CAROL’S REVIEWS – SALT REDUX AND SALT ANGEL (PART OF THE SALT HENDON COLLECTION: A GEORGIAN HISTORICAL BOXED SET) BY LUCINDA BRANT

REVIEW OF SALT REDUX 

 (Salt Hendon, # 2)

Genre: Historical Romance (Georgian  – St. Petersburg, Russia , Salt Hall, Wiltshire, England and London, England, 1767)

Cover Blurb

Sequel to Salt Bride

Jane and Salt—four years of Happily Ever After
Sir Antony Templestowe—four years of Exile
Lady Caroline—four years of Heartache
Diana St. John—four years plotting Revenge
The time has come…

How does a brother cope with life knowing his sister is a murderess? How can a nobleman have the life he has always wanted when a lurking evil consumes his thoughts and haunts his dreams? What will it take for good to triumph over evil? For readers who enjoyed Salt Bride, the story continues…

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Salt Redux, the second book in Lucinda Brant’s Salt Hendon series, opens four years after the end of Salt Bride (My Review).

The hero Sir Antony Templestowe, Diana’s younger brother and Salt’s cousin and closest friend and the heroine, Lady Caroline Sinclair, Salt’s younger sister, were secondary characters in Salt Bride and obviously in love with each other. However, Antony did not cope well with the knowledge of his sister’s evil crimes and his life soon spiralled out of control; he drank to excess, neglected his niece and nephew, made a fool of himself and threw away a promising diplomatic career. Things finally came to a head when he caused a very public scandal, not only breaking Caroline’s heart, but also embarrassing Salt’s wife and losing the Earl’s respect and friendship.  Consequently, he was sent to take up a low level diplomatic position in St. Petersburg and, shortly afterwards, Caroline married someone else. Banishment probably saved his life because, if he hadn’t met Prince Mikhail and his sister, Antony would have drunk himself to death but, with their friendship and encouragement, he sobered up and made St. Petersburg his home.

While everyone thought that Diana was safely locked away in a remote castle in Wales, she was carefully plotting her escape. Her obsession with Salt had not abated and, having secured her freedom, she intends to wreak revenge on his hated wife, Jane. When Antony receives a letter advising him of his sister’s escape, he returns to England, determined to protect those he loves, only to find Diana ensconced in his house, hiding in plain sight. To avoid any scandal, only a handful of people know the truth about Diana and everyone else believes she has been abroad recovering from the heartbreak caused by Salt’s marriage to someone else, thus allowing her to ingratiate herself back into society.

For the past four years, Salt and Jane have been happily living in the country with their young family and Salt’s godchildren, Ron and Merry. However, they have recently returned to London so that Salt can resume his political career, only to discover that Diana has once more become a threat. Now they must all work together to thwart her insidious plans.

I like that both Antony and Caroline are flawed characters because it makes them seem more human and their journey more emotionally satisfying. At heart, Antony is an honourable man and I can understand his melt down and descent into alcoholism after discovering the evil his sister had perpetrated and his fear that he may suffer from the same madness. I like the realistic way in which Ms. Brant handles Antony’s alcoholism. Like all alcoholics, he must admit he has a problem and want to turn his life around and I love the scene where he admits to Caroline the reason for wanting to change.

“Misha opened my eyes and gave my compulsion a name. He made me come to terms with what I really am, to stare myself in the looking glass and say I am a habitual drunkard. But I still had to want to turn my life around, to have a reason to change, to change for the better.”

“Tell me,” she murmured. “What was your reason?”

 He answered without hesitation. “You, Caro. I wanted to be able to ask you to marry me with a clean heart and a clear mind.”

I find the idea of Antony’s ritual tea making being a way of overcoming his craving for a drink by concentrating his mind on something else fascinating. I also admire him for his determination to face up to his responsibilities and his self-possession in dealing with his sister. 

Caroline has her own secrets; a sordid past which makes her feel unworthy of someone as honourable as Antony, but I like how they are talk openly to each other and resolve the issues between them. Antony is not judgemental of Caroline and, in fact, blames himself for the headache she has suffered over the last four years.

The romance is emotional, tender and romantic and provides a welcome contrast to the drama surrounding Diana’s devious plotting. There are nail-biting moments when I was convinced her evil plans would finally succeed but, in a dramatic climax, Diana meets a rather grisly end.

Tom Allenby, Jane’s stepbrother, has an important role in the story and a new character, Katherine (Kitty) Aldershot, is introduced.

This is a wonderful blend of romance, suspense and intrigue.

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REVIEW OF SALT ANGEL

(Salt Hendon Novella)

Genre: Historical Romance (Georgian,- Salt Hendon, Wiltshire, England, London, England, 1767)

Cover Blurb

This 20,000-word bonus novella, is a new extended version of Fairy Christmas (previously published in A Timeless Romance Anthology: Silver Bells Collection) featuring well-loved characters from the Salt books

Kitty Aldershot is orphaned and forced to live on others’ charity. Offered a home under the generous roof of her relatives, the Earl of Salt Hendon and his countess, Kitty wants for nothing, not even the affections of Mr. Tom Allenby. But when Kitty stumbles across a letter written by Lady Caroline that reveals how Mr. Allenby would be ruined should he marry the likes of Kitty, she realizes she has been fooling herself all along. Kitty’s world crumbles around her as she recognizes she will forever be alone with no prospects at all.

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This charming novella sees Kitty Aldershot and Tom Allenby get their happy ending.

Kitty and Tom are a delightful couple. Tom is kind and steadfast and I admired him for the way he always looked after Jane (Countess of Salt Hendon) and was her stalwart defender when she need him the most. I found the fact that he is rather flustered around Kitty rather endearing.

She took a step closer, the drawing folding in on itself, their fingers lightly touching, and her violet eyes widened in expectation, heart thudding in her chest. But he just stood there, smiling down at her, not saying a word.

I like how, despite her circumstances, Kitty has retained her youthful optimism, and also the way she does her best to repay the Salt Hendons for all their kindness. I felt her heartache when she reads Lady Caroline’s letter but admire her selflessness in not wanting to ruin Tom’s good name or his political prospects.

How could she tell him her feelings if she could not, in good conscience, accept an offer from him because a marriage with her would not only ostracize his family, but ruin his future prospects as a parliamentarian?

I was totally charmed by the elderly Russian Prince Timur-Alexei Nikolai Mordinov who turns out to be an unlikely ally for Tom and Kitty. The interactions between the prince and the eccentric Lady Reanay were entertaining and this couple prove that falling in love is not just the preserve of the young.

“Be warned! It can hit you at any time, at any place, and at any age! Falling in love is not confined to the young, Miss Aldershot.”– Prince Mordinov

I thoroughly enjoyed this novella and it was the perfect ending to this series of stories.

OVERALL VERDICT: If you have never read any of Lucinda Brant’s books, this boxed set would be an excellent introduction to her wonderful stories, richly drawn characters and heart-warming romances.

REVIEW RATING: STELLAR 5 STARS

SENSUALITY RATING: SUBTLE