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The Devil's Mistress
Desire has never been so dangerous.
Living breath-to-breath beneath the shadow of violence, Italian perfumer and apothecary Allegra Grimaldi was forced to learn the killing arts from the Hand of God a religious assassin. She has sworn never to use her deadly skills, but now a blackmailer has her by the proverbial throat.
To save her family from an ugly death, she must do the unthinkable. Infiltrate the court of King Henry VIII, poison the heretic Anne Boleyn before she becomes queen and frame Anne s bastard brother for the crime. Honest and principled, Sir Joscelin is the perfect pawn.
Allegra is clever, captivating and her warning to Anne immediately rouses Joscelin s suspicion. Sworn to protect his sister, and striving for recognition from the powerful father who disdains him, Joscelin has no choice but to put aside his attraction to the mysterious lady and gather evidence to see her burn for witchcraft.
To avert a disaster that will change the face of Europe, this stalwart soldier of incorruptible integrity and the fallen woman who breathes deception must learn to trust each other and discover the one truth that could save them all. This novel is riddled with perilous potions and poisons, Tudor lust and liaisons, Renaissance revelry and revenge, intrigue and assignations, blackmail and betrayal, and one seriously sexy Frenchman. "
Living breath-to-breath beneath the shadow of violence, Italian perfumer and apothecary Allegra Grimaldi was forced to learn the killing arts from the Hand of God a religious assassin. She has sworn never to use her deadly skills, but now a blackmailer has her by the proverbial throat.
To save her family from an ugly death, she must do the unthinkable. Infiltrate the court of King Henry VIII, poison the heretic Anne Boleyn before she becomes queen and frame Anne s bastard brother for the crime. Honest and principled, Sir Joscelin is the perfect pawn.
Allegra is clever, captivating and her warning to Anne immediately rouses Joscelin s suspicion. Sworn to protect his sister, and striving for recognition from the powerful father who disdains him, Joscelin has no choice but to put aside his attraction to the mysterious lady and gather evidence to see her burn for witchcraft.
To avert a disaster that will change the face of Europe, this stalwart soldier of incorruptible integrity and the fallen woman who breathes deception must learn to trust each other and discover the one truth that could save them all. This novel is riddled with perilous potions and poisons, Tudor lust and liaisons, Renaissance revelry and revenge, intrigue and assignations, blackmail and betrayal, and one seriously sexy Frenchman. "
341 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 25, 2010
65 people want to read
About the author
Laura Navarre
23 books1,146 followersAmazon category bestselling author Laura Navarre (she/her) whisks you away from your day-to-day with spicy-shifty wild & witchy why-choose romance starring hot bi heroes and the women who love them.
A long time ago in a galaxy far away, Laura wrote dark fantasy romance for Harlequin, while her sinister twin Nikki Navarre wrote sexy spy romance. Now, with eighteen sexy stories released worldwide, this Washington, DC-based nomad writes dark witch adult academy why choose romance featuring bi heroes, badass heroines, and enough heat to set your Academy uniform on fire!
Laura is a cat lover, globetrotter, wine addict, PhD candidate, and president of Ascendant Press. When she isn’t conjuring witchy worlds, she’s a diplomat with a professional background in weapons of mass destruction and an MFA in writing popular fiction. She’s a Golden Heart finalist, two-time winner of the Golden Pen, winner of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association romance award, 2023 New England Readers Choice award winner, 2023 winner of the Holt Medallion for Best Virginia Author, 2023 Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal RWA PRISM dark paranormal romance finalst, and other awards.
She’s also relentlessly obsessive, alarmingly efficient, and a recovering perfectionist. She’s deeply suspicious of the Oxford comma, but she’s never met an em dash she doesn’t love.
Do you love possessive alphas, dragon riders, dragon shifters, British bullies, teacher-student forbidden love, age gap angst, and dark witch adult academy why choose romance? Follow Laura for free in the Witching World, her reader community on Ream, and score monthly free reads here! https://reamstories.com/witchingworld
Stalk Laura across the witching world like the queen killer stalks Zara at the Icarus Academy! Her adventures are trackable by witches, warlocks, wolf shifters, and mere mortals alike at:
https://reamstories.com/witchingworld
http://www.LauraNavarreSciFi.com
https://www.facebook.com/LauraNavarre...
https://www.tiktok.com/@LauraNavarreA...
https://amzn.to/3FrX5t7
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/laura...
http://www.goodreads.com/LauraNavarre
A long time ago in a galaxy far away, Laura wrote dark fantasy romance for Harlequin, while her sinister twin Nikki Navarre wrote sexy spy romance. Now, with eighteen sexy stories released worldwide, this Washington, DC-based nomad writes dark witch adult academy why choose romance featuring bi heroes, badass heroines, and enough heat to set your Academy uniform on fire!
