Cherished

Deveraux Trilogy #3

by Elizabeth Thornton

From the USA TODAY bestselling author.

"I consider Elizabeth Thornton a major find." —Mary Balogh, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of ONLY ENCHANTING

Book 3 in the Deveraux Trilogy

At sixteen, high-born Lady Emily Brockton had been found alone with Leon Deveraux and was summarily forced to wed the wild, notoriously seductive rake. But it had been a marriage in name only, and soon the handsome rogue left to seek his fortune. Now, the scoundrel has returned, demanding to consummate their union, but Emily has no intention of honoring her "husband," no matter how irresistible his caresses.

When he sought asylum from the horrors of the French Revolution in England, Leon Deveraux's unruly ways earned him the contempt of the haute ton. Yet his heart belonged only to Emily, whose reputation he was forced to protect by marrying her when she was barely more than a girl. But now, Emily has blossomed into a woman who makes Leon hunger for a love he's never known—a love he'll show her if only she’d let him.

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical, Regency, Enemies To Lovers, Marriage Of Convenience, Fiction

408 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Mary Forrest George, née Baxter was born and educated in Aberdeen, Scotland, where she taught school for a number of years before establishing her own nursery school, St. Swithin Street Nursery School, an institution that is still going strong today.

She and her husband then emigrated to Canada with their three young sons. She taught kindergarten and Grade One for a number of years in Winnipeg, Manitoba, before becoming lay minister at a Presbyterian Church in Winnipeg.

As part of her continuing education, she enrolled in evening classes at the University of Winnipeg to study Classical Greek. Five years later, having completed an Honor's thesis on Women in Euripides, she received her B.A. (Classics Gold Medalist).

After reading her first romance, a Regency by Georgette Heyer, she was captivated by the genre. Hereafter, writing became her hobby. In 1987, her first book, a small Regency entitled, Bluestocking Bride, was published by Zebra books.

She is the author of twenty-four historical romances, and two novellas. She has been nominated for and received many awards including the Romantic Times Trophy Award for the best New Historical Regency Author and Best Historical Regency. Seven of her novels have been finalists in the Romance Writers of America Rita awards, Scarlet Angel, Strangers at Dawn, Princess Charming and The Perfect Princess, Shady Lady, The Marriage Trap, and The Bachelor Trap. Her books appear regularly on national best-selling lists and have been translated into many languages.

Elizabeth's hobbies include reading (particularly mystery and suspense novels, biography, and history), and traveling to do research for her novels. She is also an avid Harry Potter enthusiast.

Reviews

[Namera [The Literary Invertebrate] · Rating 2 out of 5]

Elizabeth Thornton is a real hit-or-miss author for me. On the whole, her hits tend to score very highly (a solid four of her books have got 5 stars from me), but her misses come in very low.

This, sadly, is a low.

Lady Emily bounds onto the scene as a 21-year-old wife - who's still a virgin, despite having been married for five years. When she was 16 she was accidentally compromised by Leon, her uncle's wife's younger brother, who's a decade older than her. They'd never gotten along but she caught him in flagrante delicto with another woman (who fled), so there was nothing for it but marriage. He left for America straightaway and she's hardly seen him since.

In the meantime, she's fallen in love with another man, though they've done nothing but kiss. When her 21st birthday rolls around, however, who should reappear but Leon - bound and determined to reclaim his wife.

This should have been a great plotline, but unfortunately a few things let it down. For one, Leon has been technically cheating on Emily this whole time with various mistresses. Thornton does love her OW drama but in her best books, the hero doesn't sleep with any other woman after becoming seriously entangled with the heroine; I know their marriage was in name only, but this aspect rubbed me the wrong way.

Leon also claims to have loved Emily from practically the moment he saw her. I find this impossible to believe. He never acted protectively towards her when she was younger, but belittled and mocked her, while pampering her sister Sarah. Childhood teasing like this can add flavour to a good enemies-to-lovers romance, but not when the hero is already 24 by the time he meets the heroine; it just makes him look immature.

I actually found myself far more interested in the secondary story of Sarah, who's initially besotted with Leon before eloping with a man who loves her but whom she doesn't love. Even though that storyline also has cheating (her husband, after she makes it clear she loathes him and won't touch him, takes a mistress) it was much more sympathetic.

