Friday, December 5, 2014

Review: The Frenchman by Lesley Young


Title:The Frenchman ( Crime Royalty Romance #1) 
Author: Lesley Young 
Synopsis:Fleur Smithers rarely veers off the straight and (excruciatingly) narrow. So moving to the seaport town of Toulon to live with her newfound biological mother—an inspector with the French National Police—for one year is a pretty major detour. Son of France’s crime royalty family and international rugby star, Louis Messette, is devoted to his sport, famille and nothing else. But the saucy American he meets one night changes everything. She sparks a desire in him like no other. Possession takes root. She will do as he commands. Bit by bit Fleur slips into the Frenchman’s realm of wanton pleasure agreeing to his one condition: that she keep their affair secret. She serves up her heart without reservation in the hub of the glittering Côte d’Azur, and the along the soulful Seine in Paris, unaware of the danger she is in. For her new lover’s “family business” will pit her against her mother, the police woman sworn to bring down the Messettes. And by then, far more than Fleur’s heart will be on the line.


I was lucky enough to read an ARC of The Frenchman and all I have to say is that I loved it! The Crime Royalty Romance series is going to be one of the biggest hits of 2015 in the book world.

My Review: 
I was utterly thrilled to read something more written by Lesley Young. I loved her debut novel Sky´s Ends so deeply that I literally needed to read more of her work.

The Frenchman is the first book in the Crime Royalty series, a romance-erotic set of books full of suspense, steamy hot scenes and unforgettable characters. Every book is focused on a certain nationality, highlighting the wonders of the country, language and its people. By far this new series has The Frenchman, The Australian and The American. After reading the first one I have to say that my love for my neighbor country has grown and I  plan on visiting France again soon, especially after discovering that the city where the novel is set exists! I have also refreshed my French, which by the way never was too good. I think I will enjoy the next two books, especially if there is an Aussie hottie on The Australian. And I would love to read one like The Spaniard, I love to read the perspectives that other people has over my country.

The use of French expressions, words and vocabulary gives the story a sense of reality and I preferred the mixture of French and English rather than what other authors do, which is writing everything in English when there are foreign characters that speak another language. The fact that there are a lot of dialogues in French shows that the author has really took her time to research and go to trouble to get the Frenchness the main character was experiencing and to demonstrate it to the readers so we can also get the magic of France.
Fleur, the main character is so believable in her narration that it was like being inside her life, like I was her. And this feeling of being her was enhanced by all the shared things I had in common with her. It felt like what happened to her could also happen to me, and I think this is one of the greatest achievements any author could dream of, that readers feel like they can be that same character even after ending the book.

This book had the perfect combination to became an addictive reading: hot guys, a believable heroine, lots of exquisite food, an exotic setting and suspense. I loved how the author build the crime scene of the books, it started giving you little hints to make you aware that not everything is as it seems. Later on, when you are aware that there is something underneath the plot, it makes you want to discover what is really going on. I really tried to solve the mystery since I am studying criminology at university but I couldn´t grasp all the little hints and I was left utterly surprised because there were lots of thing I didn´t see coming!

Louis and Fleur are one of the most intense couples I´ve read in a very long time, it kind of reminded me of the main characters of Lesley´s first novel Or´ic and Cassiel though I really didn´t get Louis´s behaviour. He was the only thing that seemed out of my reach in the whole book, I really didn´t get his mood swings and odd behaviour. He wanted everything without giving nothing, though in the end when he finally realizes what he is losing he starts working to be a better man. Louis and Fleur´s relationship is like a storm, it came suddenly crashing over them, a downpour of lust that consumed them in an endless turmoil of feelings till love and hope made them surge stronger than before.

The Frenchman is a wickedly sexy story that brings a powerful rush of lust that will make you believe in real and raw love once again!




About Lesley Young:

Lesley Young is an award-winning Canadian journalist by day, and obsessive novelist by night. Her debut novel, Sky’s End (Soulmate Publishing, 2013) hit #9 on Amazon’s sci-fi romance paid best-seller list in its first three months of release.
Not too long after that, she started dreaming up quirky heroines who lose their hearts to extremely powerful, flawed heroes, only to find out what love really is while on a dangerous adventure abroad. She called it the Crime Royalty Romance series, and landed herself a pretty big agent at Spencerhill Associates. Never one to take the obvious path, Lesley ultimately decided to self-publish. She’s never sure who or what will pop up in her imagination next. The Irishman? The Spaniard? The Hawaiian? Anything’s possible, and she loves suggestions (or recommendations of really hot, er, talented, actors to work as a muses).
Stay in touch with her and feel free to forward on decent options at Facebook.com/LesleyYoungBooks and @LesleyYoungBks (note: Charlie Hunnam’s already taken the lead role of The American—#3 Crime Royalty Romance...coming soon!).

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