Laura is a cat lover, globetrotter, wine addict, PhD candidate, and president of Ascendant Press. When she isn’t conjuring witchy worlds, she’s a diplomat with a professional background in weapons of mass destruction and an MFA in writing popular fiction. She’s a Golden Heart finalist, two-time winner of the Golden Pen, winner of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association romance award, 2023 New England Readers Choice award winner, 2023 winner of the Holt Medallion for Best Virginia Author, 2023 Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal RWA PRISM dark paranormal romance finalst, and other awards.
She’s also relentlessly obsessive, alarmingly efficient, and a recovering perfectionist. She’s deeply suspicious of the Oxford comma, but she’s never met an em dash she doesn’t love.
Do you love possessive alphas, dragon riders, dragon shifters, British bullies, teacher-student forbidden love, age gap angst, and dark witch adult academy why choose romance? Follow Laura for free in the Witching World, her reader community on Ream, and score monthly free reads here! https://reamstories.com/witchingworld
Stalk Laura across the witching world like the queen killer stalks Zara at the Icarus Academy! Her adventures are trackable by witches, warlocks, wolf shifters, and mere mortals alike at:
https://reamstories.com/witchingworld
http://www.LauraNavarreSciFi.com
https://www.facebook.com/LauraNavarre...
https://www.tiktok.com/@LauraNavarreA...
https://amzn.to/3FrX5t7
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/laura...
http://www.goodreads.com/LauraNavarre
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 7, 2012
Quick-moving, well-plotted tale of intrigue and deception set among the Tudor court of Henry VIII. The heroine is an assassin; the hero is an honorable knight and illegitimate half-brother to Anne Boelyn, the woman Henry divorced his first wife for. The heroine has noble motives and doesn't want to kill anyone, but she's the pawn of a man who holds her father and sisters hostage.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit and was never bored. Lots of good villains; it would have been great to have spent even more time with them and with the likes of Henry and Anne, who appear very little in the book. I like my historical fiction to have more details of daily life and more richness of setting. This book focused mostly on the suspense aspects, which was fine and kept up the pace, but I would have enjoyed it more if I'd had a richer sense of place.
I also felt that the main characters were missing something, and I can't quite put my finger on it. I wasn't deeply moved by either one, even though I wanted them to get together by the end. It could be that the milieu they were in (always having to hide their true selves behind masks) contributed to the distance I felt from them. Or perhaps the book should have been longer so that the author could have given more depth to the characters and the story. Even with the distance, I did find myself turning pages and reading just a bit longer, so the book was certainly entertaining.
Laura Navarre has a striking style and is certainly a writer to watch. I'll read more by her.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit and was never bored. Lots of good villains; it would have been great to have spent even more time with them and with the likes of Henry and Anne, who appear very little in the book. I like my historical fiction to have more details of daily life and more richness of setting. This book focused mostly on the suspense aspects, which was fine and kept up the pace, but I would have enjoyed it more if I'd had a richer sense of place.
I also felt that the main characters were missing something, and I can't quite put my finger on it. I wasn't deeply moved by either one, even though I wanted them to get together by the end. It could be that the milieu they were in (always having to hide their true selves behind masks) contributed to the distance I felt from them. Or perhaps the book should have been longer so that the author could have given more depth to the characters and the story. Even with the distance, I did find myself turning pages and reading just a bit longer, so the book was certainly entertaining.
Laura Navarre has a striking style and is certainly a writer to watch. I'll read more by her.
October 8, 2011
3.45 Stars
A Fiendishly Bookish Review (and one grumpy cat)
Diabolical machinations and the female condition at the Tudor Court are at the heart of Laura Navarre’s The Devil’s Mistress. In her play on history, Navarre selects the most turbulent and invigorating of times…Henry VIII’s reign, and the rise of the Boleyn’s. Navarre’s debut historical romance chronicles the path of one woman’s life to free herself from an untenable situation, to be reunited with her family, and perhaps finally allow herself to love. But even the most innocuous of desires can be almost impossible to achieve.
