Lords of Misrule Roundheads Cavaliers Book 4 edition by Stella Riley Literature Fiction eBooks
Download As PDF : Lords of Misrule Roundheads Cavaliers Book 4 edition by Stella Riley Literature Fiction eBooks 
Still tied to his desk in the Intelligence Office, Colonel Eden Maxwell has become increasingly disenchanted with both Oliver Cromwell and his own daily existence; and with the advent of new Royalist conspiracies, he despairs of ever getting away.
Then a brick hurled through the window of a small workshop sets in motion a new and unexpected chain of events. After all, who would want to hurt Lydia Neville – a young widow, giving work and self-respect to maimed war veterans considered unemployable elsewhere? But when the assaults in Duck Lane escalate, threatening the life and remaining limbs of some of Eden’s former troopers, finding the culprit becomes a personal crusade.
At their first meeting, Lydia finds Colonel Maxwell annoying; by their second, having discovered that he had arrested and questioned her brother in connection with the Ship Tavern Plot, she mistrusts his motives. On the other hand, it swiftly becomes plain that she needs his help … and has difficulty resisting his smile.
Solving the increasingly hazardous mystery surrounding Lydia is not Eden’s only task. Between plots to assassinate the Lord Protector and a rising in Scotland, he must also mend the fences within his own family and get to know his son. Life suddenly goes from mind-numbing boredom to frenetic complexity.
With reckless Cavaliers lurking around every corner and a government still struggling to find its way, Lords of Misrule is set against a time of national discontent and general failure. But readers of the previous books in the series can look forward to catching up with old friends as well as meeting new ones … while, against all the odds, Eden and Lydia find danger and reward in equal measure.
Lords of Misrule Roundheads Cavaliers Book 4 edition by Stella Riley Literature Fiction eBooks
So, Colonel Eden Maxwell, finally gets his story. And, since Stella Riley is the author, it follows that the story is very good. She has such a lovely way with words, such a handle on history and when she writes you can almost see the action. Her details are meticulous and her conversations thorough. Such a pleasure to read anything she writes.Eden has had a tough time and a hard life. He’s had the misfortune of falling in love with the wrong woman, and it blighted his life. She was a terrible wife and thought nothing of abandoning Eden and her two children to be with the man of her choice. Except Eden, an active duty soldier, basically left the children to be raised by his mother and sister, only visiting occasionally. And, his visits are not occasions to celebrate, as he can hardly stand to look at the little girl, not his, who looks very much like her mother. Basically, when the book opens he’s living the life of a bachelor (his wife has recently died), but not a happy-go-lucky one. He’s lonely, embittered and bound and determined remarriage is not in his future.
Enter Lydia, a widowed woman, who needs Eden’s help, although she doesn’t want it. She was a perfectly adequate heroine, but…I seem to agree with the other reviewers who weren’t totally crazy about her. I don’t really see why Eden fell for her either. It wasn’t that I didn’t like her, or didn’t want them to find their happily-ever-after, it was just more that I wasn’t engaged by either of them. Was she too strong willed and independent for my liking, foolish in her disregard for her safety by refusing Eden’s help? Was he too detached to make him falling for her believable to me? I really don’t know, but their romance didn’t make my heart race. That magic that makes relationships romantic was elusive to me in this book.
I liked this book, I really did – and I think Stella Riley is an exceptional talent. However, I loved some of her other books, while I only liked this one. It is a good story, good writing, good mystery and a good resolution, so I absolutely recommend it. I guess I just prefer some of her previous characters above these. A solid 4 star read – maybe 4.5!
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Lords of Misrule Roundheads Cavaliers Book 4 edition by Stella Riley Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews
It's a treat to have a new Riley book to read. And, as always, Stella Riley does a stellar job of immersing her readers in the real history of the time period (Cromwell and the civil wars) without making her readers suffer too much history overload. The reason is that her characters are living this history and that makes it all come to life instead of being dry facts about things that happened centuries ago.
