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Jan 03, 2011

Pamela rated it:

The Betrayal of the Blood Lily is the sixth installment in Lauren Willig's delightful Pink Carnation series, which chronicles the romantic adventures of Napoleonic (aka Regency) era British spies and the romantic misadventures of modern-day Harvard doctoral student Eloise Kelly, who is researching said spies for her dissertation.

At the very beginning of the series, Eloise is struggling to find sources--any sources--for her dissertation on super-spies the Scarlet Pimpernel (in the ser More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Nov 09, 2010

Elizabeth (Miss Eliza) rated it:

But really more like 4.5 stars...we really need half stars on here. Anyway, the sixth installment of the Pink Carnation series does not disappoint and I think it might even get more new readers, seeing as it is set in India and does not rely overly heavily on past events. I also really enjoy Penelope as a heroine and with her starting out the book already married to a man she doesn't love we are in a far different position that previous novels. Instead of an innocent happy virginal character, we More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 03, 2010

Allison (The Allure of Books) rated it:

I'm so happy I scored the ARC and got to read this before seeing a bunch of other reviews for it! Although its also a mixed blessing, because I'm (of course) already dying for the next one and now I just have to wait that much longer for it.

Anyway...on to my review.

Henrietta and Miles have been dethroned from the status of my favorites of the series. Alex and Penelope really got to me! I LOVE how they have all sorts of issues; I hate disgustingly perfect characters. Alex More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 26, 2011

Nicole rated it:

I filed this under "frothy romance," but there's really nothing frothy about this. Willig goes very dark for this story of Penelope and how she finally finds love. This may be the best Pink Carnation book to date.

The thing I most like about Willig's series as it continues is that each story has a very different tone depending on the main characters. While some are romps (The Mischief of the Mistletoe is the prime example in this category), others are much more serious, such a More...

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Oct 31, 2011

Katie rated it:

This is the sixth installment in the Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig. I love these books and was really excited when this one came out because it seemed like it had been mere months between it and its predecessor, The Temptation of the Night Jasmine. Anyway, the entire series revolves around two themes: one, modern, is the story of Eloise, a grad student researching Napoleonic spies in London; the second is the stories related to the spies. Each book takes the story of Eloise forward a t More...

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Mar 06, 2011

Amanda rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 28, 2010

Bookaholics rated it:

The Betrayal of the Blood Lily by Lauren Willig (Re-print)
Historical Romance – Jan. 4th, 2011
4 1/2 stars

After a scandal and hasty wedding, Penelope Deveraux and her husband, Lord Frederick Stains, are shipped off to India where Freddy has accepted a post in Hyderabad. With no knowledge on the intrigues and conflicts between the English, the French, and the Nizam (Sultan) of Hyderabad, Penelope must rely on herself to make sure they don’t land in trouble with any powerful More...

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Jun 25, 2010

Lady rated it:

I was very excited to finally receive the latest installment in the Pink Carnation series, and started reading with great relish. I was, however, greatly disappointed with "Betrayal of the Blood Lily".

I loved the change in setting! I thought India was a wonderfully exotic, and yet familiar thanks to the British presence at the time. It also seemed to suit Penelope better than the stiff and formal balls and drawing rooms of England. I loved the characters of Penelope (who, More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 21, 2010

Knitme23 rated it:

This was my last audiobook for the year--I finished it Wednesday and school finished Saturday. I get a huge kick out of Willig's books, as they seem like novels my sister and I would've written in our early teens, when we devoured huge stacks of Georgette Heyer and Elswyth Thane and the like. This one, however, goes a bit too far in suspending our disbelief.

The main character, Penelope, is pretty unlikable. We only know her as being bitter and self-pitying, and we never get to see a More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 02, 2010

Kelly rated it:

Willig is back on her game with this novel. In Blood Lily, we follow Penelope and her ne'er-do-well of a husband, Freddy Staines, to India, whence they've been sent to allow the scandal surrounding their hastily patched-up marriage (after Penelope was "compromised" during a country house party) to die down. Upon her arrival in India, Penelope meets the delicious Captain Alex Reid, who is to escort her and Freddy to their intended destination in Hyderabad. Intellectually and morally Fre More...

