Escape to Venice in ‘The Lady Travelers Guide to Larceny with a Dashing Stranger’ [REVIEW]

A cunning art collector in Venice holds the key to Lady Wilhelmina Bascombe’s life and she must travel to Italy to get it back. (Photo by noirESTblanc, Flickr)

When a young woman becomes a widow, her entire existence is threatened. Now she must go to great lengths to salvage the life she’s become accustomed to, even if that means traveling to a distant country on the arm of another man. Readers are going to revel in Victoria Alexander’s latest misadventure, The Lady Travelers Guide to Larceny with a Dashing Stranger. 

HQN Books

Although it seems odd now, during the Victorian period, ladies weren’t supposed to have to think about finances. But when Lady Wilhelmina Bascombe’s husband suddenly dies, she’s forced to face the harsh realities that come with her new position as a widow in mourning. In her case, that means traveling to Venice (with the help of the wily Lady Travelers Society) to retrieve a Renaissance masterpiece from one questionable and cunning art collector.

Enter Dante Augustus Montague, Willie’s new travel companion. Handsome and attentive, he has an agenda of his own and isn’t opposed to using deception to get what he wants… the same painting Willie is looking for! He will even pretend to be infatuated with his newfound rival, until suddenly he realizes his feelings for her are no longer mere pretense anymore. Will their quest drive them apart or link them forever? Find out in this delicious romp through Italy’s most magical city.

Alexander’s characters are so authentic and clever, they come alive on the page. While Willie and Dante are both deliciously written, so is much of the auxiliary cast, including Dante’s sister, Rosalind, who made me laugh out loud with her offhanded dialogue that just seems to bubble forth without a thought, only to be regretted later… or not. She’s perfectly drawn as a true-to-life sister, one Dante loves but at times wants to strangle.

Willie is also a complicated woman, both independent and determined to overcome the personal tragedies that have plagued her life, which wasn’t altogether easy to do during the Victorian period. Yet that doesn’t stop her from matching wits with the rakish Dante, ever undeterred from getting what is rightfully hers. Readers who enjoy adventurous romances with loads of heart, plenty of laughs, strong female characters and the rogues they fall for are going to relish Victoria Alexander’s latest chapter in the Lady Travelers series.

This edition also features the bonus novella, The Rise and Fall of Reginald Everheart. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Victoria Alexander

Victoria Alexander is the New York Times bestselling author of The Lady Travelers Guide to Scoundrels and Other Gentlemen, The Daring Exploits of a Runaway Heiress, The Shocking Secret of a Guest at the Wedding, and The Scandalous Adventures of the Sister of the Bride. 

Since the publication of her first book in 1995, she has written 41 full-length novels and eight novellas. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages and she has readers around the world.

Before writing fiction full-time, she worked as a broadcast journalist in Nebraska and West Virginia. A former president of the Omaha Press Club, she was named an OPC Face of the Barroom Floor in 2009.

Victoria grew up traveling the world as an Air Force brat. Today, she lives in Omaha, Nebraska with her husband and two bearded collies—Louie and Reggie. They all live in a house under constant renovation and never ending chaos.

Visit her home on the Web at VictoriaAlexander.com, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter.

THE LADY TRAVELERS GUIDE TO LARCENY WITH A DASHING STRANGER
By Victoria Alexander
544 pgs. HQN Books. $7.99

Purchase The Lady Travelers Guide to Larceny with a Dashing Stranger at one of these fine online retailers: Amazon, Books-A-Million, and Barnes & Noble.

The Lady Travelers Guide to Larceny with a Dashing Stranger is brought to you in association with TLC Book Tours.

The Lady Travelers Guide to Larceny with a Dashing Stranger Giveaway

Want to win a copy of Victoria Alexander’s The Lady Travelers Guide to Larceny with a Dashing Stranger for your personal library? Complete the form below and click submit to enter. Giveaway is limited to U.S. residents only. Contest ends January 3, 2018.