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Emerald Scarab Adventures #1
The Conjured Woman
In the early 19th Century, Adelaide Lenormand, a fortune teller popular with the Paris elite, conjures a golem for Napoleon Bonaparte during a dinner party. But something goes wrong. It looks nothing like the manservant she promised. Even worse, immediately after it arrives, the golem steals the Emperor's emerald scarab from a chain around his neck and mysteriously disappears.
Minutes later in London, Elise Dubois, an ER nurse from Tucson, is found sprawled in front of The Quiet Woman Public House. She's wearing nothing but tattered shorts, a sports bra, and one pink running shoe. Gripped in her fist is an Egyptian jewel, the scarab.
Now Bonaparte's Minister of Police is breathing down Adelaide's neck while her wealthy clients are abandoning her. The women of La Société d'Isis, so wickedly encouraging when she'd first launched her plot, remain silent to her pleas for help. Adelaide has no choice but to find the golem and restore her reputation.
Troubled by nightmares of a wild-eyed French woman and worried she might be losing her mind, Elise tries to blend in at the pub. But blending in is not her forte. She knows the moment the opportunity arises she'll stop at nothing to return to 21st Century Arizona, even if that means breaking the heart of the one man who understands her.
The Conjured Woman is the first in the Emerald Scarab Adventure series aimed at lovers of hard-edged heroines. In a story of time travel, romance, and fortune, anything can happen.
Minutes later in London, Elise Dubois, an ER nurse from Tucson, is found sprawled in front of The Quiet Woman Public House. She's wearing nothing but tattered shorts, a sports bra, and one pink running shoe. Gripped in her fist is an Egyptian jewel, the scarab.
Now Bonaparte's Minister of Police is breathing down Adelaide's neck while her wealthy clients are abandoning her. The women of La Société d'Isis, so wickedly encouraging when she'd first launched her plot, remain silent to her pleas for help. Adelaide has no choice but to find the golem and restore her reputation.
Troubled by nightmares of a wild-eyed French woman and worried she might be losing her mind, Elise tries to blend in at the pub. But blending in is not her forte. She knows the moment the opportunity arises she'll stop at nothing to return to 21st Century Arizona, even if that means breaking the heart of the one man who understands her.
The Conjured Woman is the first in the Emerald Scarab Adventure series aimed at lovers of hard-edged heroines. In a story of time travel, romance, and fortune, anything can happen.
323 pages, Paperback
First published May 9, 2015
1 person is currently reading
977 people want to read
About the author
Anne Gross
6 books35 followersWith a French father and a mother from New Orleans, Anne Gross’s interest in the Napoleonic era was inevitable. Former nurse and classical musician, Anne now lives in San Francisco where she’s working on the continued adventures of her recalcitrant heroine.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 22, 2016
The first book in The Emerald Scarab Series speaks to the anti-heroine in all of us; the person who doesn't quite fit into the world of "historical romance" and the ceaselessly alluring damsel in distress archetype.
Here at last is a prickly, self-centered heroine, difficult to love, yet at the same time demanding our love as we recognize ourselves in her quest to maintain her independence and control. When that control is stripped from her after she is pulled through a vortex into another century, we can't help but see ourselves in her first awkward attempts to regain her bearings and make sense of her new world.
The author skillfully weaves two converging storylines so that the reader knows more about the world Elise falls into than she does... and more than she ever has time to find out, since she is thrust immediately into the life and work of a serving wench, compelled to earn her keep at the ironically named "Quiet Woman". Through the strength of the writing, we not only see the early 19th century world through the eyes of reticent 21st Century Elise, but we see how a muscularly athletic modern woman, with painted toenails on feet too large to fit in borrowed shoes, would be perceived by the average 19th Century pub dweller; certainly not as a thing of beauty. The mixture of almost slapstick adventure, (Elise ducks a chair in a brawl fight only to have it hit the old man behind her,) and historical intrigue, (I feel I know more about the personal lives of Napolean and Josephine and their coterie of friends than I ever did before,) creates an unforgettable double narrative. And what is rare in split narratives is that each one is completely engrossing. Adelaide's mistakes in conjuring and attempts to flee punishment at the hands of a brutal policeman are every bit as spine tingling as Elise's mistakes in improvised 19th century surgical techniques and attemmpts to find her way through an unfamiliar and dangerous (for a woman alone) London landscape. The secret, I think, is that both heroines are self-sufficient, strong-willed women who suddenly have their worlds irrevocably altered and must act quickly to regain the control they've lost, before it's too late.