[Nabilah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure why this book isn't rated higher. It's a fantastic book! Definitely not your typical historical romance. Ms. Thornton's writing is simply sublime. The world is lushly described. The hero, Leon is the ultimate alpha hero. Emily isn't that bad either. A bit immature in the beginning. There is a side romance involving Emily's sister, Sara. I would say the characters definitely show growth. The only thing that slightly dampens my enthusiasm would be the element of forced seduction. However, this book was written in the 90s and this element was pretty common in a romance novel back then so I can't really hold it against the author. One of my best read for the year. I'm looking forward to her other books.

[Fre06 Begum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved this book just wish it had just stayed as a purely romance book instead of having suspense in it.

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leon was quite the forceful, demanding, jealous type hero. His behavior was a little intimidating at times. It was like he decided he'd let his bride grow up, and then she was all his. He wasn't faithful to her while he was waiting, either. Sometimes I was a little disturbed by his actions, and Emily wasn't mature enough to handle a husband like him. She did a lot of antics that just made things worse, IMHO. I don't believe in a wife being under her husband's thumb, but she seemed to do things that would aggravate his jealous nature. Not very smart. He was the type would slit a guy's throat for looking at his wife. (Not that he did in this book. Just gave me that vibe). Mainly, he would do the whole "I'm going to punish you by making passionate love to you" type thing. It was a very good book, all the same. Not for the tastes of a reader who doesn't like an uber-alpha, macho, possessive type hero much.

[Darbella · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars Emily and Leon. This one sort of has an "ick" vibe to me because the hero falls in love with Emily when she is very young but treats her in such a way that leads Emily and Sara to believe that Sara is the one he loves. However it was Emily that Leon falls into instant love the moment he first sees her at age six. Leon and her sister Sara (who is five) are instant buddies. That seemed weird to me a 16 year old is spending so much time being buddies with Sara for ten years especially as he ages and is supposedly in love with her sister. Kwim?
Anyways, At Emily's 16th birthday party Emily is still wary of Leon because for years now he has always tormented her and favored Sara. Long story short: Emily catches Leon having sex with a lady and ends up being forced to marry Leon. So at 16 Emily is married to an almost 27 years old Leon. Once married, Leon leaves for America for 5 years and of course is not faithful to his new wife. Emily, emotionally cheats on Leon because she thinks the marriage is going to be annulled. All the above and more is in the prologue. The story then starts when Emily is 21, Sara 20, and Leon is now 31. It was an entertaining story but I had a hard time believing that the end of the story has Leon and Emily both saying that the fell in love as kids. At the end of the day -for at least 15 years -Leon did not treat Emily as one he cherished.

[Michelle Connolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. The first few chapters were engaging and intriguing and promised a good story with interesting characters. However, as I read on I started liking it less and less. Why?
Lets start with the hero... Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy a jealouse & possesive type of hero now and then, but Leon went over the edge. He's mean and rough, and sometimes even violent with the heroine, to the point that I couldn't enjoy the sex scenes. That and the fact that she cried every time they had sex. :/
I guess I'm more of the wooing and romancing kind of girl, and you don't see alot of that in this book. Leon sort of expects her to succumb to his every wish and command because she's all grown up now and he's waited long enough. But how about actually doing something to make her like you, moron?
In truth I never warmed up to the hero. When I thought I might start liking him, he'd do or say something that made me dislike him again.
And the heroine... God, she lacked character! She was so insipid, I can't even remember her name. She would say she hated him but let him have his way with her every time... Jeez, get a little self control woman and put the bloody moron in his place!
Her sister wasn't any better. What an annoying egotistic brat she was!
Moving on to the writing... I thought it was very good at the beginning, but at some point wether it was from the story or the writing, the book sort of dragged and grew tedious. The quick POV changes was also very annoying and confusing sometimes.
What I did like about this book was the last chapter. I thought it was very sweet, and if we'd seen the Leon in this chapter throughout the whole story I think I would've really been able to enjoy it.
Which makes me believe I could enjoy something else from this author, so I'll definitely do so in the future.

[arooba 🌷 · Rating 3 out of 5]

okay this book was actually pretty good for like the first half,,,,, untiiiiil we got to that weird random ass murder plot line. i’ve never read suuuch a drag, super boring and just completely unnecessary, could’ve been supplemented by a lot more that would’ve made it fun.

