The Deception of the Emerald Ring

Lauren Willig continues her “Pink Carnation” series with her newest book THE DECEPTION OF THE EMERALD RING. England and France are still at odds. Napoleon sends his top spy the “Black Tulip” to help the Irish rebels while England’s top spy the “Pink Carnation” is working to shut the Irish rebels down. With this backdrop, Letty Alsworthy believes her sister, Mary is about to elope with Lord Geoffrey Pinghingdale-Snipe. Fearing that Mary will be making a horrendous mistake, Letty takes it upon herself to stop it. Letty finds herself compromised and sadly, she must marry Geoffrey. Geoffrey who is second in command of the League of the Purple Gentian, is ordered to go to Ireland to help with the rebels. Letty feeling abandoned by her husband after their wedding, becomes a stowaway and heading for Ireland. Before she knows it – she becomes embroiled in Geoffrey’s intrigue.

THE DECEPTION OF THE EMERALD RING is a rip roaring adventure filled with lots of humor. Letty is a fabulous heroine. She is a plucky miss who is able to adapt to all situations. She proves to be an extremely resilient, intelligent and brave girl. The reader will just love the way she tries to fall in line with the cloak and dagger drama in Ireland. She and Geoffrey shares some very hilarious moments as she tries her hand in the spy game. Geoffrey’s disappointment at who his bride turned out to be seemed short lived as Letty wins him over. These two are just wonderful together and they seem to leap off the pages of the book. Letty and Geoffrey are fully realized and developed characters. Readers will fully enjoy them. While the adventures of Letty and Geoffrey are entrancing, the book does move to the present with Eloise and Colin’s story. Eloise is still doing research on the 19^th century spies. The transition between the past and present could have been smoother. It was slightly jarring to have to read about Eloise as this reader couldn’t wait to see what Letty and Geoffrey were doing.

THE DECEPTION OF THE EMERALD RING is the third book in this fabulous series by Ms. Willig. Following the The Secret History of the Pink Carnation and The Masque of the Black Tulip, this one doesn’t disappoint. This reader highly recommends it even though we would have preferred to skip Eloise’s storyline and concentrate just on Letty and Geoffrey. Although it is not necessary to read the previous two books, it is recommended you do so as they are all entertaining books!

January 2007