A Gilded Lady by Elizabeth Camden

It’s not every day that you get hired to protect the President.

Or the First Lady, for that matter.

But that’s where Nathaniel is at. Security at the White House is abysmal and tensions are rising. Never mind that Nathaniel would rather be hunting down counterfeiters . . . or his past failures to protect those who meant the most to him. If he’s to protect this president, every rule has to be followed to the letter.

Unfortunately, no one warned him about Caroline Delacroix, the one person who can put up/deal with the particular First Lady. And the one person who seems determined to break every rule she knows exists. Whether that be challenging Nathaniel’s new expectations . . . or hiding her brother’s criminal past from Nathaniel’s investigations.

I’d heard a lot about Elizabeth Camden, and it seemed she wrote books much the same as Roseanna M. White’s—historical plots usually involving espionage or some other mayhem with a romance on the side.

I wouldn’t say this book was quite to a Roseanna White level for me (although, really, what is?), but it was definitely a good read. Yes, I did read the second book first . . . I found it at a bookstore and wanted to give it a try. Now I’m hoping to get the rest of the trilogy.

I understood Nathaniel’s desire to protect. I feel like it’s something that runs in oldest children (which I am one), but also something that can be understandable to many other people. I loved how the author let me see him break . . . and come back together. Those truly were some of the most powerful scenes in the book to me.

Man, Caroline could get under my skin. But on the other hand, she was strong and ready to fight for what mattered to her.

I had so many suspects! I had no idea who I was supposed to trust and who I wasn’t. Even though I knew it was a book about the McKinley assassination, I was on the edge of my seat whenever the McKinleys went out in public like “Is this it? Is it going to happen? Or are they going to stop it somehow?”

The whole plot with Caroline’s brother had my head spinning, too. Very interested to see how it plays out. It broke my heart how much Luke wanted to do the right thing and how much it hurt when he was broken for it.

While not quite as fast-paced as I expected, A Gilded Lady is an excellent addition to a bookshelf.