Scarlet Author: Jen Geigle Johnson
Genres: Historical Romance
Format: Audio, eBook, Print
Pages: 256
Date: May 1, 2018
Publisher: Covenant
The roads in and out of Paris are heavily guarded, but the dead have easy passage out of the city. A ragged old woman transports the coffins of the most recent victims of the guillotine and is waved on unimpeded. Later, the same crone watches five French aristocrats step out of their coffins unscathed. Not beheaded, but spirited away to safety by that most elusive of spies: the Pimpernel. Or, as she’s known in polite society, Lady Scarlet Cavendish.
When not assuming her secret identity as a hero of the French Revolution, Scarlet presents herself as a fashionable, featherbrained young widow flitting about London. In truth, this façade is merely a diversion designed to conceal her clandestine work in France. Among members of the doomed French aristocracy, the Pimpernel is renowned for her bravery and cunning. But when tasked with rescuing handsome Comte Matteo Durand, she faces an unprecedented challenge: she is falling in love with the man. If ever there was a time to keep her head, it is now—because in a world brimming with intrigue, she is not the only one harboring secrets. And if Scarlet doesn’t take care, Madame la Guillotine may finally catch up with the Pimpernel…
Rating: Mild. Mild kissing; mild (nonsexual) violence or horror.
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About Jen Geigle Johnson
Jen Geigle Johnson is an award winning author, including the GOLD in Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards. She discovered her passion for England while kayaking on the Thames near London as a young teenager. Now, she loves to share bits of history that might otherwise be forgotten. Whether in Regency England, the French Revolution, or Colonial America, her romance novels are much like life is supposed to be: full of adventure.
First off, let me say that the cover is gorgeous.
Reading The Scarlet Pimpernel is still on my TBR list but I remember loving the movie
way-back-when in college so I was happy for the opportunity to read Scarlet. Having not read SP I’m not sure exactly what followed the original book and what veered off but I enjoyed this telling. It was fun to see the gender role switch and have the Pimpernel be a woman. I was kind of hoping for more Pimpernel poetry though. I remember from seeing the movie, “They seek him here. They seek him there. Those Frenchies seek him everywhere. Is he in heaven or is he in hell? That damned, elusive Pimpernel.”
Some sexual references (talk of mistresses, whores, marriage bed) but nothing graphic.
There is a good deal of violence in the book since it is about the French Revolution but it isn’t horribly graphic. Still the whole idea of what happened during that time period is horrific even without the graphic details.