Customer Reviews

The Lady Killer

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ms. Saxon has created a very entertaining read with her second effort. Travel to Napoleon's Paris and get swept up into the time period with larger then life characters and a unique storyline.

Nicole Beauvoire has many talents and one of those talents is being an assassin. She has just taken care of one target when a late night visitor comes bearing a note from her contact. Should she trust the hastily scrawled note or take her chances on the streets of Paris? Nicole is not a stranger to hardship and it is easy to loose her messenger...or at least she thinks it's easy until he shows up while she is busy creating her new life to take care of her last target.

Daniel McCurren finds himself in Paris trying to pull an agent to crown back to England. It is not safe for the Scorpion to be working now. The French are on to him and it's Daniel's job to get him out. Well, Daniel is about to get a shock. First he is a she, Nicole, and two, Nicole is strong willed and not willing to back down. She is also the first person to awaken his dormant feelings. He is not going to leave Paris without Nicole, and Nicole is about to find out she won't be able to do this job without the help of Daniel. Will these two wounded souls find a happy ending with each other or will an enemy finally get too close?

Nicole is a very strong heroine for the time period. Daniel is not your normal hero and as a result these two characters blend very well. Napoleon's Paris is a wonderful backdrop for the this story of love, trust, and war.

Loved this book!!! I didn't even skim because it sure delivered EVERYTHING I Like in a historical romance. Loved the characters of Nicole and the yummy Daniel. The author created a believable person in Nicole in that what she did was not just fluff. The storyline is alittle more grittier than some of the romance stories, but I liked that. It made the story intense and more believable. It was also sensual and very emotional between the hero and heroine. The personalities of all the characters involved were well developed, And very interesting. Action packed, with great suspense. Wasn't quite sure how it was going to resolve itself but it did quite nicely. You really came to care for the people who put their lives on the line and was so unpredictable I raced thru the book to see how it was all going to come together at the end.
Don't pass this one up! Fantastic!

I LOVED the first of the Lady series, but this one was also very good. I love seeing a different side of the regency women. I enjoy a good governess plot or heiress who tries to find true love in the midst of fortune-hunters typical romance novel, but this was more action, more daring, more sensual. These women are so much more in a time when they were nothing more than ornaments. I loving reading about characters with substance and inner struggles while surrounded by intrigue and adventure. I highly recommend Samantha Saxon as an author and encourage everyone to read this series!

Samantha Saxon is a very good writer. She's so talented with the English language and her prose is so clean and clear. What's more, she's imaginative - she knows how to use that talent to tell an original story and tell it in a way that the reader is carried along.

This is why I'm so very disappointed with "The Lady Killer". Simply put, the heroine's abilities as shown do not match what the writer is telling us. She is shown as being too incompetent, too weak for her supposed background. And I think the reason is that in much of romance fiction, the female protagonist is not allowed to be more competent or intelligent than, or even an equal to, the hero.

In this book, although the background of the story demands that Nicole be a seasoned assassin, the plot demands that she be in fact unable to perform her job without the help of a man who in reality should himself be the neophyte.

Those looking for a good read might be better off buying one of Saxon's other books. This one I can recommend for the quality of the prose, but for the plot - I'm afraid I can't recommend it.

I absolutely LOVED this story! Ms Saxon's first "spy" novel, The Lady Lies, was very good, but this next effort, The Lady Killer, is excellent. I found myself gripping my chair in anticipation of what was to come next; how in the world will our H/H get out of the "fix" they were in. I highly recommend this novel.

Nicole Beauviore seems too much a lady, too beautiful, to be what she is, a killer. Daniel can hardly believe she is the Scorpion, an assassin the French want dead. Yet, she is. Incredible as that is, even more amazing is the fact that she needs him to fulfill her mission, and moreover, to fulfill her life.

**** If you enjoyed the television series La Femme Nikita or more recently, Alias, then the odds are with you liking this book. Nicole is a strong, capable heroine, seldom appearing at all weak. Intrigue and action impel this story to a crescendo, then, on a sweeter note, it ends. ****

Amanda Killgore

Nothing wrong with the actual story, but Daniel would have made a very good hero - he had the looks, integrity, and wealth- but he didn't come across as a very cool hero in spots. For example, he lost his 'ride' home and he's standing there wondering how he's supposed to get home. I REALLY don't want the hero in a helpless predicament. Another example, the author wrote - "...wide shoulders covered by an ill-fitting russet jacket." Now, why would I want to envision the hero looking ridiculous? And yet another example is when Daniel showed up at the costume ball. The way the author described him standing there - I don't know, it was just a turn-off. And afterward, we had to read about how Daniel had obtained the costume - it just wasn't what a hero would do, in my opinion. It didn't matter to the overall story, of course, but it definitely interfered with it.

The Lady Killer by Samantha Saxon was another magnificent book by this author. The main story is of English female assassin based in Paris during the Napoleon war. England sends a Viscount to get the assassin out the Paris and back to England. Of course he does not think the assassin could be a women and then feels he should stay in Paris to keep her safe. The two main characters are very strong and respect each other. It was a great read - check out all her book The Lady Lies, The Lady Killer and The Lady's Code.

In 1811 Paris, Andre Tuchelles provides Nicole "Scorpion" Beauvoire with the target of her next assassination, Ministry of Police Joseph LeCoeur. At the same time Joseph sets in motion a trap to capture the Scorpion.

Daniel Damont arrives with a note from Andre that he wants delivered to Scorpion. Nicole refuses to reveal she is the assassin, but reads the note in front of him. The note says to leave Paris as the French have set a trap to catch Scorpion. Nicole tells Daniel that she will inform Scorpion of the danger and meet him at the ship. Nicole stops to see Andre, but finds him dead, battered to death. She assumes Daniel did this and set a trap for her. She plans to complete the assignment and then kill Daniel. When she fails to come to the ship, Daniel looks for her starting at her apartment where he finds her hidden note stating her next assignment. He knows Nicole is the Scorpion and his honor demands he get her out of France. Nicole plans to seduce Joseph so she can be alone with him when she kills him. As Nicole and Daniel work closely together they fall in love, but danger surrounds them from all sides and if they survive she knows she can never return to England.

The strong lead couple especially the heroine makes for a terrific espionage romantic thriller as they battle a tough clever opponent. The action-packed story line never slows down as Nicole and Daniel try to complete the mission. References to the lead couple from the previous novel THE LADY LIES add depth to a fabulous Regency romantic suspense.

Harriet Klausner