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The Rakehell Regency #8
The Model Master
A chance at redemption...and a love worth fighting for?
Fiercely handsome Michael Avenel has been to hell and back during the Peninsular War. Paralyzed from the waist down, he is convinced his life is over until a desperate young woman comes to his door one fateful night.
Lovely Bryony Wells was forced to endure an abusive marriage for the sake of her sons. Once she is widowed, and her eldest boy inherits, she is terrified at what her evil in-laws will do to them all in order to secure the fortune for themselves, and flees.
On the run with her two small sons, she is at her wit's end until she stumbles into Michael’s life…and heart. He offers the destitute and desperate woman a decent job and home. She grows determined to repay Michael's kindness by bringing him out of his black despair, and helping him walk again.
Bryony becomes his secretary, and finds Michael a model employer, with his mastery soon extending to her body and soul. For as their intimacy increases, Bryony is certain she is falling in love with Michael, and that her feelings might actually be returned.
The heated passion Michael feels for Bryony spurs hm into trying to recover his health so he can be the man and incredible lover he feels she deserves. He starts to dare hope that the woman he has come to love above all else might actually be his for the asking, the family he has always dreamed of as well.
But soon Bryony's evil brother in law Derek makes his move. Michael encounters a cunning enemy from his worst nightmare. Can Michael ever be the hero Bryony needs him to be? Can Bryony ever escape the ghosts from her past, and through her love for Michael, help him escape from his own?
Fiercely handsome Michael Avenel has been to hell and back during the Peninsular War. Paralyzed from the waist down, he is convinced his life is over until a desperate young woman comes to his door one fateful night.
Lovely Bryony Wells was forced to endure an abusive marriage for the sake of her sons. Once she is widowed, and her eldest boy inherits, she is terrified at what her evil in-laws will do to them all in order to secure the fortune for themselves, and flees.
On the run with her two small sons, she is at her wit's end until she stumbles into Michael’s life…and heart. He offers the destitute and desperate woman a decent job and home. She grows determined to repay Michael's kindness by bringing him out of his black despair, and helping him walk again.
Bryony becomes his secretary, and finds Michael a model employer, with his mastery soon extending to her body and soul. For as their intimacy increases, Bryony is certain she is falling in love with Michael, and that her feelings might actually be returned.
The heated passion Michael feels for Bryony spurs hm into trying to recover his health so he can be the man and incredible lover he feels she deserves. He starts to dare hope that the woman he has come to love above all else might actually be his for the asking, the family he has always dreamed of as well.
But soon Bryony's evil brother in law Derek makes his move. Michael encounters a cunning enemy from his worst nightmare. Can Michael ever be the hero Bryony needs him to be? Can Bryony ever escape the ghosts from her past, and through her love for Michael, help him escape from his own?
328 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 4, 2009
6 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 17, 2013
I read this Regency romance two years ago, but the hugely erotic scenes stuck in my mind. Hot!! The Napoleonic War hero is paralyzed, stuck in a chair, and the heroine is a widow, wise in the ways of Eastern healing practices (tantric arts, kama sutra). I would give it 5 stars for the erotic scenes. Wowsa!! But there is also sweetness, tenderness, and emotional intimacy. (One reviewer felt the sweetness was too sappy and flowery, and at times it was).
When the story begins, it is Halloween night, dark and stormy in the English countryside. Our discouraged drunken hero is thinking about suicide when he is interrupted by a frantic knock at the door. Our widowed heroine is fleeing for her life with her small children. (It felt rather intense.) He helps them, allowing them to hide from a brutish brother-in-law, giving them safe haven, and eventually, with his dashing war buddies, slaying her dragons.
She heals him -- at least psychologically and emotionally. She tries to bring some feeling back into his legs, since his nerves are intact and his spine is whole, applying various treatments she learned from her wise mentor. Does she succeed? Does he walk again? That's for you to find out....
For the suspense plot, only 3 stars max. However, this is the only book I have read from the Rakehell Regency series, so I may have missed some plot / character elements, coming into the middle of the series.
There are dozens of typos, so I deducted one more point.
Recommended for its erotica, and for the sweetness and kindness of the romantic relationship, but not for the actual plot. If you like strong but vulnerable heroes who have been wounded, maimed, or otherwise impaired while serving their country, I also recommend Embattled Hearts, a contemporary romance (John is in a wheelchair). The first book in that series is The Embattled Road, a shorter prequel introducing three "wounded warriors" who eventually start up an investigation agency, called Lost and Found, LnF.
