A review by shammons
A Gilded Lady by Elizabeth Camden

4.0

After reading the first in this series in early 2020, I decided to try to read the other two, since I am on a mission to finish many series that are in progress in 2021. I enjoyed the first of the trilogy, "The Spice King" about oldest brother Gray Delacroix who is running the family spice empire, and his interaction with botanist Annabelle at the Smithsonian. I liked it, but didn't just love it and was a bit on the fence about continuing, but am happy to say that I enjoyed this second book quite a bit more. The last two books feature the younger twins, Caroline and Luke. This book about Caroline (isn't the cover simply gorgeous??!!) was so enjoyable, and surprisingly filled with lots of history tidbits. Caroline is personal secretary to Ida McKinley at the end of her husband's first term and the beginning of his second term (before his assassination). She works fairly closely with Nathaniel Trask of the Secret Service, who is sidetracked from his job at the Dept of Treasure hunting down counterfeiters to help with security at the White House and of the President. I really enjoyed both the plot of the story as well as all of the history tidbits I gleaned. If I studied much about President McKinley in school (ages and eons ago), I remembered none of it, so I really enjoyed that aspect. I'm looking forward to the final book in the series, The Prince of Spies, which features Luke and I believe has some food aspects, woo-hoo!!