Guy Devoran, the handsome and charismatic nephew of a powerful duke, is Sarah Callaway's only hope for finding her missing cousin. But first she must get close enough to uncover the dark secret that he's hiding.
Well the 3/4's of the book was 5 star and was a beautiful romance. Ms. Sarah approaches Lord Guy for his help in order to find her missing cousin, Rachel. Lord Guy being a man of tender heart for women of course, agrees to help.
So begins the adventure that at times had a Ms. Marpelish flavor as Sarah and Guy figure out what happened with Ms. Rachel. Along the way they find love and passion for one another. They also discover that there are secrets that could tear them apart. I wasn't as happy with the last 1/4 of the book and it reduced my enjoyment dramatically.
Rachel never really truly felt remorse for what she put Guy and Sarah through. She was childish, selfish and a user. Sarah never let her be anything else and became a martyr and enabled her for no reason and it was upsetting. She would have let Rachel destroy her and Guy's life, if the situation hadn't been resolved in another way. It was very frustrating and I couldn't give it that 5th star.
Random, no flow, characters Constantly covering the cousin's ass instead of letting her suffer for all her lies deceits and constant philandering with other men and to top it off the hero of the story honoring a vow that should never have been forced on him. The cousin was awful and deserved to suffer the consequences of all her lies. Yet the hero honors his forced vow given under false pretenses because she lied. Horrible storytelling, horrible characters. Not interested in reading anymore of Miss Ross's books
I usually like this author's books, but this one just didn't grab me. It started with all the characters randomly and continually referencing mythology, which seemed fairly pointless. Perhaps that was a common conversational habit in the time period? But the biggest problem was the characters keeping things from the reader for no good reason--referencing some big secret that the character is obviously thinking about, but not saying what it is. I suppose the theory was to build suspense, but, combined with the mythology, it just increased my boredom and made me not care once I did find out the secret.
Possibly because I didn't bond with the characters early on, their combined altruism got on my last nerve. But the main suspense plot--what happened to the heroine's cousin--did hold my interest, and while I was dissatisfied with the ultimate resolution, I did enjoy the unfolding of the clues in the case.
This is, I believe, a part of a trilogy or series, but I'm not going to go out of my way to find the others.
Besides being lengthy in intrigue and painful in awaiting retribution to the antagonistic character...I found the two stars of the book very endearing, although true to character the sister never changed her spots, I am amazed that there are people in the world with such a determined lack of morals, or *insight* rather, that they would force the unhappiness of others before their own plight...more so, enslave all in an unhappy situation, rather than just accept the lot befallen them! I am rather disgusted with the lady in question, while exasperated at the length other ones would climb in the name of honor, is it impressive, self-sacrificing or just pure and simply *stupid*?!?
I really enjoyed this book. It was clever and suspenseful. For any girl who thinks shes kind of plain, its a great read. The character development was great, I was truly invested in what happened to Sarah and Guy. A Victorian love story, with an intriguing mystery and the sex scenes were great :). I would Recommend.
Loved it! A nice way to cap off this trilogy. Ross writes memorable characters who feel very real. The plot moves along quickly, and there is a nice sense of urgency to her books. I highly recommend them to any lovers of historical romance out there.
An interesting historical romance which delves into some of the problems associated in relationships that are started when there are secrets being kept.
“Horrible. I liked other books of hers but this was very annoying. Totally contrived plot and the supposed attraction was arbitrary and forced. Also - badly written.”