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A Scottish Lighthouse Escape by Julie Shackman # #ScottishEscapesBook9 #PublicationDay

  Welcome to Book 9 in the Scottish Escapes series by Julie Shackman. A Scottish Lighthouse Escape  is published today on July 31st by One More Chapter . You can read my reviews of others in the Scottish Escapes series here   A Secret Scottish Escape . |  A Scottish Highland Surprise    |   The Cottage in the Highlands |   A Scottish Country Escape   |  The Bookshop by the Loch A Scottish Highland Hideaway   |   A Scottish Island Summer   Get ready to fall in love with the brand new romance in the Scottish Escapes series from bestselling author, Julie Shackman.   When romance author Rosie Winters’s own fairytale romance ends with a bang, she’s determined to get away from everything. Packing up her belongings she sets off for the furthest place she can think of: Scotland. Rosie spent her summers at her late grandmother’s coastal cottage in the Highlands and knows it’ll be the perfect place to wallow f...

Trouble for the Leading Lady by Rachel Brimble ~Review

 


Today's historical fiction takes us to Victorian England and Bath. Published by Aria, Trouble for the Leading Lady is the second in a new saga series by Rachel Brimble. You can read my review of the first in the series, A Widow's Vowhere

Bath, 1852.

As a girl, Nancy Bloom would go to Bath's Theatre Royal, sit on the hard wooden benches and stare in awe at the actresses playing men as much as the women dressed in finery. She longed to be a part of it all and when a man promised her parents he could find a role for Nancy in the theatre, they believed him.

His lie and betrayal led to her ruin.

Francis Carlyle is a theatre manager, an ambitious man always looking for the next big thing to take the country by storm. A self-made man, Francis has finally shed the skin of his painful past and is now rich, successful and in need of a new female star. Never in a million years did he think he'd find her standing on a table in one of Bath's bawdiest pubs.

Nancy vowed never to trust a man again. Francis will do anything to make her his star. As they engage in a battle of wits and wills, can either survive with their hearts intact?

The second in Rachel Brimble's thrilling new Victorian saga series, Trouble for the Leading Lady will whisk you away to the riotous, thriving underbelly of Victorian Bath.


 My Thoughts

Although I am sure that this can be read as a standalone, I would recommend reading its predecessor, to really get a handle on the relationship between Nancy, Louisa and Octavia and how they have come to be running a high- class brothel in Bath. Having said this, I did thoroughly enjoy visiting them again and finding out more about Nancy's past. Nancy and Francis are the focus of this book and both have vulnerabilities caused through their traumatic childhoods. They have tried to cover over the scars of what happened to them, but at different points in the story, they have to face up to how they feel. The face they present to the world is a cover for how they feel inside.

    You certainly get a feel for Victorian Bath and the class system which existed. Francis is a self- made man and independence is important to all the characters. Inequalities in society and above all, the terrible conditions which were present in the Workhouse are shown. Most shocking is the blind eye turned by most people to the plight of its inmates who endured shocking conditions and who seemed to lack hope. This is an enjoyable read with plenty of historical details and some intriguing characters.

In short: Well written historical fiction 


About the Author


Rachel lives in a small town near Bath, England. She is the author of over 20 published novels including the Shop Girl series (Aria Fiction) and the Templeton Cove Stories (Harlequin).

In 2019 she signed a new three book contract with Aria Fiction for a Victorian trilogy set in a Bath brothel. The first book, A Widow’s Vow was released in September 2020 followed by book 2 Trouble For The Leading Lady in March 2021 – it is expected that the final instalment will be released in the Autumn 2021.

Rachel is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and has thousands of social media followers all over the world.

To sign up for her newsletter (a guaranteed giveaway every month!), click here

You can follow Rachel here:|   Website  |  Blog   |  Twitter     |  Instagram  

Book links:  Amazon UK   |  Amazon US

 
Aria links: Website  |  Twitter   |  Fiction   |  Instagram 
  

Thanks to Rachel Brimble, Aria and Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources for a copy of the book and a place on the tour.
 
 Be sure to check out the rest of the tour!
 
 

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