Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin, Bk 1)

Adult/YA Fiction

G/A.  LaFevers, Robin. Grave Mercy. Houghton Mifflin, 2012. 549p. 978-0-547-62834-9. $17.99.

At the convent of St. Mortain, seventeen-year-old Ismae is trained as a highly skilled assassin in weaponry and poisons, as well as the feminine arts, in order to serve as a handmaiden of death.  St. Mortain, the god of Death, has also blessed her with powerful gifts.  She sets off on a mission at the court of Anne, Duchess of Brittany.  Anne’s court is filled with intrigue and political machinations and Anne’s own life is being threatened. Ismae poses as Gavriel Duval’s mistress, Anne’s handsome brother, but instead finds herself slowly falling in love with him.  When she is called upon to fulfill her vows, she finds herself at odds with her own desires.  Ismae must uncover the plot against Anne before it is too late.

-C. Campos, Angeles Mesa Branch Library, LAPL

The Queen's Lady

 High School Fiction

G/A. Edwards, Eve. The Queen’s Lady. Delacorte Press, 2012. 313p. 978-0-385-74091-3. $17.99.

After the death of her husband, Lady Jane Rievaulx finds herself as lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I.  She is still in love with James Lacey, brother of the Earl of Dorset, who returns to court to join Walter Raleigh’s New World expedition.  At first, he refuses to have anything to do with her, convinced that she spurned his brother for a wealthier suitor.  He doesn’t realize that she ended the engagement knowing that Will’s heart already belonged to another woman.  James is still in love with Jane, but he has no means to support them, and so James sets sail with Walter Raleigh in order to seek his fortune.  Although a young widow, Jane finds herself at the mercy of her father and brother who are forcing her into a second marriage.  At the same time, Jane is constantly hounded by her stepsons for the inheritance left to her by her late husband.  With James away on his voyage, he can do nothing to save her from an ill-fated marriage.  Set against the backdrop of Elizabethan England, The Queen’s Lady is sure to attract historical romance fans.  

 

-C.Campos, Angeles Mesa Branch Library, LAPL