“enemies” but not really bc he was in love w her the entire time like bffr

[LuvBug · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. This one didn't provide the excitement and angst I was expecting to find with this non PC hero. The hero was in love with the heroine and had planed to marry her from pretty much the beginning of the book, and that sort of killed the fun of the chase for me since I'm not a fan of unrequited love from the hero's pov. Those of you that like that theme might enjoy this book though. The heroine's sister's infatuation with the hero kept the book lively for a while, but the heroine's TSTL personality made it hard to sympathize with her. The hero does cheat if you are concerned about that, but he had not consummated his marriage at the time. All in all it was not a terrible read, it just wasn't as engaging as I would have liked.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, I liked the fact that Leon immediately felt something special for Emily the very first time he saw her. I liked that he was willing to wait for her to grow up before he moved their relationship to the next level. And I liked that amidst all the turbulent trials they went through, they finally found out that love was actually waiting for them at the end. :)

[Jenny Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

didn't like this one.

[🅙𝔲𝔩𝔷 · Rating 3 out of 5]

a good read. well developed characters. Sarah was really annoying as a secondary character but a fair read none the less

[Live2Read · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most boring! I’m starting to realize that Elizabeth Thornton isn’t for me. I can never get into her books and I just don’t care. There is something awfully dull about the writing style and execution. Perhaps, it is so straightforward that it takes away from the excitement, the intrigues and potential climax in every scene. It doesn’t leave the readers in awe. I really need suspense and excitement!!! Honestly, I didn’t feel the chemistry between the hero and heroine. He is kind of odd and she is pretty superficial!

Just relatively ranting, I really despise the dual/multiple POV writing style. It usually never creates a full on engaging piece but only gives repetitiveness and blotchy scenes. Indeed, some authors don’t know how to write a proper story but only shift between POVs and write scenes by scenes that sometimes doesn’t even relate to the next. One moment we are in England with her, abruptly we are in York with him, somehow we get back to her as she’s riding a horse and she flew off but was saved by OM…and then that was it? What’s the purpose of that scene? Did I miss something here? Anyways, moving onto the next! A mask party, including one tactless abduction seduction scene…and Dnf! Actually, I think I may have attempted this twice (without realizing until that particular scene) and then realized THAT was why I quit the first time around.

[Kristi Bevins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly a Book to Cherish

While many historical romance authors are modernizing their books with current phrases, modern ideas and current trends this book stands out as well researched. It brought the time period alive. The research made the book realistic, yet, there was a compelling love story with passion, adventure and intrigue. Yes, there was a villain, but you had to read to the end to unravel all the tangles. A five star book especially for those of us who like a little realism in their historical romance books. Books that stick to some of the norms of the time period are more my thing. On the passion side it was a 4 out of 5. The passion did build up but I enjoyed the journey

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had a lot of rapey “romance” and coercion/abuse masquerading as love. I expect that from novels written fifty years ago but it was a surprise to see it in a more modern novel. Feminism fails galore!

[Larissa Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gostosinho de ler. Vale a pena, mas pra mim faltou alguma coisa. Não sei bem o que é, mas ficou aquela sensação de faltou algo. No mais, valeu a leitura e foi interessante ler algo dessa autora que até então era nova pra mim.

[Patrizia · Rating 3 out of 5]

No, non l'ho avuto in lettura per tre mesi: ho solo esitato molto prima di cominciare a leggerlo, perché apprezzo e temo i romanzi di Elizabeth Thornton: apprezzo le sue storie, ben congegnate, con un filo di noir e di mistero, ma temo i suoi personaggi, soprattutto i protagonisti maschili, spesso caratterizzati da impunito bullismo, rivolto principalmente alle cosiddette 'eroine', che partono piene di determinazione, ma si lasciano sedurre dal loro fascino 'macho', perdendo ogni residuo straccio di dignità.
Questo romanzo non fa eccezione: e come gli altri due della serie l'ho archiviato tra i 'Buoni', ma anche tra gli 'Irritanti'.

[Rainelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book was ok

[Jessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love dated, messy and angsty historical romances. I enjoyed both the A and B plots of the heroine and (surprisingly) her annoying sister as well.

[Lisbeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m having the flue and this was the only book that could hold my attention.

