The Spice King

Back Cover

Gray Delacroix has dedicated his life to building an acclaimed global spice empire, but it has come at a cost.  Resolved to salvage his family before they spiral out of control, he returns to his ancestral home for good after years of traveling the world.

As a junior botanist for the Smithsonian, Annabelle Larkin has been charged with the impossible task of gaining access to the notoriously private Delacroix plant collection.  If she fails, she will be out of a job and the family farm in Kansas will go under.  She has no idea that in gaining entrance to the Delacroix world, she will unwittingly step into a web of dangerous political intrigue far beyond her experience. 

Unable to deny her attraction to the reclusive business tycoon, Annabelle will be forced to choose between her heart and loyalty to her country. Can Gray and Annabelle find a way through the storm of scandal without destroying the family Gray is fighting to save?

Review

I'm always eager for Elizabeth Camden's novels.  Her passion for history just glows through each of her stories with rich descriptions and intriguing plots and her characters often face a moral dilemma that elicits the turning point and climatic event in the story.  

The first book in Elizabeth's Camden's new series, "Hope and Glory", The Spice King, takes readers on a journey into the world of the spice trade, modified foods, and the international tensions between America and Cuba in the early 1900s.  Annabelle Larkin, while simply on a pursuit of finding more specimens for the Smithsonian plant collection, finds herself caught between a rock and a hard place when she has asked to become a spy for the U.S. military to determine whether Gray Delacroix is part of an insurgents' group party to the rebellion against the Americans in Cuba.  Annabelle is at loathe to spy on anyone, but agrees to assist - partly out of patriotic duty and partly to clear Gray's name.  While she fully expects Gray to be innocent, she does not anticipate falling in love with the colourful businessman, a revelation that would completely tip her world off its axis.  As her feelings for Gray develop, it becomes harder to spy on him, as Annabelle is keenly aware her actions would be viewed as a betrayal of the trust Gray has given her.  With the undercurrent of relationship tensions threatening to surface and added political intrigue, Elizabeth Camden has penned a fascinating story that I will re-read again and again.  I will be hard-pressed to wait for the next instalment, due out later this year!

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.