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The Betrayal of the Blood Lily
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The Betrayal of the Blood Lily
Unavailable
The Betrayal of the Blood Lily
Audiobook15 hours

The Betrayal of the Blood Lily

Written by Lauren Willig

Narrated by Kate Reading

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

The heroines of Lauren Willig's bestselling Pink Carnation series have engaged in espionage all over nineteenth-century Europe. In the sixth stand-alone volume, our fair English heroine travels to India, where she finds freedom-and risk-more exciting than she ever imagined.

Everyone warned Miss Penelope Deveraux that her unruly behavior would land her in disgrace someday. She never imagined she's be whisked off to India to give the scandal of her hasty marriage time to die down. As Lady Frederick Staines waits, Penelope plunges into the treacherous waters of the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad, where no one is quite what they seem-even her husband. In a strange country, where elaborate court dress masks even more elaborate intrigues and a dangerous spy called the Marigold leaves venomous cobras as his calling card, there is only one person Penelope can trust...

Captain Alex Reid has better things to do than play nursemaid to a pair of aristocrats. Or so he thinks-until Lady Frederick Staines out-shoots, out-rides, and out-swims every man in the camp. She also has an uncanny ability to draw out the deadly plans of the Marigold and put herself in harm's way. With danger looming from local warlords, treacherous court officials, and French spies, Alex realizes that an alliance with Lady Staines just might be the only thing standing in the way of a plot designed to rock the very foundations of the British Empire...

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJan 12, 2010
ISBN9781101154557
Unavailable
The Betrayal of the Blood Lily
Author

Lauren Willig

Lauren Willig is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Band of Sisters and Two Wars and a Wedding, plus four popular historical novels cowritten with Beatriz Williams and Karen White. An alumna of Yale University, she has a graduate degree in history from Harvard and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She lives in New York City with her husband, two young children, and lots and lots of coffee.

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Reviews for The Betrayal of the Blood Lily