[Preeti · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is one of those which either people will love or hate....I fell into the category of loving it. For me it was one of authors best book.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️

[Ritsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first Elizabeth Thornton book. I picked this simply because of the synopsis so you can say I "trespass" the trilogy straight to the last book. Well, reading this is like reading two separate books - one historical romance and the other historical whodunnit - so I guess I'm gonna write reviews from two perspectives.

For the romance part, it's kind of so-so to me. At first, Leon had been a Jerk (with capital J), although he made up for it later. I cannot blame Emily for hating him or feeling repulsed by him. However, Emily is not without fault either. I really enjoy the early chapters with Emily and Leon doing cat-and-mouse relationship game. It worked for a while, but at some point I became too tired watching Leon being insecure about his ancestry/nationality/manners over and over again; and in doing so blaming Emily. Worse, because Leon is 10 years older! I mean, your wife is only 21, dude! YOU are the one who suppose to have cool head in this. And about Sara, OMG, I want to slap her. Anyway, I think Sara's character will make more interesting heroine and storyline (not with Leon, though).

The whodunnit part would be fine....as a standalone. Okay, at the beginning the story mentioned about Leon's past affiliation with La Compagnie and how the sect was reviving. However, the end, the real culprit, doesn't have anything to do with that? And the motive is so 'duh!' Also, the change of pace and frequent POV shifts annoy me. As a reader, it was like I don't know what I am reading. True, from the beginning of the story the writer sometimes change POV to supporting characters (uncommon in HR), but in the last third the POV changes is so often it made me wonder if this is still Leon and Emily's story??? Why didn't you make it a crime detective story since the start?

Aside from that, the book is quite engaging. The use of three countries as settings works, the description is great. Well, my 3 stars goes for the description :-)

[Z. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I might write a longer review later but just to get down my overall impressions:

- the politics of this book wrt race, gender and class are questionable to say the least

- some of the characterization was very good, I appreciated that even secondary characters were three-dimensional, in particular I didn't like Sara but her character arc was much more interesting and well-executed than I expected at first - and I do appreciate Thornton's attempts at writing characters who fit into their setting and don't think like modern people

- did not love that the OM turns out to be a villain - there were some hints earlier on that this might be the case, but I really wanted the heroine to have a decent other option

- I found the central love story quite repulsive so the happy ending left me feeling more disgusted/disturbed than anything else. I suppose I just don't like such unrepentant ~~alpha males~~ (and while I'm down for an age gap with a young heroine, especially in a historical romance, I'm not down for a romance that involves an adult falling in love with an actual child)

[Raine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for historical romance novels and I found this lying in the house a few weeks ago and decided to read it. I'm not familiar with Elizabeth Thorton's Novels since I stick mostly to the ones I'm familiar with, but this is a great first read from her collection. Haha, it's refreshing in a way because the lead male was so weird and not-so-weird at the same time. The lady was clearly very confused and insecure and the guy was very insecure when he's with the lady but very typical, alpha-male when it comes to his business. It's also one of those historical novels involving assassins, new beginning and the cross-ver from England to America in the early 1800's so it's an adventurous read, tightly written. Recommended.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars. I wish there had been a little more focus on the romance between the H and h and less on the suspence and the secondary characters. Reagrdless, I enjoyed the story and the H was great. He had been in love with the h since she was thirteen. He did sleep with OW after his marriage to the h but in his defence he was waiting for the h to grow up and her uncle made him promise to wait for five years before making the marriage a real one. Once they get reunited she is it for him.

[100sweet · Rating 3 out of 5]

The H in this story was a great possessive alpha male but he had numerous mistresses that would pop up throughout the story. The h and her sister were too spoiled and immature, especially the sister. Her story was awful. There is some mystery about who is trying to kill the women but the ending was convoluted and disappointing.

[Being Human · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first few chapters were so good (I would have given five stars for it) but then the story progressed uneventfully for most of the part and lot of preferences were given to secondary characters.
But kudos to the writer! she can write!!

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that I loved so much I actually bought the paperback and read it frequently. Even so often as reading it again two days after having re-read it. Crazy...but hey, sometimes a great story is just a great story. And that's what this story was to me.

[Maura · Rating 4 out of 5]

England 1811. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the visual descriptions. The entire story really captured my imagination. Heroine forced to wed after a massive miscommunication. A sweet love story.

[Karen Boruff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, moves fairly well. predictable mostly, better than most of the period romances out there. It was for most parts and enjoyable read.