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The Malorie Phoenix [Kindle Edition]

Janet Mullany
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

Digital List Price: $3.99 What's this?
Kindle Price: $3.99 includes free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet

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Book Description

“I liked the originality of the story… the savvy and unapologetically sexual heroine is a big plus.” -- Willaful, Karen Know's Best

“Everything about this book is brilliant. LOVED it!” -- Farrah Sayyed, Imagine A World

“It had romance and a bit of intrigue that was blended well” -- Tracy Stapp, The Book Binge


She plays a deadly game, but nothing is as dangerous as love.

Benedict de Malorie, Earl of Trevisan, can never forget the masked woman he met one night at a London pleasure garden. The clever pickpocket stole his heart and his family's prized jewel – the Malorie Phoenix. But the family treasure reappears in Benedict's darkest hour, returned by its thief, along with the unexpected gift of his infant daughter.

Believing that she is dying, Jenny Smith leaves her daughter in the custody of the baby’s blueblood father. Seven years later she finds herself in good health and alone, yearning for her only child. To raise enough money to support them both, she takes part in a daring escapade that requires her to impersonate a woman of quality. She fools the ton and Benedict himself.

When Jenny finds herself entangled in a murderous plot against Benedict, the father of her child, her carefully laid plans begin to fall apart. All she wants is her daughter back, but she never thought she'd fall in love with Benedict. Revealing her part in the plot means she will almost certainly lose Benedict and their daughter forever. But continuing to play her role puts them all in terrible danger.


Product Details

  • File Size: 317 KB
  • Print Length: 206 pages
  • Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
  • Publisher: TKA Distribution (April 23, 2012)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B007X47MN4
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray: Not Enabled
  • Lending: Enabled
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #415,920 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Customer Reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
(12)
4.2 out of 5 stars
The story plot is well thought out and well paced. LAS Reviewer  |  4 reviewers made a similar statement
Another homerun for historical romance and author Janet Mullany! Margaret A. Hren  |  3 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Far too intriguing to stop turning pages August 16, 2012
Format:Kindle Edition
How love grows out of such an inauspicious beginning is incredible. Jenny Smith and Benedict de Malorie are not the usual kind of hero and heroine. She is a pickpocket and Benedict has no concern about taking her virginity in a dark alley of London. Yet, the true nature of each of them comes to the fore as the story unfolds and one sees how they came to be who they are morally.

Jenny does what she knows how to do to keep body and soul together and goes that last mile to give her child a better life than she could offer her.

Benedict, who becomes the earl of Trevisan, does what he knows to do to save the family estate. However, his awareness of how he became to earl creates post traumatic stress disorder that plagues him even seven years after the fact.

The way Jenny and Benedict are brought back together after seven years seems too contrived to be believable for me; but I really wanted to know how these two characters fare as time goes on. I kept reading and became engrossed in the intrigues, murder attempts, social manipulations, chicanery, and the unique relationship Jenny and Benedict develop.

A delightful part of this story is six-year-old Sarah. This much-loved child makes the story sparkle at times.

The foreshadowing that hints at who the antagonist is threads through the story in subtle fashion, but it is still a shock to see who it is and just how diabolical and to what lengths he is willing to go to get what he wants.

"The Malorie Phoenix" has an interesting array of secondary characters. Even the dead Roly Ansett' who was Jenny protector, plays an important role in the outcome. Little Billy, a most unusual horse, is a major influence in the development of events. Some of the characters that one would least expect bring in humor that makes one chuckle while other characters depict true loyalty to both Benedict and Jenny.

"The Malorie Phoenix" is a story of redemption. While it doesn't, at least for me, flow smoothly at times, it is far too intriguing to stop turning pages. It is satisfying to see such flawed characters grow into what they were meant to be and find their happy-ever-after. Theirs is not an easy journey.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars When was this really written? February 3, 2013
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I'm a Janet Mullany fan so giving this book only 2 stars makes me feel a bit unfaithful to her, but, really, it's not very good. Mullany excels at Regency romps like The Rules of Gentility and Improper Relations. These romps are witty and funny (sometimes LOL) and very entertaining.

This Phoenix story is, I believe, meant to be taken seriously. At least I didn't find anything funny in it, except for maybe strange-funny stuff. It struck me as being an old-school 80s or 90s HR with a jerk of a hero, coincidence and serendipity necessary for the plot to evolve, all at the same time straining the reader's patience and credulity. As a matter of fact, I suspect (but do not know) that this may have been one of Mullany's early unpublished attempts at writing an HR which she dug out and perhaps polished a bit for publication in 2012.

(The rest of this review could contain some SPOILERISH information.)

The main characters could have been interesting. The heroine is a pickpocket whose one-time sexual encounter with a man about to leave for the Napoleonic War results in a baby girl. She finds herself in desperate straits after giving birth and goes to leave the baby with its father (who's back from the War already, go figure). The man, conveniently enough, has never seen her face and does not recognize the woman who leaves the baby with him.

Then the heroine goes on to become the mistress of a wealthy, kind old gentleman and she learns manners and social deportment and gets a bit of an education from his library. When her protector dies, she's in financial troubles again and is blackmailed into impersonating another woman. This woman was a former almost-fiancee of the hero ex-soldier now earl and he, for who knows what reason (stupidity?), cannot tell that this is an impersonator, not the woman he had once proposed to and almost married.

