Silken Surrender

by Carla Simpson

Jenna Randolph finds that her curiosity about the life of a handsome playboy is developing into love for him

Genres: Historical

491 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Carla Simpson also writes as Quinn Taylor Evans.

Reviews

[Janyne Laing · Rating 5 out of 5]

The plot summary on Goodreads is pretty scant. This is a story about a Prince robbed of his lands who sets out to uncover a Napoleonic conspiracy against the British royals. This leads him to cross paths with the heroine whose grandfather is also embroiled in the same intrigue. When her grandfather is suddenly murdered Jenna is driven to help uncover the conspiracy, which becomes a dangerous game of secrecy and deception hitting far closer to home that she could imagine. This was fantastic! A hidden gem. Love the original Zebra cover art. The story is layered and not simply character driven. It has a surprising attention to historical detail without being obvious. Like the passing mention of the Royal Theatre fire, Lord Byron’ romantic exploits and of course the Napoleonic wars. There are so many memorable scenes that I will re read- the broken window scene, the fire, the highway robbery, the cottage at Foxmore, the bath tub, both times Jenna used a pistol, and the falconry scene. The ending was great too. I liked the little angsty twist at the end with Prince Kalinsky’s uncertainty and inner torment. There were times when I felt that the heroine acted out like a child- especially against her servant and in her jealousy but then remembered she actually is a child at 17 years old. This is a fact of 19th century life that may bother the modern reader but I think it gave the story realism to the times. The heroine’s confrontation with Stephan regarding Madam Lillian de Stahl happened one too many times for my liking but they were also fun little battles of will to read. Vibrant, action packed, full of romance. Unlike other authors where the heroines and heros are virtually the same character despite different books and different names this is my second Simpson and the characters were completely different people than the leads in the other book I read. That is really quite a hard thing to achieve in this genre. Some great quotes:
“Like a live creature beckoned by the warmth of the flame only to be consumed by it”
“I yield the moment, milady. But never the cause” … so good.