If you're familiar with Riley through her lighter Georgian series, please keep in mind that this is the latest in her historically-more-dense Roundheads and Cavaliers series, set in the mid 1600s and having as its setting the civil unrest between monarchy and Parliament known as the civil wars, that time when Oliver Cromwell and his backers decided England didn't need a king and then, funny thing, Cromwell went on to act as if he would like to be one.
This series is packed with real historical events and people and Riley's fictional characters interact with these real people and live these real historical events. This Book 4 takes place from 1653-1655. The third civil war (1650-51) is over but the country is still in a state of turmoil and disrepair. Cromwell has just made himself "Lord Protector of England" and has called his first Protectorate Parliament. Meanwhile, those loyal to Charles II are ineffectually trying to assassinate Cromwell and instigate uprisings against the government, especially in Scotland. And there's England at war with Holland and Spain. In other words, a big old mess of a time of "misrule".
And within this time of political turmoil, we also have the personal turmoil of hero Eden Maxwell, colonel in Cromwell's army but rather disenchanted with politics. Eden, the widower of a faithless wife who died in Book Three leaving him with two children, the youngest possibly not his, is not interested in a) being a father, (He leaves his children in the care of relatives and hardly ever sees them or has any contact with them) and b) ever marrying again.
This story takes place some years after his wife's death and that's a long time to neglect your children and to live as a bitter man. Obviously he'll be needing an emotional makeover. That's where heroine Lydia comes in. She's the widow of a much older man who leaves her his two pet businesses, a lorinery employing only soldiers, both Roundhead and Cavalier, who were injured and maimed in the civil wars, and a lace-making business to employ the widows of soldiers killed in the wars.
Lydia and Eden come into contact when Lydia's brother is taken into custody on suspicion of being involved in plots to overthrow Cromwell's government. And so it goes. It's an interesting story which even contains a mystery about who is trying to sabotage Lydia's businesses. New characters are introduced to the series but there's a good deal of welcome reappearance of old familiar ones, such as Kate (Eden's sister) and Luciano from THE BLACK MADONNA and Venetia and Gabriel from GARLAND OF STRAW and more, more, more. Eden's brother Toby plays an important role in this book and it's to be hoped that he'll have his own story taking place either on the way to putting Charles II on the throne or during the Restoration itself. One can only hope.
I enjoyed this book but it's not among my favorites of the series. I felt it needed editing to shorten it somewhat and the love story between Lydia and Eden wasn't very compelling. Still, a somewhat weak Riley book is much better than a strong HR by your average-bear HR author.
So, Colonel Eden Maxwell, finally gets his story. And, since Stella Riley is the author, it follows that the story is very good. She has such a lovely way with words, such a handle on history and when she writes you can almost see the action. Her details are meticulous and her conversations thorough. Such a pleasure to read anything she writes.
Eden has had a tough time and a hard life. He’s had the misfortune of falling in love with the wrong woman, and it blighted his life. She was a terrible wife and thought nothing of abandoning Eden and her two children to be with the man of her choice. Except Eden, an active duty soldier, basically left the children to be raised by his mother and sister, only visiting occasionally. And, his visits are not occasions to celebrate, as he can hardly stand to look at the little girl, not his, who looks very much like her mother. Basically, when the book opens he’s living the life of a bachelor (his wife has recently died), but not a happy-go-lucky one. He’s lonely, embittered and bound and determined remarriage is not in his future.
Enter Lydia, a widowed woman, who needs Eden’s help, although she doesn’t want it. She was a perfectly adequate heroine, but…I seem to agree with the other reviewers who weren’t totally crazy about her. I don’t really see why Eden fell for her either. It wasn’t that I didn’t like her, or didn’t want them to find their happily-ever-after, it was just more that I wasn’t engaged by either of them. Was she too strong willed and independent for my liking, foolish in her disregard for her safety by refusing Eden’s help? Was he too detached to make him falling for her believable to me? I really don’t know, but their romance didn’t make my heart race. That magic that makes relationships romantic was elusive to me in this book.
I liked this book, I really did – and I think Stella Riley is an exceptional talent. However, I loved some of her other books, while I only liked this one. It is a good story, good writing, good mystery and a good resolution, so I absolutely recommend it. I guess I just prefer some of her previous characters above these. A solid 4 star read – maybe 4.5!
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