Rating: 3.7499991578947367 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

190 ratings19 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The sixth romantic adventure in the Pink Carnation series takes off for the under explored (in literature, in any rate) territory of India during the Napoleonic Wars. Penelope is in ways a slightly more worldly heroine, which helps to keep things becoming too stagnent. The series remains as fun as always.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The sixth romantic adventure in the Pink Carnation series takes off for the under explored (in literature, in any rate) territory of India during the Napoleonic Wars. Penelope is in ways a slightly more worldly heroine, which helps to keep things becoming too stagnent. The series remains as fun as always.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Romance novel set in India during the 1800s. A loveless marriage, followed by meeting the man of your dreams = a real bummer...Charming woman (Penelope), who isn't exactly concerned with propriety. Books like these make me SO happy I was born when I was!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A marriage of convenience that is remarkably inconvenient for for all parties concerned sees Penelope Deveraux married to Lord Frederick Staines and on her way to India. Freddy has been appointed a special envoy. Freddy isn't at all qualified unless there is a secret need for someone to drink, play cards, and cavort with women not his wife. Penelope is as outrageous as possible to cover her regrets.The journey to Hyderabad gives her a chance to meet Captain Alex Reid who is a representative of the British leader of Hyderabad. She immediately takes him in dislike and suspects him of all sort of things, not the least of which is treason.Freddy neglects Penelope badly once they get to Hyderabad and she comes to depend on Alex for companionship. A letter from home also puts her on the alert for the Marigold, a French spy. All sorts of adventures happen including venomous snakes, long journeys through the countryside, and more spies than seem possible.This was an engaging story set in a country and time that is new to me as a reader. I loved the descriptions. I also loved getting to know Penelope better and coming to understand why she was the way she was in the earlier books. I am also enjoying the story of Colin and Eloise as they get to know one another better. Colin certainly has an interesting family with all sorts of conflicts.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    This was definitely my least favorite book of the series. I don't believe the author set out to make Penelope unlikable, but she did a pretty good job of it, just the same. When Penelope appeared in scenes of the previous books, she seemed to be a determined and opinionated flirt, but not irredeemable. Now that she has center stage and is reaping the consequences of her impetuousity and lack of decorum, she comes across more devious and intentional. it seems quite clear that she and Freddie have no love for one another, but neither of them seems to mind using the other one out of lust or boredom. Not an enticing basis for the tale of a newly married couple, no? Then once Freddie's extra-curricular activities come to light, it seems that the author decided this was license for Penelope to behave in ways that I do not think were acceptable in England or India back then (not that I am naive enough to believe things such as that did not occur). The author resisted her habit of throwing in a graphic scene between the newlyweds, which was probably a double-blessing given their attitude toward each other. However, in skipping over that, she felt compelled to describe Freddie's encounter with his mistress and Penelope's repeated indiscretions. Apparently the fact that she has 1) been betrayed by the husband whom she does not even love and 2) really loves Alex (but doesn't realize it, of course) is supposed to make her adultery OK. Mostly, Penelope strikes me as spoiled and ungrateful and selfish. and in the end, we're supposed to believe her complete lack of desire to return to England -- perhaps because she doesn't mind that she now has freckles and because she managed to wear the same clothes for several days in a row. (So she's selfish and ungrateful, but not pampered.) Sorry, I just did not see what there was about her to love. I did not feel that there was ever a believable explanation for WHY men were so irresistibly drawn to her, or why a man who was so circumspect about everything else in his life (and women in particular) would throw caution to the wind for her. And in a series of books about spies, for crying out loud, we aren't supposed to wonder that they never thought someone could have been watching or following them? Finally, the whole storyline of the Marigold seemed more of a ill-explained footnote to the "love story" -- and Penelope's "spy" activity seemed quite weak. (And a personal note -- I am quite tired of the author's heavy reliance on characters quirking their eyebrows or making wry facial expressions and her oft-repeated use of some small noise (a squeak, or a snort) or mild facial expression that "wanted to be a laugh" or a smile "if it were allowed to grow up." It crops up in both the historical and modern-day storylines of each book. It seemed a unique way to describe the facial expression the first time she used it in the first book, but she has trotted it out SO many times that I almost groan each time I see it now.)
