The Emperor's Conspiracy is a brilliantly written Historical Fiction with a dash of romance. Not only did I love the entire novel, I was completely entranced by the amazing plot, rich details and striking characters that sucked me right into nineteenth-century London until the very last words.

This story is about Charlotte Raven, who once was a poor chimney sweep until Lady Catherine Howe took her in after Charlotte became trapped in her chimney. Charlotte never lost her ties to the streets thoug More...

I have both of Michelle Diener’s other books on my TBR pile. When the chance came to review this book, I was keen because, apart from the beautiful cover, I knew it would force me to move this author up in the queue—something I had been meaning to do. Review books get priority! :) The conspiracy of the title is actually true—Napoleon did try to bankrupt Britain by stealing all of their guineas. Who’d have thunk?

I went into the book thinking it was a romance but it isn’t really. It’s an historica More...

*Huge sigh of satisfaction* This is THAT book, the one where history melts into the background, the writing disappears and players emerge spitting character and bold love so that... I sigh.

Charlotte - Charlie - is a great character. She's headstrong and intelligent. Her guardian/savior is the sweetest, smartest lady. It's a household of two great brains with different kinds of strength and I loved seeing the strong women.

Charlie's childhood friend, the crime lord, is so dark and mysterious and p More...

This is an amazing book - "Charlie" the main character is a survivor of the London slums, aka "the east end",who was adopted by an aristocratic lady who was horrified to discover the chimney sweep stuck in the chimney of her home was actually a 12 year old girl. While Charlie is very appreciative of her benefactor's kindness, she never forgets those she left behind.

Michelle's excellent characterizations had me understanding what it must have been like to live through unimaginable poverty, while More...

As many books do, it started with such promise, such simple yet elegant descriptiveness with an interesting plot outline. It grasped my attention and intrigue me enough to continue to read for two days straight but towards the end it felt like a never ending abyss of 'will they or won't they' (Edward, come on, make a solid move. Kissing is all well and good but make a REAL move man!) and will she cut her ties with Luke Braken or fall back into old habits and back to the slums of London? There wa More...

Charlotte Raven has managed to escape poverty by sheer luck and the help of a Society lady. Yet she still maintains ties to that other life which are hard to break as she tries to help as many others as she can.

Lord Edward Durnham is investigating the movement of gold out of London to learn where it is going and who is involved. As he is investigating, his paths cross with Charlotte, only to find that people they both know just may be involved.

Trying to find out the truth is getting more danger More...

This is, without doubt, one of the worst books I've ever read. People, it is even worse than Twilight.

I can forgive a trite plot if the characters or the writing are engaging, and I can forgive poor writing if the plot, characters, or concepts are awesome, but this book melds terrible writing with a boring, trite, cliche, unrealistic plot and boring, trite, cliche, unrealistic characters.

This is a book that completely ignores any ideas of "show, not tell". We are repeatedly told how wonderful a More...

Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul. - Democritus

Michelle Diener burst onto the historical fiction scene last year with her debut thriller set in Tudor England, IN A TREACHEROUS COURT. For THE EMPEROR'S CONSPIRACY, she delivers an equally engaging suspense set in Regency England. Diener steps out of the grand ballrooms to give us a glimpse of gritty London – both in the stews and in the aristocracy who grovel in their selfish pleasures. Charlotte More...

Michelle Diener in her new book, “The Emperor's Conspiracy” published by Gallery Books takes us into the life of Charlotte Raven.

From the back cover: From nineteenth-century London’s elegant ballrooms to its darkest slums, a spirited young woman and a nobleman investigating for the Crown unmask a plot by Napoleon to bleed England of its gold.

Chance led to Charlotte Raven’s transformation from chimney sweep to wealthy, educated noblewoman, but she still walks a delicate tightrope between two worl More...

"The Emperor's Conspiracy" is the story of Charlotte "Charlie" Raven, who goes from lowly chimney sweep to full-fledged society lady and her difficulty with having her toes in both of the worlds she is so familiar with. On one hand, she still remembers what it was like to be a child forced to work but still loving that world and the people that she knew in it but those very people could get her deeply into trouble. On the other hand, she absolutely relishes her position as a rich and educated wo More...

It started so good..and yes it continued to be that good! :D

It was a nice mix of historical fiction, suspense, mystery and romance. Charlotte the heroine was no simpering miss of the ton. She used to live in the slum, daughter of a whore, worked as a chimney sweep but was saved by a nice lady and raised as her ward. While still be connected to the underworld. Oh yes I loved that premise at once.

In this story there is a mystery too. Gold smuggled out of England and a Lord who tries to figure out More...

Charlotte Raven is torn between the two worlds of early 19th-century London. On one side is the dark, poverty-stricken, and dangerous underbelly where she grew up, where her childhood friend and protector, Luke Bracken, has grown up to be a bitter, powerful crime lord. On the other side is the pristine, silk-and-satin upper class society that she has was adopted into twelve years prior, where she falls into the company of the formal and refined Lord Edward Durham, a secret agent to whom she has More...

When Michelle Diener contacted me to offer a review copy of this book, I was interested, but mainly because Michelle lives in Australia and therefore I could count this book for several challenges. And then I noticed that Amy from Historical Fiction Virtual Tours was running a tour for the book. I volunteered because then not only would I intend to read it, I would actually read it and in a timely fashion! The thing is though, by the time I finished the book, I was happy to have read the book, n More...

I started this book on my dinner break. I didn’t go to sleep that night until I finished it. While I might be a little masochistic when it comes to [not]balancing sleeping, working, and reading, most of the credit goes to this book for being just that fantastic: Saved by a benevolent and wealthy widow from a life of poverty and drudgery, Charlotte Raven is now a debutante with a seemingly unimpeachable reputation; however, her past is still very much a part of her present. Her connections to the More...

