"The Spice King" by Elizabeth Camden - Hope and Glory, book 1

Gray Delacroix has dedicated his life to building a successful global spice empire, but it has come at a cost. Tasked with gaining access to the private Delacroix plant collection, Smithsonian botanist Annabelle Larkin unwittingly steps into a web of dangerous political intrigue and will be forced to choose between her heart and her loyalty to her country.

I have never known a better author than Elizabeth Camden for highlighting the nontraditional roles of historic women in the workplace, nor have I known an author better at dropping characters into the gray areas of morality and ethics that leads me to contemplate long after the book is done what I would have done in the characters' place.

I love botany (and utilizing many spices in my cooking), so I loved both Gray's and Annabelle's jobs in the botanical world. Aside from the malaria, I love the idea of traveling the world for the finest spices. I've probably commented on this for nearly every one of the author's books I've read, but it's so refreshing to see women upholding nontraditional roles--like Annabelle's job in the Smithsonian--without it being a book about women's lib. There's a lot of those those books out there, and good ones at that, but I really like that instead, these are about confident, competent women who have unquestionably earned their place already.

I writhed and squirmed for chapters after the generals confront Annabelle with their offer. It's hard to discuss without spoiling things, but it's one of those gray areas that felt wrong (especially how they want her to go about it), though I get why they ask her to. National security is something that our country takes seriously for a reason. If it had been about someone despicable, then I'd have cheered her on, but it wasn't. And maybe that says something about me, that I want to bend rules for people I like, while Annabelle staunchly stands by her beliefs, even when the results aren't what she ever wanted. I hope I'm never put in a position like hers!

Though the story is resolved, particularly in Gray and Annabelle's fight for food purity, I suspect there's still something fishy going on in DC, especially about the whole Luke situation . . . I'm definitely looking forward to the next book.

Hope and Glory
1. The Spice King
2. A Gilded Lady
3. The Prince of Spies