So, book number two in Elizabeth Boyle’s Bachelor Chronicles series, Confessions of A Little Black Gown, came out at the very end of March, and since book number three comes out this next Tuesday (4/28), I thought it would be a good book to read while I await Mary Balogh’s book, which also comes out next Tuesday. If you find the infidelity with authors heinous, get over it. It just isn’t feasible to stick with just one author and patiently await her upcoming release with bated breath. 

I am generally very good at picking back up with a story within the first few pages of the next book in a series, be it a few months or a year from reading the last one, which is the general time period between most releases. Confessions of A Little Black Gown, however, proved to be the sole exception to the rule. Even a few chapters into the book, I could not for the life of me remember who the characters were, how they had gotten into the situation that supposedly was a tie-in to book number one, Love Letters from a Duke, or in general what the hell was going on.

The story itself was good. Thalia Langley supposedly did a bad thing. She broke a man out of prison with her cousin, Lady Philippa (the prisoner’s lover), and the hero of the book, Lord Larken, has been sent to the house party in the country that she is staying at in order to (a) see if she knows anything and (b) see if the escapee happens to be at the house party, too. They happen to fall in love throughout the investigation, which causes issues for both and creates lovely tension for me, the reader. The problem I had was that I could not remember ever reading about the prison escape, on which the story was based. I remembered (vaguely) Lady Philippa and the prisoner, but really could not remember Thalia from the book before, nor the actual prison break. One reason for my memory lapse was that book number one was published in September… of 2007. My response to learning this information as I looked it up on Amazon was: ARE YOU KIDDING ME? No wonder I can’t for the life of me remember the story or these people. I have probably read hundreds of books since then! Avon publishing company, and Elizabeth Boyle, should be ashamed of themselves.

Incidentally, I did finish Confessions of A Little Black Gown, and am looking forward to book number three, Memoirs of a Scandalous Red Dress, in which Lady Philippa and her prisoner take the starring role. However, even after completing book number two, I still could not remember the supposed prison break. So, I went to three book stores searching for book number one, Love Letters from a Duke, before I finally found it at a used book store.

As good as book number two was, Love Letters from a Duke was so much better it is almost as if it was written by a different author. In fact, now that I have read it again, I remember it was the first book of Boyle’s that I had ever read, and was the reason I started reading her older stuff, and added her to my “List” to keep up with. The story here is of Felicity Langley (Thalia’s twin sister), who (four years before the story starts) begins to correspond with who she thinks is the Duke of Hollindrake, and (at the time of the story) has come to an “understanding” of a marriage between them at some point in the future. The problem, however, is that Thatcher, the Duke of Hollindrake, did not actually correspond with Felicity; his grandfather did. When Thatcher learns of the “understanding,” he goes to correct Felicity’s misconceptions, but because of drab clothing is taken for the man coming from the employment agency to be their new footman. Thatcher does not correct them, and hilarity ensues as Felicity falls in love with her footman, and has to figure out how to deal with this unacceptable social faux pas, as well as deal with the “understanding” she has with Hollindrake.

Thalia is mentioned quite often in book number one, as she lives with her sister, as does Lady Philippa, their cousin. However, the only thing that is mentioned about their prisoner is that Lady Philippa runs into him at the fair, and it is obvious he is a past acquaintance, and then that he is intercepted at a party where he attempts to convince Lady P. to run away with him. So, we find out he is imprisoned. However, the jump from seeing him off to jail to the convoluted story of his rescue that Boyle asks her readers to have prior knowledge of at the start of book number two is huge.

Another thing is that in book number one there is drama surrounding the twins’ father, who is a spy for England and had to fake his death. However, in book number two, that is not discussed, and he is really only mentioned in a past-tense, fairly deceased way. We shall have to see if he has been forgotten and killed off along with the prisoner rescue scene in the “insert plot here” portion of the series, or if Boyle will bring us some information about him in the next book.

I recommend reading books one and two in succession, so there is no confusion about what seems to be going on. However, if you have the option of waiting until book number three, Memoirs of a Scandalous Red Dress, comes out Tuesday, I would add that one to the end. It couldn’t be any worse than how I read them, and what went on between books one and two. Hopefully.

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