Dark Angels (Tamworth Saga #1) by Karleen Koen

Alice Verney is a young woman intent on achieving her dreams. Having left Restoration England in the midst of a messy scandal, she has been living in Louis XIV’s Baroque, mannered France for two years. Now she is returning home to England and anxious to re-establish herself quickly. First, she will regain her former position as a maid of honor to Charles II’s queen. Then she will marry the most celebrated duke of the Restoration, putting herself in a position to attain power she’s only dreamed of. As a duchess, Alice will be able to make or break her friends and enemies at will.

But all is not as it seems in the rowdy, merry court of Charles II. Since the Restoration, old political alliances have frayed, and there are whispers that the king is moving to divorce his barren queen, who some wouldn’t mind seeing dead. But Alice, loyal only to a select few, is devoted to the queen, and so sets out to discover who might be making sinister plans, and if her own father is one of them.

The long-awaited prequel to Koen’s beloved Through a Glass Darkly, Dark Angels is a feast of a novel that sparkles with all the passion, extravagance, danger, and scandal of seventeenth-century England. Unforgettable in its dramatic force, here is a novel of love and politics, of romance and betrayal, of power and succession—and of a resourceful young woman who risks everything for pride and status in an era in which women were afforded little of either.

I loved this book, even more than Through a Glass Darkly, which I’m now going to have to reread. I admit, I wasn’t paying close attention to Alice as the old woman she is in Darkly, since she’s not the main character there. I want to know everything about her. But here, Alice Verney is the main focus of the story, and a wonderful heroine. She’s loyal and courageous, and will do just about anything for those she loves. But she also has the inevitable flaws. Her pride often gets in the way, and she can be vindictive. But much of this I chalk up to her age. She’s young, and still thinks that things can always work out if you try hard enough. She’s everything you would want in a lead character.

And just like Koen’s other books, this one is a real page-turner. There is intrigue upon intrigue, and a scandal or two. Or three. And since I’ve read about Charles II and his court in the past, it was easy to keep track of who was who.

The only thing that would make this better, is if there was to be a book set between this one and Darkly. I’d love to read the story of Alice and her one true love.



Mount TBR 2017 Book Links

Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.

1. The Lost Girls
2. Hillbilly Elegy
3. Our Revolution
4. Requiem for Athens
5. Dark Angels