There are not enough stars to show how much I loved The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan.
In fact, that goes for every single Courtney Milan story I’ve ever read (which is nearly everything). She’s one of those rock star writers to me. She writes with wit, with interesting not-your-everyday characters and with similarly interesting plots. Her characters are often quirky, rarely simple, and are whip smart.
Do you know that feeling you get when you’re reading a book that you really love? It’s like a giddiness that you have. As you’re reading you’re also thinking to yourself “I love this! I never want it to end!”
It’s almost like that feeling in high school when the totally-out-of-your-league boy or girl you had a crush on acknowledged your existence. You kind of freak out but try to stay cool about it. That’s how much you love the book you’re reading. Basically, you have a crush on it.
Do other people feel this way about books?
This is the third full-length novel in the Brothers Sinister series. It involves Violet Waterfield (an honorary Brother Sinister) and Sebastian Malheur. Here’s the book description:
Sebastian Malheur is the most dangerous sort of rake: an educated one. When he’s not scandalizing ladies in the bedchamber, he’s outraging proper society with his scientific theories. He’s desired, reviled, acclaimed, and despised—and he laughs through it all.
Violet Waterfield, the widowed Countess of Cambury, however, is entirely respectable, and she’d like to stay that way. But Violet has a secret that is beyond ruinous, one that ties her irrevocably to England’s most infamous scoundrel: Sebastian’s theories aren’t his. They’re hers.
So when Sebastian threatens to dissolve their years-long conspiracy, she’ll do anything to save their partnership…even if it means opening her vulnerable heart to the rake who could destroy it for good.
I have loved all the stories in this series (including two novellas), but this one just might be my favorite. You should know that I say this after I finish each of Milan’s books.
Violet is just a little bit prickly. Okay, that is an understatement. She’s one of those hard to know sort of people. She describes herself as:
“I’m not difficult,” Violet said. “I’m simple. I like good books and clever conversation and being left alone much of the time.”
Upon reading this little bit, I made a note of, “Um…yes. A million times yes.” So, I totally can get down with Violet. She’s smart, she loves her family even when it isn’t easy, she aspires to more than a typical Victorian society woman’s lot in life, and she works to inspire that feeling in others, too.
Sebastian is just the right amount of bad-boy meets extremely sensitive and sweet man. He’s also just a little bit tortured which only adds to the appeal. He’s struggled with a big brother who hasn’t ever appreciated him and with five years of carrying out a terribly deceitful plot. Ridiculed and hated for “his” scientific research, Sebastian knows that he and Violet are doing important work, so he endures it all.
Characters from earlier books in the series make an appearance, but those books will not be ruined in any way if you read this one out-of-order. This is something that Milan does really well, I think. I never want a rehashing of another story, so I like her treatment of previous characters. They are a part of the current story in necessary ways, but you don’t have to read through their entire background to get there. I dislike it when an author uses a current book as a sort of Let’s Catch Up On These Other Characters’ Lives thing. I know some readers like it, but it takes me right out of the current plot, which I do not like.
I went a little bit “highlight happy” on the Kindle for this one. Here are some of my favorite passages. They either made me snort in laughter, nod my head in agreement, or made my Grinch-y heart grow a few sizes.
But she refused—absolutely refused—to have the “penises are not that bad, and in fact, many women come to like them” talk with her in Hyde Park, of all places.
“The column of conversational topics,” Violet stressed, “that are not elephant related does not include a discussion of the elephant-shaped hole in the conversation!”
(Lydia’s Note: Both of those little tidbits are part of a brilliant scene that includes a conversation between Violet and Sebastian. They are out of sorts with each other and are not willing to talk about it in public. It’s one of the greatest scenes in the book.)
More passages:
A sign on the door proclaimed: The countess is NOT to be bothered except in the cases of Death, Disembowelment, the Apocalypse, or the Arrival of her Mother.
“If you won’t have her, she can come to my house,” Violet snapped, “and have her tutelage with my money. I am not going to encourage her to shrink into nothing because your nerves cannot handle the possibility of your daughter being more. I am certainly not going to push myself into a little box for your pleasure.”
“Ah, the rule that says that women aren’t allowed to be intelligent.” He brushed a kiss against her forehead. “Burn that one to the ground, Violet, and dance on the ashes. And damn anyone who tells you it’s selfish to do so.”
Yes, I know that is a lot of passages, but I couldn’t be made to choose. Here’s one more – another excellent little vignette. You see? Sebastian’s scientific presentations weren’t exactly welcomed by all. You have to think – if we are still having controversy over evolution and other scientific theories, how radical were they in Victorian England?
“Miscreant!” a woman shouted, hurling a turnip in his direction.
It sailed a good twenty feet, landing on the cobblestones just before him, bouncing once, twice, before rolling the last few inches to tap his shoe. Sebastian motioned back to his coach. He’d come prepared for this. A footman came and set a barrel on the ground.
“I see many of you have come armed with vegetables,” Sebastian shouted out. “You’ve no doubt heard of my initiative—save your soul, save the poor.”
This brought blank stares.
“If you’ll be so good as to deposit your food in this barrel,” Sebastian informed them, “we’ll see it distributed to the parish poor.”
A potato sailed out of the crowd directly toward his head. Sebastian extended his arm and caught the offending root vegetable before it struck him.
“Precisely like that!” He dropped it in the barrel. “Thank you for your generous contribution.”
“What? What is he saying?” a woman cried.
“But of course, you don’t need my thanks,” Sebastian said. “You’re only doing what every good Christian does—feeding the poor and the hungry.”
See? It’s clever. It’s brilliant. I loved it. Go read it, you’ll love it, too. If you want to start the series from the beginning, begin with the novella, The Governess Affair. Good news, it’s free!
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Top reviews from other countries
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 20, 2016Angelina
It was simply one that filled me with delight.
Reviewed in Canada on July 4, 2014
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