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Back in familiar ground with a feisty female lead character in strong-willed Penelope, I really, really enjoyed the Indian setting. I was a huge fan of M.M. Kaye's historical romance novels as a teen and Willig has captured the rich exotic locale beautifully. I also enjoyed the spy intrigue and the palpable tension between Penelope and Alex, but I was left baffled as to why the title for this one refers to a blood lily considering Marigold seems to be the "flower spy" this time. Google to the rescue, I came across the following answer provided by Willig:"Since the spy in the book is called the Marigold, the title was originally The Something Something of the Something Marigold (all of my titles start out with lots of somethings and eventually graduate to real words), but the marketing powers that be deemed “Marigold” an insufficiently sexy flower. I didn't want to change the name of the spy, so we compromised. The spy stayed the Marigold, but the title changed. Rather than naming the book after the spy, I put an SOS out on my website, asking readers which flower reminded them most of Penelope. After many suggestions and much deliberation, the blood lily won out. It had a flair that seemed to suit Penelope’s fiery spirit." Well, good grief on the marketing folks! I was a bit deflated by the ending to this one and I have to say, the parallel, modern day story of Eloise and Colin is just getting down right Boring for this reader. Here is hoping Willig spices things up a bit in the next installment.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It’s been awhile since I have read one of the Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig but The Betrayal of the Blood Lily was quick to remind me of what first attracted me to this series. Like an expensive confectionary with a tasty, chewy center, wrapped up in a delicious coating of chocolate sweetness and presented in a pretty box these books appeal to many of my senses. They are pure fun with plenty of romance, mystery and adventure.This sixth outing follows the adventures of Penelope Staines who arrives in India with her dandified husband as he is about to take up his role as a special envoy to the Nizam of Hyderabad. Freddy and Penelope have very little love between them as the marriage was forced upon them and this quick mission is actually to get them away from London society to allow the gossip about the timing of their marriage to die down. Of course, Penelope finds herself in harm’s way as there is betrayal in the air and with her husband busy installing a nautch girl in the residency and showing a distinct lack of interest in her, she has only the gallant Captain Alex Reid to stand between her and a deadly spy known as the Marigold.In the present day, the book also follows the love life of Eloise, a historical researcher and handsome Englishman Colin whose relationship has advanced to girlfriend/boyfriend status. Eloise is meeting more of his family and finding out perfect boyfriends don’t always have perfect families.My only quibble with the book is the title. There was no Blood Lily in the book so where did this flower name come from?
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Like, the rest of the series, this was an enjoyable read, although not quite up to par with the rest. The pacing seemed rushed – a long introduction, followed by the two lovers quite suddenly finding themselves, well, in love. Penelope and Alex didn’t seem as fully-fleshed as characters as the protags of the previous books, and their relationship didn’t have much of a foundation. Perhaps it was the deviation from her usual formula – Penelope’s status as a married woman complicated things in a way the other novels didn’t have to deal with. Still a good, light read that I had fun with, but not Willig’s best.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I don't know about this one. On the one hand, it's independent enough from the proceeding books in the series (at least in the historical story) that it's probably fairly easy to pick it up without having read the books before it. But the "modern" story is a bit impenetrable if you haven't read the earlier books; I really wish that story didn't keep interrupting the more (to me) interesting historical narrative.