As the successor to Europe’s most fabled assassin, The Hand of God, Allegra Grimaldi has trained since childhood to follow in her father’s footsteps. She can either weave the most intoxicating perfume or craft a draught that will stop your heart and steal your breath.
Coerced into a vicious marriage at the tender age of 13 to Conte Casimiro Grimaldi and cowering under the shadow of her husband (and his fist), Allegra barely escapes the Inquisition in Italy shortly after her husband’s death. Agreeing to a devil’s bargain with the Ambassador of Spain who wishes to use her arcane talents at the court of Henry VIII, Allegra flees for England at Don Maximo Montoya’s side. She is only his willing puppet as long as he holds her beloved father and sisters hostage. But one day she vows to free her family and rid herself once and for all of his evil Excellency.
As Allegra becomes accustomed to Henry’s court, the rampant intrigues, and endless political machinations, she comes to the attention of Joscelin Boleyn, bastard son of Thomas, Lord Rochford. Newly arrived in England with some notoriety in France, Joscelin has escalated up the ranks of the French court by the skill of his blade alone. It also doesn’t hurt that his courtly manners are not lacking. He is instantly drawn to Allegra and begins his pursuit of her. But the don keeps Allegra on a short leash and under constant surveillance and though Allegra feels the pull of Joscelin, she will not allow herself to succumb.
The Devil’s Mistress is not a light romance, but woven thickly against the political backdrop of the Tudor Court and that brings a whole plethora of challenges when navigating a historical romance. Navarre spares little relief for her leads, especially Allegra who bears the burden of being trapped between the evil Don Maximo and the inevitable axe of the Inquisition. When Joscelin is manipulated by his father to use Allegra’s vulnerability to a visiting inquisitor, she finds herself enclosed on all sides.
The Devil’s Mistress’ underlying theme regarding the constraint of the female condition in the Middle Ages in its own way outshines Navarre’s attempt at romance between Joscelin and Allegra. Love, however fleeting between the two of them is a hefty obstacle to overcome-but possible. Navarre shows her readers those possibilities (as well as a few select breathlessly intimate scenes). The liaisons between them are filled with steamy sensuality and sexual discovery and that lends an assist to the overly political theme present at all times throughout the book.
By the last page of The Devil’s Mistress I felt a bit wrenched, but generally satisfied with the conclusion.
A Fiendishly Bookish Review (and one grumpy cat)
July 14, 2010
Laura Navarre has written an intriguing and perilous historical romance in her debut novel The Devil’s Mistress. In every written page you can feel the danger and deception that surrounds both Allegra and Joscelin in their quest to navigate King Henry VIII’s court during one of England’s most tumultuous time periods. I won’t spend time in this review to briefly summarize the story as I sometimes do because the plot has many twists and turns and the summary from the publisher sums it up rather well without giving too much away.
When reading the novel I couldn’t help but picture THE TUDORS. The book had the same sort of riveting intensity that makes the television series so addictive, and much like the TV series The Devil’s Mistress is so much more than a just a love story; and refreshingly it doesn’t focus mainly around Henry or his many wives. In Laura Navarre’s Tudor world you understand and feel the fear, uncertainty…the perils and even the life taking risks that each character is motivated by as they navigate the Tudor court.
In some respects I think this book would have worked better strictly as historical fiction instead of historical romance because I felt that the romance between Joscelin and Allegra wasn’t as important or crucial to the story as the devious plots and manipulations they found themselves a part of. For me too much of the story revolved around, and happened outside of their time together to make their love story as convincing as the rest of the book. There is no doubt that this author does intrigue well, and while the hero and the heroine expressed their love in both words as well as deeds, emotionally their love story didn’t have the same intensity I felt the rest of the story had. As a result it felt as if they were more like allies who were attracted to each other and could form a mutually beneficial partnership, than two people who were on opposing sides and should have been enemies yet found love instead.
While the love story in The Devil’s Mistress is the weakest aspect of the story, the novel as a whole is far from weak. Yet, if you are a true romance reader at heart and are seeking a romance set in the Tudor court you might be just a little disappointed that the love part of this love story doesn’t play as important a role as other aspects of the plot. However, if you are a fan of historical fiction a la Phillipa Gregory than I think you will find a lot to love in The Devil’s Mistress.
Ratings:
Overall: 4.0 stars
Sensuality level: 2.5 stars
When reading the novel I couldn’t help but picture THE TUDORS. The book had the same sort of riveting intensity that makes the television series so addictive, and much like the TV series The Devil’s Mistress is so much more than a just a love story; and refreshingly it doesn’t focus mainly around Henry or his many wives. In Laura Navarre’s Tudor world you understand and feel the fear, uncertainty…the perils and even the life taking risks that each character is motivated by as they navigate the Tudor court.
