Rachel Reads & Reviews

Eva Leigh can always be counted on to showcase unique heroines, and in The London Underground trilogy, these women have some brooding secrets.

1. Couting on a Countess: Surprise, surprise, Leigh delivers on morally ambiguous heroines with Tamsyn, a smuggler on the Cornish coast who needs a rich, distant husband in order to keep feeding the village she provides for. Kit needs a wife in order to access his inheritance. This classic marriage of convenience manages to deliver a moving account on two individuals who have suffered their share of neglect and hardship to find relief in each other.

I, especially like Leigh’s use of twists in putting Tamsyn in charge of the finances as part of the will’s stipulation and Kit’s reaction to that (petulent and a bit manipulative which leads to the third act break-up we all are expecting). I also enjoyed how Kit’s motivations in gaining the money for his pleasure garden stem from deep need after his experiences in the war, and the way it is glossed over by most of society and he has no way to process the pain besides spendthrifting.

There is a big flaw in that Tamsyn’s lie is considerably more hurtful compared to Kit’s, and she doesn’t do enough groveling in my opinion. Also Kit’s about-face was pretty quick for such a law and order guy, but the magnetism between the couple won me over. Plus readers will enjoy the reappearence of Cameron and Maggie Marwood from her previous trilogy.

2. Dare to Love a Duke: The love between Tom and Lucia was amazing, from sharing a similar immigrant background, their love for family, and the way they are able to lose their inhibitions around each other. It was so romantic while Leigh kept the stakes consistently in the background that readers will wonder how will this work out. While I preferred Lucia and Tom, and the plot flaws aren’t as gaping (except for the secret of Tom’s father owning a sex club when he acted like a morally superior man in public. It’s never explained why he did this), Kit and Tamsyn’s relationship was just more compelling. Same with the steamy scenes. For a proprieteress of a sex club with implied past, I expected something a little more creative between them. Also Lucia’s Italian peppered throughout felt gratituous.

3. From Duke till Dawn: This book unfortunately comes dead-last. It has an interesting premise with con artist depending on her former mark to get the money she was swindled (after swindling him) and a consistant arc of growth for the MMC in regards to privilege and his own preconceptions of what a good man he is. But I was reading this trilogy at the same time as Leigh’s Wicked Quills of London, and couldn’t help but note the similarities between this novel and Forever, Your Earl– couple go on a trip around London to find one man, one introduces the other to the underbelly and MMC is initially mad at woking class FMC’s occupation and how it affects his reputation before realizing hey, being a working woman without a title in regency London is hard. It was like a rehash with stronger societal commentary. Also couldn’t buy that the weekend they spent together were that amazing that Greyland is longing for Cassandra two years after, especially after learning it was a lie.