When the story begins, it is Halloween night, dark and stormy in the English countryside. Our discouraged drunken hero is thinking about suicide when he is interrupted by a frantic knock at the door. Our widowed heroine is fleeing for her life with her small children. (It felt rather intense.) He helps them, allowing them to hide from a brutish brother-in-law, giving them safe haven, and eventually, with his dashing war buddies, slaying her dragons.
She heals him -- at least psychologically and emotionally. She tries to bring some feeling back into his legs, since his nerves are intact and his spine is whole, applying various treatments she learned from her wise mentor. Does she succeed? Does he walk again? That's for you to find out....
For the suspense plot, only 3 stars max. However, this is the only book I have read from the Rakehell Regency series, so I may have missed some plot / character elements, coming into the middle of the series.
There are dozens of typos, so I deducted one more point.
Recommended for its erotica, and for the sweetness and kindness of the romantic relationship, but not for the actual plot. If you like strong but vulnerable heroes who have been wounded, maimed, or otherwise impaired while serving their country, I also recommend Embattled Hearts, a contemporary romance (John is in a wheelchair). The first book in that series is The Embattled Road, a shorter prequel introducing three "wounded warriors" who eventually start up an investigation agency, called Lost and Found, LnF.
March 13, 2013
When I stopped reading to do other things, I was not eager to get back to it.
Way too much flowery language like I love you so much. Don’t ever leave me. I’ve never felt this way before. Some of that was good but there was too much of it. The last third is mostly sex scenes with a little bit of story here and there. I was tired of the sex. You could skip the sex and read the last several pages without missing much.
I loved the beginning: a stormy night, he was planning to commit suicide, a knock on the door, a woman with two sick boys needing help. He helps them. He no longer wishes to die.
The overall plot was good. The character definitions were good. It could have been a good short story, but it was not done well as a full length novel. Things were missing. I didn’t know Michael. Apparently his family was powerful and he was estranged but we don’t learn about that. She was on the run from an abusive domestic situation. She was almost too perfect in how she fell in love immediately and did things for Michael. One problem was their interesting pasts were told and not shown.
There were a lot of typos for example: “But after what she had revealed, she could she he hardly dared touch her.” “She most voluptuous woman he had ever laid eyes on” “Their sons, for so he had begun to introduce them proudly to everyone”
DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Kindle count length: 3,371 (276 KB). Swearing language: mild. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: more than 14. Setting: 1815 mostly Bath, England. Copyright: 2003. Genre: historical romance, paraplegic.
Way too much flowery language like I love you so much. Don’t ever leave me. I’ve never felt this way before. Some of that was good but there was too much of it. The last third is mostly sex scenes with a little bit of story here and there. I was tired of the sex. You could skip the sex and read the last several pages without missing much.
I loved the beginning: a stormy night, he was planning to commit suicide, a knock on the door, a woman with two sick boys needing help. He helps them. He no longer wishes to die.
The overall plot was good. The character definitions were good. It could have been a good short story, but it was not done well as a full length novel. Things were missing. I didn’t know Michael. Apparently his family was powerful and he was estranged but we don’t learn about that. She was on the run from an abusive domestic situation. She was almost too perfect in how she fell in love immediately and did things for Michael. One problem was their interesting pasts were told and not shown.
There were a lot of typos for example: “But after what she had revealed, she could she he hardly dared touch her.” “She most voluptuous woman he had ever laid eyes on” “Their sons, for so he had begun to introduce them proudly to everyone”
DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Kindle count length: 3,371 (276 KB). Swearing language: mild. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: more than 14. Setting: 1815 mostly Bath, England. Copyright: 2003. Genre: historical romance, paraplegic.
September 12, 2009
5.0 out of 5 stars Sensual and sizzling
Absolutely sizzling, from the first sentence, when the hero is alone at Halloween and in utter despair, to the way the couple meet, to the way their love grows with the most sultry heat and passion, to the incredible surprising but totally perfect ending.
The hero Michael Avenel is quite unique, as is the author's Gothic Regency atmosphere, brooding, with secrets aplenty in the dark corners, and yet lit with the love these two characters develop for one another in the novel.
