A Proposition For The Comte

Gentlemen of Honor #2

by Sophia James

Dark. Dangerous. Damaged.
This man will protect her.

After years of an unhappy and bitter marriage, cautious Lady Violet Addington is intrigued by the Comte de Beaumont. His air of danger, mysterious scars and pure sexuality pose a temptation that’s hard to resist. Threatened by her late husband’s enemies, she makes a daring proposition: in exchange for the Comte’s protection, she’ll join him in his bed!

Genres: Harlequin Historical, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Historical

248 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 4, 2018

About the author

Georgette Heyer novels formed Sophia James' reading tastes as a teenager, but her writing life only started when she was given a pile of Mills & Boons to read after she had had her wisdom teeth extracted! Filled with strong painkillers, she imagined that she could pen one, too. Many drafts later, Sophia thinks she has the perfect job writing for Harlequin Historical, as well as taking art tours to Europe with her husband, who is a painter.

Reviews

[Sarah Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tools of his trade and a violent declaration of intent. Such a truth was as undeniable as it was shocking. This man she had helped was a dealer in death, a pillager of lives. She wondered how being such would have marked him. Perhaps at this very moment Mrs Kennings was lifting away the fabric of his shirt to show the doctor the scars written on his skin as a history. She was sure it would be so.


A full-throttle 'noir Regency,' this is the sort of read I hope for when Harley advertises a broken heroine, a dark hero, & a perilous romance. Alas, I'm often disappointed in the final product...but this one delivered the goods more often than not. So here's a gold star, Sophia James. ⭐️ Bravo! Thx for a legitimately dangerous hero doing dangerous things & finding love with a white-knuckled heroine who brazens out her abusive marriage & the consequences thereof.

I really liked both leads. We have Aurelian, the scarred-up spy who is perfectly willing to kill, whether in service to political ideals or the safety of his closest companions, & who's disinclined to idle conversation during sex (YES, PLEASE); we also have Violet, a strong-willed survivor who freely takes the blame for murder, carries a knife in her pocket, & is eager to trade sex for physical safety. She doesn't GAF about the dangers -- she knows she wants Aurelian's hotness, & she also knows he can protect her. In her eyes, it's a perfect solution. Bravo! Another gold star. ⭐️

On the downside: the plot loses some steam near the end, & that resolution was somewhat muddled & foggy. I'm not sure if things will be tied up in a future installment, but perhaps those loose ends are a homage to the imperfect endings of RL intelligence shenanigans. *shrug*

Overall, I quite liked it. James' writing is pretty dark & somber, at least by HQN standards; it reminded me of Lydia Joyce's gothics or the Mad Passions trilogy. Strong 4 stars.

EDIT: Apparently I got blurbed for the Amazon page of Sophia James' upcoming CINDERELLA COUNTESS. Whee! That made me smile. 😗 Thank you to whoever combs our humble GR reviews for advertising snippets.

[Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was gonna give this 3 stars but the end brought it down to 2. She's barren but with him she can have a baby...wtf

[Harlequin Historical]

Miniseries: Gentlemen of Honor

[Harlequin Books]

Miniseries: Gentlemen of Honor