    Now for spoilers!

    Aside from this continuing complaint above, the ultimate end of this story was quite obvious--since when in traditional romance do the hero and heroine not get together? Of course her husband was going to die, and of course they were going to end up together. Of course they were going to find the missing armaments, and of course they were going to unmask one of the flower spies. Of course the prickly awful heroine was going to mellow a little and discover that love is all she needs. And she was pretty awful; I can't imagine voluntarily spending time in this woman's company.

    But however this is dressed up as general fiction, or historical fiction, or whatnot, it's still romance and for all my complaints I did enjoy it enough to finish it quickly. All works out well in the end, and I like a happy ending.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Well, no need to worry about rating too high with this Pink Carnation instalment - a middling three stars is all the enthusiasm I can muster. Although the characters and setting seemed to promise another enjoyable blend of romance and adventure - hoydenish heroine with a murky reputation, a marriage of convenience which doesn't end happily ever after, and the exotic, sensual and steamy background of India - I found myself unmoved. Too much time is spent on Penelope and dashing Captain Alex Reid, whose instant attraction is talked into a slow-burning love affair, while the muddled spy ring is eclipsed by the author's research into early nineteenth century Anglo-Indian society. Occasionally instructive, but generally hard to follow and cumbersome, I was left with the impression that Lauren Willig was out of her depth with historical and geographical background of the Blood Lily. Even the language started to suffer - Lady Penelope's vocabulary is peppered with choice epithets like 'bloody', 'arse' and 'bollocks', and then Americanisms including 'I guess' and 'no fair' started sneaking into the dialogue. If Penelope's story is being relayed via Eloise, the American modern day narrator, that's one thing, but because there is no clear indication of such a device, so I must lay the lapse in style down to laziness.There is a good story to be told here - Penelope is a brash, brave and believeable heroine, Alex falls hard for her, and the intrigue of the Marigold (perhaps the worst flowery spy name to date - Penelope is the Blood Lily of the title) is intricately plotted, but the slow pacing and narrow focus of the plot caused me to lose interest halfway through. Perhaps if Penelope's vain and pompous husband, Lord Frederick, had turned out to be the Marigold, a la the Scarlet Pimpernel, I would have been amused if nothing else, but I didn't honestly care about the unmasking in the end.Disappointing.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The Pink Carnation series continues in this tale of Penelope Stains who appear in the previous adventure and we found that she was married hastily to protect her reputation.Lady Penelope lacks the same moral high ground that the other featured ladies have shone, instead she was sarcastic, opinionated, striving to be her own person. In this installment, Penelope and her new husband Freddy are off to India and an obscure province to represent the British government. Penelope, never comfortable in the social scene in London, exercises her new "independence" from the social swirl of London. Freddy becomes more irresponsible showing his laziness and arrogance while Penelope starts to shine.Their escort to the remote province is Captain Alex Reid and the relationship that develops eventually leads to a joyful conclusion.This is probably my least favorite of the series. First I never heard anything about a Blood Lily, so where did the title come from. Penelope wasn't someone that I think I could respect even for her efforts, and lastly, I didn't get the connection with the Napoleonic war spy network at all. Hope the next one gets back on track.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An interesting change of pace in the historical section, I'm not sure I've read any other romances set in India. I wish I was a little more excited about the characters, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The modern sections certainly set up some interesting possibilities for future books!
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I've enjoyed all the others in this series and wish I could give this 2.5 stars. It isn't bad just not as good as the others IMHO but still it is a decent read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Willig's latest installment in her Pink Carnation series brings us her feistiest heroine yet, the fallen Penelope Staines, whose surname was recently acquired. We last saw her in the previous book, disgracing herself by a revealing slip of the tongue in a crowded ballroom. We were told that she was hastily married to the man she implicated along with herself, but since the focus of that book was Charlotte and her Duke, we only had glimpses of Penelope's frustration and rebellion. Now we have the opportunity to see events from within Penelope's mind, and I was glad for that chance.She had been a fun character earlier, sarcastic and snide, but not so good or likable as the other ladies of Napoleonic England that Willig has featured. Penelope was often insulting the men or isolating herself from her friends, and while the author suggested that something deeper than ill nature ran beneath the surface of these actions, Penelope was always on the side lines and we could never be sure. Finally hearing her voice made me like Penelope, right from the start of this book. We quickly learn that Penelope felt stifled in the social world in England, forced away from her home and horses by her socially ambitious mother, and as a result, she rebelled royally with her scandalous behavior. As she tells a character towards the end of the novel, Penelope has the tendency to do the opposite of anything she is ordered to do. While I don't think such behavior is the smartest life choice, it does make Penelope's character more sympathetic and understandable. Her husband, on the other hand, becomes more reprehensible with every passing page. He is lazy, arrogant, and blames Penelope for their predicament even though they were both equally responsible. Freddy is such a terrible human being, actually, that when Penelope meets Captain Reid I was happy to know that the novel would contrive to bring Penelope and Alex together. I'm sure I'm not spoiling the ending for anyone, since this is a romance espionage story with a formula, and we all know how it is going to end, even if we can't predict all the the twists and turns that will take us there. One of those twists is the affair between Penelope and Alex. A bold move on author's and character's part, since