Bryony Wells has some shocking secrets of her own, as she reveals the reason why she is content to hide away from the world with her sons and Michael. Her horrendous marriage is enough to put her off men for life, and her in laws are like demons.
Through the power of love, she admits the truth to him, and he is determined to protect the young widow and her two boys no matter what the cost. All is revealed and healed in the course of the novel, with plenty of action and interaction between the characters to keep me turning the pages.
I loved the details of life in the spa town of Bath being shown as a place where people would take the baths to be healed, and the Indian healer Eswara and her son were equally fascinating characters I would love to see again.
But Bryony and Michael's sensual and tempestuous, and eventually Tantric love affair is center stage. The author really is able to capture the magic of falling in love and writes some of the best love scenes I have ever read, hot without being anatomical or vulgar.
Bryony's sons are adorable, and add a nice balance to the really spicy bits. The Rakehells are in top form as usual, without taking over the book. As I said, I can't wait to see Eswara and her son Ash again, they were so unique.
But as always, the romance takes center stage in this movingly erotic story of love against all odds. The Model Master is truly an unforgettable novel. This author can really write excellent passionate male characters who are alpha without being cavemen, who we can totally fall in love with.
The Model Master is a great romance on the historical and sensual level, great history, terrific characters, super love scenes, with the chemistry between the couple, despite their obstacles, so hot that I felt very very naughty reading it!
You can get these and the other Rakehell titles in the series from Amazon Sorcha MacMurrough Novels
or from HerStory Books.
June 17, 2017
Hmm!!! Lovely!
💗💗💗💗💗
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Except for the hero's miracle cure at the end. But I won't drop a star for that, because this is the only erotic historical romance with a wheeler hero that I read so far.
💗💗💗💗💗
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Except for the hero's miracle cure at the end. But I won't drop a star for that, because this is the only erotic historical romance with a wheeler hero that I read so far.
December 15, 2019
A good not read
This the first book I have read of this author. The Hero is a famous soldier bidding from society because of his injuries both physical and mental. Our heroine is a frighten widow with two sons who has run away.from her violent marriage and in laws who want her.money. Can they overcome.their horrible past to have a great.relationship. A great read with sensual sex appropriate for the story.
This the first book I have read of this author. The Hero is a famous soldier bidding from society because of his injuries both physical and mental. Our heroine is a frighten widow with two sons who has run away.from her violent marriage and in laws who want her.money. Can they overcome.their horrible past to have a great.relationship. A great read with sensual sex appropriate for the story.
Want to read
February 15, 2016328pgs, The Model Master
Book 8 of The Rakehell Regency Romance Series
Word Count: 93,800, approx 350 8.5 x 11" pages
Rating: Extremely Sensual, with many explicit detailed love scenes throughout the entire book
A chance at redemption...and a love worth fighting for?
Fiercely handsome Michael Avenel has been to hell and back during the Peninsular War. Paralyzed from the waist down, he is convinced his life is over until a desperate young woman comes to his door one fateful night.
Lovely Bryony Wells was forced to endure an abusive marriage for the sake of her sons. Once she is widowed, and her eldest boy inherits, she is terrified at what her evil in-laws will do to them all in order to secure the fortune for themselves, and flees.
On the run with her two small sons, she is at her wit's end until she stumbles into Michael 19s life 26and heart. He offers the destitute and desperate woman a decent job and home. She grows determined to repay Michael's kindness by bringing him out of his black despair, and helping him walk again.
Bryony becomes his secretary, and finds Michael a model employer, with his mastery soon extending to her body and soul. For as their intimacy increases, Bryony is certain she is falling in love with Michael, and that her feelings might actually be returned.
The heated passion Michael feels for Bryony spurs hm into trying to recover his health so he can be the man and incredible lover he feels she deserves. He starts to dare hope that the woman he has come to love above all else might actually be his for the asking, the family he has always dreamed of as well.
But soon Bryony's evil brother in law Derek makes his move. Michael encounters a cunning enemy from his worst nightmare. Can Michael ever be the hero Bryony needs him to be? Can Bryony ever escape the ghosts from her past, and through her love for Michael, help him escape from his own?