An historical fiction with plots as finely woven as a spider's web.

At first I was attracted by this novel through the design of its beautiful cover. Then, by reading the synopsis, I thought I would access to an historical romance with many twists. This was not entirely the case because the romantic part is sweet and pure and will stay like that. No hot passionate love affair.

If the first is part of Charlotte's past, the ordeals they fought together have forged an unbreakable bond between the duo More...

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I would give this 2.5 stars.

The Emperor’s Conspiracy started with a lot of promise – the cover was well chosen; attractive and simple in design, the fact that the woman’s face is unseen hints at mystery. The storyline itself is intriguing – an emperor behind a conspiracy that will ruin England? I didn’t even know that happened so that was interesting to discover. However, there was so much detail and time spent setting the scene, that I More...

This title will be published on 27 November 2012; review copy courtesy of Gallery Books and Edelweiss

4.5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this book – although it eventually missed out on getting a 5 star rating, of which more later.

The heroine, Charlotte Raven is an unusual one in that she was once a street urchin and has retained her links to London’s underworld, mainly through her friendship with Luke Bracken, who has risen through the ranks of the criminal fraternity to become what we might now term More...

The cover drew me to The Emperor’s Conspiracy, the synopsis had me grab it and the novel captivated me. Michelle Diener’s novel has elements I love in a good book; suspense, mystery and a side dish of romance all set in nineteenth century London. I adored the unique characters and the plot against the crown. I was captivated by this tale and could not put it down.

Our heroine Charlotte Raven’s by all appearances looks to be the perfect lady with an impeccable reputation. Charlotte has many secret More...

I thoroughly enjoy the historical fiction genre and I am careful about which ones I accept because I as I have stated before I am always scared I will get bogged down with facts and history in a historical novel. Not that it has happened yet and it definitely did not happen with The Emperor's Conspiracy.

The Emperor's Conspiracy is a very fast-paced plot based novel that had me flipping the pages as fast as I could to find out what would happen next in Charlotte Raven's world. I had no doubt that More...

The Emperor’s Conspiracy is a fast moving story heavy on the intrigue and history- with a splash of romantic feeling between Charlotte and Edward. It’s nicely intertwined with the twisty plot that doesn’t neatly fold itself into a particular genre, but straddles several – historical fiction, mystery, a tipple of romance. Charlotte Raven is a particularly appealing character because she doesn’t escape the hardship that would have been face by those who lived in poverty. She’s adopted around the a More...

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*I was provided with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

The emperor’s Conspiracy took me quite by surprise; it was not what I thought it would be at all. I was expecting a normal historical windswept romance (of which I am a fan) instead I got an entertaining and complex mystery with plenty of heart.

This book is clever in the way that all its numerous plots and twists tie themselves and you in knots, there is a lot going on, a lot to More...

I started this book on my dinner break. I didn’t go to sleep that night until I finished it. While I might be a little masochistic when it comes to [not]balancing sleeping, working, and reading, most of the credit goes to this book for being just that fantastic: Saved by a benevolent and wealthy widow from a life of poverty and drudgery, Charlotte Raven is now a debutante with a seemingly unimpeachable reputation; however, her past is still very much a part of her present. Her connections to the More...

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I cut my reading teeth on historical romances. I can still remember the first time my mom put a Victoria Holt book into my hands, and later, when my older sister and I discovered the joys of Georgette Heyer. To this day, I've got a soft spot for the genre.

The Emperor's Conspiracy is a very different type of historical novel. Set in England during the Napoleonic Wars, it contains the usual lords and ladies, balls and gowns, and of c More...

I can't say that I've read a lot about the gritter side of Regency England. This one had the underbelly of Regency England mixed in with the "proper" side with its rules and etiquette for ladies.

What I liked about this one was the characters felt real. There was dimension to most of the characters. And my most I mean you clearly have the villains who are evil pure and throughout. But with the main protagonist who are made to understand where she came from and the tension in going back from the More...

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I hate to damn The Emperor's Conspiracy with faint praise, but the best adjectives I can come up with to describe it are: Decent. Okay. Not bad. Adequate. I was entertained, but never invested or engrossed in the story. All in all, it was an alright novel with less than perfect characterization. It also wasn't the exciting mystery I had hoped to get, and at times this read much more like a historical romance than a historical fiction novel... but it More...

What do people do in this book? They watch people watch people.

What's happening/happened in this book? abuse, child rape, child sex, intsa-love, semi one-sided love-triangle, murders, discovery of rape.

What's missing? The mystery. Where was it? I know that was suppose to one because of the description. But it failed to become semi relevant until late in the second half of the book. Even then, it was poorly developed.

What's aggravating? Everybody conveniently was connected to everybody introduce More...

An intriguing plot taking place in England during the Napoleonic War and crisp, evocative writing make this book a pleasure to read. I loved the main character, Charlotte Raven, a woman of the slums who now moves in the highest levels of society. Charlotte is a woman torn between two worlds and two loves, and how she ultimately makes her choice is believable and quietly moving. But what made the book for me was the depiction of the Regency underworld that strips back the glitter and jewels and s More...

Napoleon? Thievery? Royalty? What an amazing plot is that?! THE EMPEROR'S CONSPIRACY is a romantic Historical Fiction with a twist of intrigue.

Charlotte Raven is a strong smart and savvy woman. Once a lowely chimney sweep who was taken in by Lady Catherine Howe, Charlotte still feels for her friend and ex Luke Bracke, even though he is now involved in a major crime organization. Luke is dark and mysterious and Charlotte has a deep and complicated history with him.

But soon,Charlotte meets Lord Ed More...