Thanks to BookSirens for a copy of this ebook and this is my freely given opinion...
Content warning... this story contains murder/violence, and graphic sex, and is NOT a typical historical romance. I got Natural Born Killer vibes off of it, without the killing spree, psychotic break chaos, tempered by Regency social norms, and gentility.
I really wasn't sure what to think about it at first, but in the end, I was drawn to the characters with their dark, twisty personalities and motivations, and how they complemented each other's darkness. Despite the darkness and how they each express it, it still seems they are veering on the chaotic good side of things (sorry, that is my nerdy former teenage self having a moment here).
Amelia was raised in a socially prominent gentry family, but during her Season, her innocence is wrested from her by an assault. Things are kept under wraps and she is sent away to recuperate, and no word of what she has suffered has leaked out to sully her reputation. But she is forever changed, and returns a changed person. She is lost and aimless, until she determines she wants revenge on her attacker and to make him suffer.
She goes about this without a plan, and ends up at a notorious secret club and brothel. There, she is discovered by her childhood friend, Henry, who turns out to be the hidden owner of the brothel. Henry is a Viscount, inheriting the title after the death of his father. But the family fortunes and reputation are in ruins, and Henry worked hard to restore both. Thanks to his family's friendship with Amelia's family, they have some repair to their place in society, and his secret business deals have helped shore up their finances. Henry never expected to step out of his office to find his childhood friend, Amelia in the halls.
But when he finds out about Amelia's assault and her purpose behind her actions, Henry reveals another secret - he is a cold hearted killer, and in love with Amelia. He seeks her revenge for her, and this starts them down a dangerous path together.
This is a dark twisted drama, thriller, dark romance, that is also a childhood friends becoming lovers story, that sees the two become lovers as they seek vigilante justice first against Amelia's attacker, and then others who have done wrong to women in the Ton. It is an oddly compelling story that is oddly warm hearted at times, but ultimately about two people who find joy in their actions - and I am not talking about the open door love scenes.
I am intrigued and there are hints of even more hidden depths to Henry and their family's past and connections hinted at as well. It is like a psychological thriller movie - you are aghast at the violence, and you know there will be blood, gore, and things you don't really want to see, but the story is compelling enough you cannot look away, and have to know the end of the story.
So yes - Natural Born Killers in Regency times, with gentility, elegance, minus the spree killing chaos, and a childhood friends to lovers romance with an HEA.
It's like a bowl of Mom's fried rice - so many bits and pieces that sometimes may not seem like they belong together, but put them in the wok, fry them up and out comes something yummy that I am happy to devour.
4 stars out of 5