My only regret is that I have finished the book and must now wait eagerly for book two of The Emerald Scarab Series.
Here at last is a prickly, self-centered heroine, difficult to love, yet at the same time demanding our love as we recognize ourselves in her quest to maintain her independence and control. When that control is stripped from her after she is pulled through a vortex into another century, we can't help but see ourselves in her first awkward attempts to regain her bearings and make sense of her new world.
The author skillfully weaves two converging storylines so that the reader knows more about the world Elise falls into than she does... and more than she ever has time to find out, since she is thrust immediately into the life and work of a serving wench, compelled to earn her keep at the ironically named "Quiet Woman". Through the strength of the writing, we not only see the early 19th century world through the eyes of reticent 21st Century Elise, but we see how a muscularly athletic modern woman, with painted toenails on feet too large to fit in borrowed shoes, would be perceived by the average 19th Century pub dweller; certainly not as a thing of beauty. The mixture of almost slapstick adventure, (Elise ducks a chair in a brawl fight only to have it hit the old man behind her,) and historical intrigue, (I feel I know more about the personal lives of Napolean and Josephine and their coterie of friends than I ever did before,) creates an unforgettable double narrative. And what is rare in split narratives is that each one is completely engrossing. Adelaide's mistakes in conjuring and attempts to flee punishment at the hands of a brutal policeman are every bit as spine tingling as Elise's mistakes in improvised 19th century surgical techniques and attemmpts to find her way through an unfamiliar and dangerous (for a woman alone) London landscape. The secret, I think, is that both heroines are self-sufficient, strong-willed women who suddenly have their worlds irrevocably altered and must act quickly to regain the control they've lost, before it's too late.
My only regret is that I have finished the book and must now wait eagerly for book two of The Emerald Scarab Series.
April 29, 2016
This is a really fun read! I found this book quite charming on several levels. The author is very detailed about the 19th century and its smells of filth, crude culture, and brutality. However much of it is overlaid with humor.
One the things I like most about this book is the characters. They all have depth and complexity - they are so real! Not one of them is entirely lovable and they all have their own agendas. So if you like characters that are like real people, this is a must read.
Overall, I found the plot engaging and the setting quite interesting. I look forward to reading the rest of the books in this series when they come out. This first book really is "just the beginning". But by the end I felt like I really knew the characters and am really looking forward to how the plot develops and twists and turns!
One the things I like most about this book is the characters. They all have depth and complexity - they are so real! Not one of them is entirely lovable and they all have their own agendas. So if you like characters that are like real people, this is a must read.
Overall, I found the plot engaging and the setting quite interesting. I look forward to reading the rest of the books in this series when they come out. This first book really is "just the beginning". But by the end I felt like I really knew the characters and am really looking forward to how the plot develops and twists and turns!
April 20, 2016
Rollicking time-travel fantasy, with lots of laugh-out-loud moments. A modern-day American heroine abruptly misplaced in a 19th century London pub, with a hilarious take on all the little details of time travel that many books leave out. (Be honest, how many of us would be ok with using a chamber pot? And any time skulking through fashion history shows that few 21st-century women would fit into any 19th century shoes.)
So we are left with a barefooted, mouthy, beer-loving American woman not exactly ready or willing to be the heroine in any romantic time-travel fantasy. So it's not, exactly: either romantic or a fantasy. But it is certainly fun. I'm definitely looking forward to the next in the series.
So we are left with a barefooted, mouthy, beer-loving American woman not exactly ready or willing to be the heroine in any romantic time-travel fantasy. So it's not, exactly: either romantic or a fantasy. But it is certainly fun. I'm definitely looking forward to the next in the series.
May 20, 2020
This is a really good time traveling book. The first book in a series. I'm excited to start the next.
August 14, 2016
Just finished this for book club. I unfortunately did not enjoy it. It was like Outlander which I also did not enjoy. There were some funny parts and some interesting facts to ponder like why feet got bigger in the 21st century, but there were no redeeming other facts that I enjoyed.
March 8, 2017
A realist protagonist and the squalid historical details were particular strengths of the book. I enjoyed it very much.
October 21, 2018
2.5 stars. Mediocre. I just couldn't empathize with the MC(s).
