Title: The Other Woman (The Roxy Compendium #2)
Author:
Graham Thomas
Publisher:
The Never Press
Release
Date: Available Now!
Rating: 5/5
Rating: 5/5
The second book in the excellent Roxy Playhouse series by Graham Thomas, The Other Woman takes us back years into
the past, before the events of the first book, Hats Off to Brandenburg. It features a few characters from the
previous novel, and we revisit Abigail Hardwoode, and discover the truth of her
having to leave her love, Benjamin Ananas.
In Hats
Off To Brandenburg, we saw Benjamin Ananas rediscover his lost love, Abigail
Hardwoode, whom vanished years ago and left him with a broken heart from which
he has never fully recovered.
The
Other Woman is her story and fills us in on the
missing years from her viewpoint. It was 1789 when Abigail’s life is
irreparably shaken; in her small, safe home in the heart of London, she has
everything a seventeen-year-old could wish for; she has the London social scene
and all of her friends close by, and her developing relationship with Benjamin
looks like she has a promising future ahead. But Abigail couldn’t be more
wrong. One dark night, a strange man visits her parents, a man named Hilary
Weaver, a British secret agent. Hilary’s life collides with Abigail’s and they
must fight to prove that her parents, supposedly involved in the French
Revolution, are innocent. They embark on an adventure that sees Abigail cutting
all ties with her old life, including Benjamin…
There is plenty of action within the pages
of The Other Woman; the French
Revolution is presented in an interesting and readable way.
Readers will find that they can sympathize
with Abigail; a young innocent girl who has no idea of Revolution’s or
fighting, and so the readers can learn along with her, and she can voice their
questions, What is happening in France?
How have her parents become involved?
Another element Graham adds to the mix is
the character of Elise, a feisty, hotheaded young girl. She is the ‘old beyond
her time’ girl that initially defensive of Abigail. Soon they are best friends,
sisters. Elise has a strong heart and deeply hidden emotions, but she has a
troubled past due to events that take place at the beginning of the book
involving her parents; she is left with her life as shaken as Abigail’s and
they bond over this.
As with Hats
Off to Brandenburg, this second book also features the secretive movement,
The Black Arm. There are a lot of men with very different aims in The Black
Arm, with so-and-so double crossing another character there are many surprises
when you realise they’ve been working against our main characters the whole
time.
Another thing to mention is the artwork,
which is sometimes as important to the actual plot of a book and can greatly
affect book sales. Graham’s work always has excellent cover art but for this
series it is really nice to see the artists impressions of the characters.
As for Graham’s writing, it is top-notch as
always, particularly in the fighting scenes, which would usually easily bore me
but instead kept me glued page after page. The
Other Woman is a great addition to an ever-growing series. Now I just have
to wait for book number three… No pressure, Graham!
As always, a quick thank you to The Never
Press who sent me this book to review, and to Graham for signing my copy and
being an amazing guy!