Things just get more and more unrealistic and silly as the story goes on. There's attempted murder, abduction, lots of misunderstanding, etc. The writing is choppy and the plot does not flow well. The 6-year-old daughter is unnaturally mature and not at all cute and I couldn't even warm up to her. (Who doesn't love children, I ask. I guess that would be me.) The hero's mostly a jerk who misinterprets as many actions as he possibly can. The heroine needed to share more info with the hero and, of course, doesn't so that he can continue to behave like a jerk.

So I'm hoping that this was an unpublished oldie that Mullany decided to share with her readers while she's working on a new novel. It's just not good enough to have been freshly written.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Read July 17, 2012
Format:Kindle Edition
False identities, murder, mystery, and kidnap, The Malorie Phoenix has it all. It would be a mistake to dismiss Ms. Mullany's book as `just another' same-old-same-old. It is not.

While the plot is not new, the treatment is refreshing, the writing clean, sometimes poignant, well paced and vivid. And the editing, sometimes the bug-bear of the self published, is tight and accurate.

If I had to retrace my reading steps at the beginning and a bit near the end, perhaps it was more a matter of this reader familiarising herself with the writer's style than plot holes.

Jenny Smith, Ms Mullany's heroine, is no sweet, simpering pre-Regency Miss. She's surviving in a harsh environment the only way she knows how. And yet from the start we are shown her integrity and her weaknesses. She's a character who caught my attention and empathy from the beginning. If Jenny made a couple of mistakes that seemed totally out of character, while I found them irritating I had to acknowledge the author had my emotions raised and therefore was succeeding in involving me in her story and characters.

The circumstances of Benedict de Malorie's meeting with Jenny had me anxious to see how it would pan out. The hero's subsequent actions took a little believing and perhaps that particular scene was only one of two I had a little trouble accepting. But it plays a pivotal role in the rest of the story which more than makes up for it.

The story plot is well thought out and well paced. The supporting characters all have substance and had me either loving or hating them.

Ms. Mullany offers a few unexpected twists in The Malorie Phoenix which added to the suspense, and I am so glad that the Stanleys took Jenny into their hearts.

I enjoyed The Malorie Phoenix for its story, plot and characters. This is the first book of hers I've read, and I would look out for more. If you enjoy a London-based romance set just before the official Regency period, then this is a book well worth considering.

Originally posted at LAS Romance Reviews
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars Absurd Beyond Belief!
I recognize that when reading this genre of fiction it is generally necessary to suspend disbelief to some extent. The plot of this book is totally beyond belief, however. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Eclectic Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars The Malorie Phoenix
I love this book! Another homerun for historical romance and author Janet Mullany!

When it comes to writing historical and regency romance, Janet Mullany has become one... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Margaret A. Hren
5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely Story
I enjoyed each and every page of The Malorie Phoenix by Janet Mullany. Her characters were fully developed and sympathetic, the plot held enough intrigue to keep me guessing as to... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Diane Wylie
5.0 out of 5 stars Another fabulous Regency read
In this tale of desperation and deception, Mullany creates two very likeable characters in puts them in a situation where they can't help but hate each other. Read more
Published 9 months ago by K. C. Dolan
5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely Emotional Range
This smart, spirited Regency -- with sturdy period detail, an immensely likable hero and heroine, both of whom actually grow and change, good minor characters including a quite... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Jessica
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding read!
OK, I've got to admit, I LOVE Regencies. Really. That's why I wrote one. And I recently had the opportunity to read this marvelous tale by Janet Mullany. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Dorothy Muir
4.0 out of 5 stars The Malorie Phoenix, Intrique and action
If you are in the market for intrigue and action, you might try Janet Mullany's new book, The Malorie Phoenix. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Kathy Crosby
5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable read on a lazy weekend
Nothing like enjoying a good book on a long weekend -- and that's just what I did with The Malorie Phoenix. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Kathryn
5.0 out of 5 stars The Malorie Phoenix - a great romp
A classic Mullany heroine with spunk and fun. And a bit of larceny. A hero to fall in love with - and more, since he's so besotted with his daughter. Read more
Published 12 months ago by L. F. Davies Tilley
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More About the Author

A long time ago I was born in England but for the past few decades I've lived in the US. I'm not one of those people who dreamed of writing; instead I found a few years ago that I had the happy combination of time on my hands, a use for my troublesome imagination, and a computer. What I did do, in preparation for becoming a writer, was to read. I still love to read although I find I do so now with a niggling editorial eye, and I read very widely.

I fell into writing romance because I liked romance writers and was fascinated by the genre although I seem to have spent much of my time breaking or subverting the rules everyone claims doesn't exist. I chose initially to write historicals for reasons of laziness, having devoured all of Heyer's books as a teenager and with an innate knowledge of Georgian England from having lived there and been something of a history freak (I still am). I've now become one of those writers who does terrible things to Jane Austen.

My dayjobs? Many, weird, varied, including archaeologist, editor/proofreader, classical music radio announcer, box office manager.

What I do the rest of the time? Drink tea, volunteer at a local historic house museum, read, frivol away time on the internet.

Thanks for visiting! My website is www.janetmullany.com and you're invited to drop by and join my mail list. My e-newsletters are infrequent yet dazzling.

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