such behavior was much frowned upon in Penelope's time, and still met with a good deal of censure in our own. I personally don't approve of an affair, no matter what the motivations - and Penelope certainly has strong incentives given Freddy's personality and the strictures imposed on women - and was none too pleased that they gave in to their desires in such a fashion. Still, Penelope certainly suffered afterwards for her indiscretion and I forgave her. I still wanted her and Alex to be together in the end, and was happy that the obstacles to their union were soon legitimately cleared.The romance is one thread in the plot, and the other major strain is espionage. This time, our intrepid heroes are tracking a spy called the Marigold, who is trying to rally the Indian leaders in revolt against British troops currently residing in that country. Apparently, during this historical period both the British and the French had stationed people in the country, in various stages of shifting alliances with the Indian leaders. Willig offers her usual supply of historical information that grounds the story setting, and I enjoyed the change of locale in this book in the series. The story is filled with action and intrigue, a fast paced read that is as much fun as its predecessors. I continue to be amused by this light hearted series, and will read more as they become available (in paperback).
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    In this sixth installment in the spy serie, The Pink Carnation, we find ourselves in the midst of a pretty unhappily married couple with Penelope and Frederick. This good deal of tension between them makes for a pretty interesting lead into a growing friendship and relationship between Penelope and Alex Reid. It seemed to me that Willig set Reid up to be the "good guy" foil to Frederick's bad behavior from the start. Frederick just didn't seem very interested in the happiness and safe-keeping of his wife at all, while Alex did. Frederick had a wandering eye, while Alex seemingly did not. All that Frederick lacked, Alex seemed to have in spades. How could a reader not fall for a strong, protective male like Alex, regardless of the strong personality exhibited by Penelope?Set in India, this seemed to ease some of the stifling propriety that was held over the other couples in previous installments. Also, I thought there was more time spent on the story set in the past, than in the present day story between our modern-day researcher Eloise and her new beau Colin. For once, I was okay with that. Usually, I have been annoyed at the long switches away from the present-day researcher revealing all of this past history to us, but I liked Penelope's spunk and the way Alex played off of her behavior. We still had spy action going on in this story, but it didn't seem as involved as previous stories. In reality, it just added another layer to the complicated love triangle going on in the novel.This particular installment was one of my more favorite ones in the series. Although I've read the other books, I didn't feel that I had to read them to really get this story. It would be nice, but not completely necessary. The storytelling is engaging and the tension nicely played out. Overall, a fun diversion to the England-set stories of previous installments, and one that I enjoyed reading.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Willig departs from her formula in this, the latest entry in the Pink Carnation series, and it is a success. We follow Penelope Deveraux, a tougher character than most of the women we have seen so far, to India, a brand new locale. There is no fairy tale for Penelope, as she is saddled in a marriage she and her husband do not enjoy -- until Captain Alex Reid comes along. I found not only Penelope but the whole plot development, particularly between Reid and Penelope, to be a nice departure from the sweet stories and heroines of the series so far, and, while Willig only begins to touch on the complexities of pre-Raj India, it is a most interesting introduction.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Betray of the Blood Lily was a good story, set in India for a change, Interesting characters, starring Penelope who is a friend of Henrietta & Charlotte & appeared in the recent most book in the series. She’s packed off to India with her husband who she was forced to wed after being compromised with him in the previous book. She doesn’t love him, barely even seems to like him actually but tries to make the best of things being her flirtatious outgoing self. She ends up getting involved in some political intrigue involving the English, the French & some of the local rulers, as well as with Capt Alex Reid. It does a very good job of giving the feeling of life in Indian at the time (pre Raj) but I think the flower motif is getting a bit forced at this point.And there was no Blood Lily. There was a Marigold, a Frangipani, a Moonflower and a Gulmohar (an ornamental tree with red/orange flowers). The book was mostly about the Marigold. And isn’t the Blood Lily African, not Indian? So the title makes no sense at all. Betrayal of the Marigold would be better. Though not as dramatic sounding.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Penelope Deveraux set the tongues of matronly Regency England a-waggin' with her fast behavior and ended up on the receiving end of contemptuous smirks when she mentioned that she and Lord Frederick Staines had been in a bedroom alone during a lull in the music at a ball. Now married to him and set off for India with him as wife to the Special Envoy so that the scandal can die down, she finds herself irritated by him and holds him in contempt for his treatment of her. However, once in India she stumbles upon the snaking intricacy political intrigue between the French, British, Indian rulers, and mercenaries for hire. For here in India, the lethal Marigold's strikes are as fast as the asp's.I will have to say that this is Ms. Willig's best writing so far in the 'Pink Carnation' series. She portrays the characters complexly, and doesn't *tell* the reader what the character was feeling, ex. 'She was sad', but rather shows it, ex. 'Her shoulders were slumped'. Also, Ms. Willig returns to the more historical side of Regency Britain, something I felt was lost in the two books previous to this one. And the plot thickens between our heroine researcher Eloise and her boyfriend Colin.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Penelope Deveraux, now Lady Frederick Staines, is determined to make the best of her forced marriage and exile to India. But Freddy isn't helping. Their attractive young escort is an amusing diversion, however. But what about those spies?The Pink Carnation series continues with another affecting adventure/romance, as Eloise in the present day learns more about Colin's confusing family.