options for “who did it,” but the true identity of who wants the heroine dead can’t be ferreted out until the end, and then it’s a one two punch. At two points in the book I was near tears, I was so invested in these characters.

The thing I liked best about this book is that I thought I was reading the second or third of the series, but was surprised to find it wasn’t a good stand alone, but the first. I’ve put the author down as one to check out at my library and add her books to my ever growing TBR list.

[Cathy Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two and a half stars. I usually enjoy most of C J Archers work, but this one just didn't work for me. There were too many elements that have been used too often in romance novels, which is fine when they are believable and feel genuine. In this work, they just seemed recycled. Former bad marriages for the heroine, but surrounded by loyal servants who loved their kind mistress, who almost seemed too perfect in the kindness and forgiveness areas. A woman who strives to be strong and independent, but falls for the charms of a hero of superman proportions. A hero with a dark past who has no shortage of women, but never plans to love just one or settle down. The circumstances of their meeting may have been unusual, but that was the only originality. There was no feeling of suspense or any real interesting pull between the lovers.

I listened to the audio version and really appreciated that there was both a male narrator and a female narrator.

[lalalandreads · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read C.J. Archer’s later works before this one, and can see she has improved. Not that this is a bad book, but is a little slow to burn. An assassin must determine if a young woman who has lost two husbands has killed them. If so, he must kill her. It unfolds later who hired him, and it’s not who you would think. Anyway, he gets himself hired as her Gardner, gets to know her, is intimate with her, and finds himself protecting her. They fall in love. He returns to London and is miserable without her, so upon his return he is delighted to find she is pregnant. Murderer turned family man? Bit of a stretch.

[Shelby · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

Yes Orlando is a charmer. He's been sent to assassinate a woman for the first time, but if she's not guilty of the crimes she's been accused of, then Orlando isn't going to follow through. Charming his way into Susanna's good graces seems like the best game plan. Only Susanna's doesn't seem to be all that susceptible. Hiring on as a gardner for her to help with her precious orange trees seems like the only way to find out more about her. Falling for her wasn't in the plans.

Figuring out who really hired Orlando wasn't honestly that hard. But I still enjoyed the ride. I'd be curious to check out another book in the series.