It's a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour The Smuggler's Wife by Evie Grace - published by Arrow 31st December.
About the Author
Evie Grace was born in Kent, and one of her earliest memories is of picking cherries with her grandfather who managed a fruit farm near Selling.
Holidays spent in the Kent countryside and the stories passed down through her family inspired her to write her Maids of Kent trilogy. Evie now lives in Devon with her partner and dog. She has a grown-up daughter and son. She loves researching the history of the nineteenth century and is very grateful for the invention of the washing machine, having discovered how the Victorians struggled to do their laundry.
About the book
Her heart led her to him, but will loyalty be enough to make her stay...
When the beautiful but naïve Grace Lennicker falls for Isaiah Feasey, son of a rival smuggling family and owner of a local tavern, her sisters try to intervene. But as tensions grow, there is another suitor also hoping to win her hand in marriage, the dashing and more favourable Albert Enderby, a young lieutenant in the Revenue.
Grace is unwittingly drawn back into the world of smuggling that her sisters fought hard to leave behind, and as the violence erupts, she finds herself unable to stand by, knowing the rival gangs will kill anyone who stands in their way.
When her husband becomes involved, Grace is forced to make a difficult decision - turn him in and risk her life, or stay loyal and risk the lives of those she loves.
Review
This is the third book in the The Smuggler’s Daughters trilogy. All three books feature a different sister and can be read as standalone novels. Grace gives just enough of the other back-stories to get the gist of the relationships between the sisters and their story up to this point.
This time the focus is on the youngest Lennicker daughter Grace. She has set her sights on a man who is truly considered to be the enemy and aside from that he is a criminal and a rake. No wonder her sisters do everything to keep the two of them very far apart indeed, however the heart wants what heart wants or is that the body, then again it could just be the fact a bad boy always looks so much more charming than a good guy.
Little does she realise that she will eventually have to make a decision between her loved ones and the man she believes is the bees knees. Sounds like such a simple choice, well it would be if everyone wasn't knee deep in dangerous and ruthless situations the majority of the time.
What Grace does really well is present the other sisters as just that - sisters - and not, from a character perspective, from a pre-story or own story point of view. Which means Winnie is the stern somewhat snobbish woman concerned about neighbours and reputation, as opposed to the young woman having to deal with the scathing judgements due to her previous predicament. Similar applies to Louisa and perhaps more so to her husband, where previously rising in the social ranks and becoming part of the regime may have appeared exciting and romantic, in this book it takes on more of a serious tone.
The result is a premise that gives a certain vibe of historical romance, and yet simultaneously the author gives it a Cookson sign of times feel. Instead of a glossing over of problems of the time, although there is a certain element of humour, there is more of reality vs romantic imagery when it comes to the plot. Grace delivers an escapist read combined with a more serious tone.
Buy The Smuggler's Wife (The Smuggler’s Daughters #3) at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Arrow: pub date 31st December 2020. Paperback Original - £6.99. Buy at Amazon com. Hive. Bookshop org.
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