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Feb 19, 2010

Anna rated it:

SPOILER ALERT - I've really liked Willig's previous books (however guiltily) and wanted to like this one too, but I dislike being put in the position of rooting for a character to commit adultery, however unhappy the circumstances of her marriage. Others might not struggle with that, but it ultimately left me with a sadder feeling about the book than her other novels. I also felt like this was one of her weaker stories, narratively. The "spy" aspect of the plot seems far more contrived More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Mar 16, 2010

Krystal rated it:

Willig never fails to deliver. Clever, fast-paced, and funny, her plots and characters always entertain. Lady Penelope Staines nee Devereaux has to be one of my favorites from her in a while though. One has to love a strong and opinionated heroine who also happens to be a good shot. Charlotte is nice and all and Mary prickly but Penelope is the sort of character you root for in a book because not only do we get to see the front she presents to the world but also her personal thoughts where she k More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

May 24, 2010

Miriam rated it:

Another fluffy installment in Willig's formulaic series of semi-sympathetic lovers battling French spies during the Napoleonic wars. The basic concept is that following the successes of the The Scarlet Pimpernel a bunch of other English aristocrats also took floral code names and skulked around defeating the Froggies. In this instance the story is set in India and the espionage plot is rather minimal. Penelope is newly and unhappily married to jackass Freddy and, bored with her neglectful husban More...

7 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 05, 2010

Becky rated it:

In this sixth installment in the spy serie, The Pink Carnation, we find ourselves in the midst of a pretty unhappily married couple with Penelope and Frederick. This good deal of tension between them makes for a pretty interesting lead into a growing friendship and relationship between Penelope and Alex Reid. It seemed to me that Willig set Reid up to be the "good guy" foil to Frederick's bad behavior from the start. Frederick just didn't seem very interested in the happiness and sa More...

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Feb 09, 2010

Christy rated it:

I really love this series! The only thing I hate is the long wait in between books!

An action-packed, romance, espionaged filled story set in early 19th century India. Yes, please!

When we last saw Penelope, she was forced into a hasty marriage after being caught in a most scandalous act. She finds herself in India as Lady Frederick Staines, where she finds a spy name Marigold lurking about. I loved Penelope. She was a spitfire redhead who made the best of her situation. S More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 15, 2010

Jennifer rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

2 comments like

Dec 07, 2011

bijal rated it:

Lauren Willig, just give up the spy novel pretense. Your spyjinks suck. They've always sucked. Stick to the romance. I'm giving this one four stars despite of my grievances below and the poor spying and ONLY because Penelope is pretty great and Alex is a touch emotionally damaged. I guess you know a little about what I like, but not enough to realize that Eloise is the worst. I'm pretty sure that even the narrator thinks so, too, because man, she does Eloise no favors. Speaking of narrators, th More...

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Nov 07, 2011

Michele rated it:

It's about...
Book 6 in the Pink Carnation series
Penelope goes to India with her shotgun-wedding new husband.

What I loved...
I had taken a break from this series, but glad I came back for this book. The setting in India was a breath of fresh air, and the romance was a nice change from past books.

I also loved the character of Penelope. She doesn't fit in, is far too sporty and brazen and can't help but push back against the restrictive world around her, muddling More...

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Aug 15, 2011

Bree rated it:

The Betrayal of the Blood Lily is the sixth novel in Lauren Willig’s Pink Carnation series and centres around Penelope Deveraux, who has appeared previously as a friend of both Lady Henrietta Selwick’s and Charlotte Landsdowne’s, now the Duchess of Dovedale. In the previous book, Penelope announced to a crowded room that she had been alone in a bedroom with Lord Frederick Staines, thereby compromising herself and forcing a marriage.

After the marriage is hastily arranged the two decam More...

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May 15, 2010

Tami rated it:

Hmmmm. Loved almost everything about this novel, as I usually do with the novels in this series (huge Lauren Willig fan!)...except I cannot get past how much I disliked the main character! The main characters, actually - both Eloise, the modern-day protagonist of the series, and Penelope, her historical counterpart in this installment, were huge disappointments for me.

I usually find the chapters with Eloise's story (outnumbered 5 to 1 or so in each book) to be ones I look forward More...