July 3, 2019
It started off good. It was intriguing. Then, I just didn''t know where this was going. Not going to spoil it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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June 24, 2019Nook Free Friday
December 7, 2016
In 1808, Napoleon is looking to conquer Spain. Adelaide Lenormand, France’s preeminent fortune-teller, has a plan to aid Napoleon by conjuring a golem to be his trustworthy manservant. At the dinner party ritual, however, something goes wrong. During a struggle, the golem yanks an emerald scarab necklace off Napoleon’s neck and mysteriously disappears. While the police search for the emerald, Adelaide seeks the golem. Yet what she’s conjured is a 21st-century nurse named Elise Dubois, who is found unconscious outside a London public house. When Elise wakes up, she finds herself 200 years in the past with no idea how she got there.
Despite a couple of interesting historical tidbits, overall the book’s setting is not strong and mostly describes how things smell (i.e., like urine), with scenes of men urinating on outdoor walls (where else would the smell come from?). By the end, nothing is resolved, and there’s a cliffhanger. How is a modern woman conjured instead of a golem? How can French people hear Elise speaking French when she does not understand French words spoken to her? How does Elise portal-jump from France to London? What was the secret society’s true plan, La Société d’Isis (obviously referencing ancient Egypt’s goddess, Isis)? Why is the emerald scarab so important to them?
I didn’t like Elise at all. Readers are introduced to her as she sneaks out on a guy “the morning after” (and she despises the thought of having to talk to him after sex). Elise is self-centered, disrespectful, and ungrateful, and she undergoes no character development. Her constant use of modern idioms (“wouldn’t it be cool,” “are you okay”) made me cringe. The story reads like it’s about a petulant teenager lost in a 19th century-themed Renaissance festival.
Review posted in the fall newsletter of the Historical Novel Society at https://historicalnovelsociety.org/re...
Despite a couple of interesting historical tidbits, overall the book’s setting is not strong and mostly describes how things smell (i.e., like urine), with scenes of men urinating on outdoor walls (where else would the smell come from?). By the end, nothing is resolved, and there’s a cliffhanger. How is a modern woman conjured instead of a golem? How can French people hear Elise speaking French when she does not understand French words spoken to her? How does Elise portal-jump from France to London? What was the secret society’s true plan, La Société d’Isis (obviously referencing ancient Egypt’s goddess, Isis)? Why is the emerald scarab so important to them?
I didn’t like Elise at all. Readers are introduced to her as she sneaks out on a guy “the morning after” (and she despises the thought of having to talk to him after sex). Elise is self-centered, disrespectful, and ungrateful, and she undergoes no character development. Her constant use of modern idioms (“wouldn’t it be cool,” “are you okay”) made me cringe. The story reads like it’s about a petulant teenager lost in a 19th century-themed Renaissance festival.
Review posted in the fall newsletter of the Historical Novel Society at https://historicalnovelsociety.org/re...
June 15, 2023
Okay, keep holding the fucking phone. Let’s just say I LOVED this book.
I picked it out of a little free library in my neighborhood, not thinking twice. I probably would never have bought this book if it were for sale in store, but the back cover was intriguing so I decided to grab it.
It had it ALL. Time travel. Napoleon Bonaparte. A golden beetle. Victorian London. Beer. Danger. A LOVE TRIANGLE. Tucson, Arizona. THE ENEMIES TO LOVERS TROPE. A likable, relatable female heroine for once. A broody dark haired man who won’t admit to his feelings.
It was all so seamlessly written in a perfect blend of action, history, excitement, drama, and romance. Let me say it again, I loved this book.
I’ll recommend this fun read to anyone and I can’t wait for book two.
I picked it out of a little free library in my neighborhood, not thinking twice. I probably would never have bought this book if it were for sale in store, but the back cover was intriguing so I decided to grab it.
It had it ALL. Time travel. Napoleon Bonaparte. A golden beetle. Victorian London. Beer. Danger. A LOVE TRIANGLE. Tucson, Arizona. THE ENEMIES TO LOVERS TROPE. A likable, relatable female heroine for once. A broody dark haired man who won’t admit to his feelings.
It was all so seamlessly written in a perfect blend of action, history, excitement, drama, and romance. Let me say it again, I loved this book.
I’ll recommend this fun read to anyone and I can’t wait for book two.
November 28, 2016
I fell in love with this book right from the start. It brought everything and then some from a book like this that I could have asked for. It was wonderfully written. It made me laugh at times will look forward to reading more in this series can't wait.
July 16, 2019
If your an Outlander fan forget this book. Elise is no Claire.. I will not continue this series.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews