The Elusive Smuggler: Part 1 of Behind The Shadow

This is a cliffhanger, sort of. Even though the basic premise is never resolved there are so many adventures, tension built and resolved, changes occurred, and personal growth achieved that I didn't feel the sense of being cheated such an ending usually provokes. The characters are delightful and real, with unexpected depths. The plot is complex, but all twists and turns are a natural outgrowth of the characters or world previously established. Such a talented writer! Normally I award such books without a real ending one star but this one delighted me so much, I upped the rating to a 3.

I couldn't finish reading it there was too much "filler detail" in it. I grew so bored from the filler and the story not actually moving for pages and pages because it was all just filler. I like the story I did get. out of it, I read the whole prologue, and clear till they got to the gypsy camp, but I got so bored I had to find something else to read.

The Elusive Smuggler (Behind The Shadow, #1), by Antoinette George, tells the story of a handsome rake, known as The Shadow. The Shadow is a successful smuggler and the only hope Marie-Catherine and Edouard de Mornay, sister and brother, have of rescuing their parents and restoring the family. But first, they’ll have to track him down and convince him to help them. This search takes the siblings to meet Carlotta, a dancer who sometimes lives and travels with the Romani, but has her own story and her own dreams. This riveting historical novel is set in the late 1700’s, mostly in France near the coast, but with connections across the channel in England, too. The French Revolution is brewing, with dangerous implications for everyone, from the titled upper-class down to poor workers caught up in the wrong place, and Antoinette George is able to capture it all with fine details that transports readers to the era. The author’s research shows in the descriptions without slowing down the action. Since most people at this time would be conscious of social class and birth, our characters are constantly aware when someone they meet has well-educated speech or a cultured accent. Of course, that doesn’t mean that all the ladies in The Elusive Smuggler are ladylike, or that all the travelers are of low birth… These four characters are well developed, complete with their own flaws, making them feel authentic and grounded. The dialogue is always lively, with constant cheerful banter between the friends, and constant arguing between a certain couple. Our protagonists will need to apply fast actions, clever thinking and cooperation to accomplish their goals. But with political unrest and corruption around them, it’s very hard to know who is trustworthy, and this instills a consistently high level of intrigue throughout the novel. Fans of thrilling historical romance and stories of enemies-to-lovers will just eat this one up. The end of the novel makes it clear that the story of The Shadow, as well as Cat, Eddie, and Carlotta, is far from over, and there are three more novels planned in Antoinette George’s dramatic historical romance series Behind the Shadow.