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Aug 07, 2011

Lauren rated it:

I admit to being 100% hooked on this series. I've been won over since Pink Carnation. Blood Lily might very well be my favorite so far.

I like that the hero isn't completely dashing, and is a little gauche, in a manly way. I like that the heroine has been "compromised" not once, but several times, and has accepted her role as village strumpet. I like that, for most of the books, things aren't just a natural progression toward happily ever after and that Penelope repeatedly pu More...

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Apr 09, 2010

Jennifer rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Feb 01, 2010

Alana rated it:

Huzzah! I'm pleased to say that I think The Betrayal of the Blood Lily is Lauren Willig's finest yet! Perhaps my enthusiasm overtakes me, as The Secret History of the Pink Carnation might still claim the number one spot as the origin of all, but I was so delighted with Willig's latest novel that I devoured it in a single sitting, knowing with every turn of the page that Willig was in top form.

This is the sixth in the Pink Carnation series and to describe it, I steal a description fro More...

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Jun 18, 2011

Sarah rated it:

SPOILER ALERT: I love this series however I couldn't like Penelope. I greatly enjoy Willig's writing style and have enjoyed all of her heroines except Penelope. Penelope is ungrateful and spoiled. She asks for trouble and guess what, she ends up married to someone who doesn't love her and who cheats on her. Now, women can openly have sexual relationships but during regency England, women of a certain standing could not. Whether it was fair or not, Penelope knew that behaving in such a manne More...

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May 10, 2010

Tudor-Lee rated it:

It's embarrassing to admit this, but I feel a strange sort of affinity with the main character of this book- Penelope Devereaux. You might be forgiven for thinking that she is a spoiled, selfish, vapid little princess with no care or thought for those around her. She has cropped up in passing in some of Willig's other books, and she is just as unpleasant in those as she is in this. However, you come to understand that she is actually bitterly unhappy, stifled by society, and trapped by her ow More...

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Feb 26, 2011

Erica Leigh rated it:

The Pink Carnation books are quick and thoroughly enjoyable reads – and The Betrayal of the Blood Lily is no exception. In particular, I appreciate that the heroines of the books are all so different. Penelope is rash, insecure, bold, sensitive – all in turn; and to see an earlier character through her eyes (Charlotte) is brilliant. I especially appreciate Lauren Willig’s writing style – she has serious wit and is not afraid to use it. Having had the opportunity to attend a reading by the au More...

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Jul 28, 2011

Eva rated it:

Lauren Willig created another fiesty heroine in Lady Penelope Staines. She is a strong-willed woman who enjoys flouting society's manners and slowly comes to realize that her family's social position has protected her from the worst of her mischief. Hastily married and exiled to India, she gets involved in a plot between England and France to gain more control over the Indian rulers.

Delightful banter, lots of interesting characters and plenty of intrigue mark this book. Willig's f More...

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Jan 15, 2011

Anne rated it:

I recently won this book through first-reads and was very excited when it arrived. I have seen other people mention the Pink Carnation books here on Goodreads and have been eager to read one of them. I was concerned that I would have a hard time following the book since I have not read any in the series before, but that was not the case. I was a little confused at first, but that was just because there were so many characters to keep track of at first.

My favorite parts of the book More...

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Feb 15, 2010

Laurel rated it:

A nineteenth-century exotic locale, a handsome officer and a feisty heroine make for archetypical romantic fare, but Lauren Willig’s new novel The Betrayal of the Blood Lily is anything BUT a conventional bodice ripper embellished with historical detail. In her sixth novel in her “Pink Carnation” series, Willig exhibits once again that she is an accomplished raconteur as she weaves an intricate and lively tale involving spies, espionage and romance during the Napoleonic wars with England. Wherea More...

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Apr 07, 2011

Gigi rated it:

With the last book lacking a bit I was unsure how I would like this book. But I was pleasantly surprised! Once again I found myself taking breaks through out the day to read "just one more chapter". This book brought back the tension and romance. Willig got the play between Penelope and Alex just right. And her references to other Bristish literature were subtle which I liked.

But I have finally realized why I don't give this 5 stars...not because it is formulaic but because More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)