Confessions of a Little Black Gown by Elizabeth Boyle

Mildly entertaining romance

3 stars

Thalia Langley has always wanted a grand adventure with a rogue who sets her heart on fire. When she spies a man in the shadows at a house party, she's sure she's met her dream man. Despite the man's claims that he's a bumbling country vicar, Tally is convinced there's more to him than meets the eye.

Lord Larken is certainly no vicar but rather a spy sent to kill a traitorous pirate. But he didn't count on stumbling across the enticing Tally and the way that she makes him forget his name, his mission and his heart.

This is the fourth book in Elizabeth Boyle's Bachelor Chronicles series (after This Rake of Mine, Something About Emmaline and Love Letters from a Duke) and there was a lot of continuing and linking storylines from the previous books in this one. I would suggest that perhaps it's best to have read the previous books in the series before reading this one for everything to make sense.

Overall, I'm sorry to say that I was a little disappointed by this book as a whole. There didn't seem to be much emotion between Tally and Larken and the plot got so overly complicated and convoluted that it was hard to take it seriously. I also found that Pippin and Dash's story completely overshadowed the main love story and while I'm looking forward to their book (the next in the series, Memoirs of a Scandalous Red Dress) it didn't say much for this particular love story that it was so easily forgotten.

If you've read the previous books in the series and enjoyed them, I would recommend this book to you. While being very readable and mildly entertaining, it's not wildly gripping or exciting and I can only really give it three stars.