In some respects I think this book would have worked better strictly as historical fiction instead of historical romance because I felt that the romance between Joscelin and Allegra wasn’t as important or crucial to the story as the devious plots and manipulations they found themselves a part of. For me too much of the story revolved around, and happened outside of their time together to make their love story as convincing as the rest of the book. There is no doubt that this author does intrigue well, and while the hero and the heroine expressed their love in both words as well as deeds, emotionally their love story didn’t have the same intensity I felt the rest of the story had. As a result it felt as if they were more like allies who were attracted to each other and could form a mutually beneficial partnership, than two people who were on opposing sides and should have been enemies yet found love instead.
While the love story in The Devil’s Mistress is the weakest aspect of the story, the novel as a whole is far from weak. Yet, if you are a true romance reader at heart and are seeking a romance set in the Tudor court you might be just a little disappointed that the love part of this love story doesn’t play as important a role as other aspects of the plot. However, if you are a fan of historical fiction a la Phillipa Gregory than I think you will find a lot to love in The Devil’s Mistress.
Ratings:
Overall: 4.0 stars
Sensuality level: 2.5 stars
October 1, 2015
As required in any romance novel, The Devil's Mistress has its stalwart hero, Sir Joscelin, a man of humble pride, broad shoulders and a solid "manhood." As a bastard son, he is not all he seems, however, as he hitches his star to his half-sister, Anne Boleyn, who is about to marry Henry VIII. The story's heroine, Allegra, a raven-haired Italian beauty with eyes "the color of lilacs in bloom" and requisite lush breasts, is equally atypical-- she is also a cunning assassin, accused witch and whore. Even the blackmailing, mustachioed villain breaks the mold in this novel, being as loathsome as he smells, but not without redemption. These multi-faceted characters create a story with emotional depth that puts it ahead of others in this genre.
As Sir Joscelin looks for evidence to burn Allegra at the stake to serve his own ambitions, and she schemes to rescue her blind father and sisters from hostage, the plot is full of delightful upsets and has more turns than dark hallways in a 16th century English castle. I couldn't wait to see how the two would-be lovers would stay on their feet, and if they would ever bare their true feelings to each other. They mask their emotions to the point where I wanted to pull both from the book and bang them together like two dolls. Their dilemma isn't because they're dysfunctional, however; being poker-faced seemed to be the social norm. You wore a mask to survive then.
Which brings me to another point that makes this a worthwhile read: it immersed me in the House of Tudor and the times, from the manner of speech, elegant clothing and a boisterous revelry in the great hall, to the horrible smells and what it's like to ride horseback in a blizzard when there was no L.L. Bean to outfit you. Author Laura Navarre clearly knew what century she was writing about. All of this makes The Devil's Mistress a briskly paced, sexy and enthralling tale that towers above other historical romances.
As Sir Joscelin looks for evidence to burn Allegra at the stake to serve his own ambitions, and she schemes to rescue her blind father and sisters from hostage, the plot is full of delightful upsets and has more turns than dark hallways in a 16th century English castle. I couldn't wait to see how the two would-be lovers would stay on their feet, and if they would ever bare their true feelings to each other. They mask their emotions to the point where I wanted to pull both from the book and bang them together like two dolls. Their dilemma isn't because they're dysfunctional, however; being poker-faced seemed to be the social norm. You wore a mask to survive then.
Which brings me to another point that makes this a worthwhile read: it immersed me in the House of Tudor and the times, from the manner of speech, elegant clothing and a boisterous revelry in the great hall, to the horrible smells and what it's like to ride horseback in a blizzard when there was no L.L. Bean to outfit you. Author Laura Navarre clearly knew what century she was writing about. All of this makes The Devil's Mistress a briskly paced, sexy and enthralling tale that towers above other historical romances.
January 18, 2011
I am a huge Tudor fan, I've read all the Boleyn books by Phillipa Gregory and this book was so far out there that I couldn't even 1. follow the story, 2. believe that such a thing would even happen, 3. enjoy it! I wouldn't recommend this one! Don't waste your money! You want to read about the Tudors invest in Ms. Gregory she knows her stuff, and you'll be up til 3 or 4 am finishing one of hers!
October 11, 2012
Wonderful job Laura ;) much love Angel
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews