The Beast Takes a Bride

The eighth entry in Long’s wonderful “Palace of Rogues” series (following My Season of Scandal) is another lovely read. Alexandra Bellamy is in Newgate prison, trying to be charming enough to survive the night, until her husband, the war hero Colonel Magnus Brightwall, walks in and orders her release. As she steps out of jail in her crumpled golden ballgown, she wonders at Magnus’s appearance but not his heavy silence. It is the first time she has seen him since he cast her aside on the day of their wedding five years ago. He takes her to the Grand Palace, a delightful boardinghouse on the Thames, whose proprietors, Angelique and Delilah, welcome them with a bit of worry mixed with their usual dedication to comfort. It is clear that all is not well between the couple—if they are a couple at all. Long makes that question the center of the story as it flows across their relationship, from their first meeting to the night Magnus casts out Alexandra to the moment they both start to fight for each other.