Book 8 of The Rakehell Regency Romance Series
Word Count: 93,800, approx 350 8.5 x 11" pages
Rating: Extremely Sensual, with many explicit detailed love scenes throughout the entire book
A chance at redemption...and a love worth fighting for?
Fiercely handsome Michael Avenel has been to hell and back during the Peninsular War. Paralyzed from the waist down, he is convinced his life is over until a desperate young woman comes to his door one fateful night.
Lovely Bryony Wells was forced to endure an abusive marriage for the sake of her sons. Once she is widowed, and her eldest boy inherits, she is terrified at what her evil in-laws will do to them all in order to secure the fortune for themselves, and flees.
On the run with her two small sons, she is at her wit's end until she stumbles into Michael 19s life 26and heart. He offers the destitute and desperate woman a decent job and home. She grows determined to repay Michael's kindness by bringing him out of his black despair, and helping him walk again.
Bryony becomes his secretary, and finds Michael a model employer, with his mastery soon extending to her body and soul. For as their intimacy increases, Bryony is certain she is falling in love with Michael, and that her feelings might actually be returned.
The heated passion Michael feels for Bryony spurs hm into trying to recover his health so he can be the man and incredible lover he feels she deserves. He starts to dare hope that the woman he has come to love above all else might actually be his for the asking, the family he has always dreamed of as well.
But soon Bryony's evil brother in law Derek makes his move. Michael encounters a cunning enemy from his worst nightmare. Can Michael ever be the hero Bryony needs him to be? Can Bryony ever escape the ghosts from her past, and through her love for Michael, help him escape from his own?
November 21, 2012
Yet another Rakehell Regency story, where I have given up trying to read them in order because they are randomly spaced out in the two thousand books waiting to be read on my kindle. I wish organizing would be easier and not so slow on the kindle!
Back to the eighth story in the series where war maimed yet dashingly handsome Mr Michael Avenel is back and healing from the English Peninsular War. He is paralyzed from the waist down and feels like half a man so get ready to join him in his pity party.
In comes suddenly Ms. Bryony Wells who is a bad situation, although slightly better since becoming a widow because her dead husband was a violent evil man with an equally evil family. Bryony must protect her sons from their evil family, but women have no rights in historical English society, especially rich educated ton society. So Micheal is a perfect man to hide away from the evil in-laws and protect her sons, while also healing from the abuse. Perhaps, healing is in order for the both of them because when Byrony showed up at Micheal's lowest point, it was like she was a sign that Micheal has something to give ans shouldn't end his own life.
There is lots of attraction between the two lost souls because it has been a long long time since anyone touched them with tenderness or kindness. There was the dangerous crazy episode when the evil Demon's brother Derek finds the children and Bryony, but that is quickly solved in less then a few minutes so this might be the less 'violent' story in the Rakehell series. Lots of sexual healing between the H/h, maybe too much compared to only one sexy scene in the first book The Mad Mistress.
328 pages and kindle freebie
2 stars
Back to the eighth story in the series where war maimed yet dashingly handsome Mr Michael Avenel is back and healing from the English Peninsular War. He is paralyzed from the waist down and feels like half a man so get ready to join him in his pity party.
In comes suddenly Ms. Bryony Wells who is a bad situation, although slightly better since becoming a widow because her dead husband was a violent evil man with an equally evil family. Bryony must protect her sons from their evil family, but women have no rights in historical English society, especially rich educated ton society. So Micheal is a perfect man to hide away from the evil in-laws and protect her sons, while also healing from the abuse. Perhaps, healing is in order for the both of them because when Byrony showed up at Micheal's lowest point, it was like she was a sign that Micheal has something to give ans shouldn't end his own life.
There is lots of attraction between the two lost souls because it has been a long long time since anyone touched them with tenderness or kindness. There was the dangerous crazy episode when the evil Demon's brother Derek finds the children and Bryony, but that is quickly solved in less then a few minutes so this might be the less 'violent' story in the Rakehell series. Lots of sexual healing between the H/h, maybe too much compared to only one sexy scene in the first book The Mad Mistress.
328 pages and kindle freebie
2 stars
June 22, 2015
Michael Avenel, handsome veteran who was wounded in the Peninsular War returns to England to his own private hell in a wheelchair. Despondent he contemplates suicide only to be saved by Bryony Wells pounding on his window seeking help for her two sons in a terrible storm.
Michael takes over the medical care for two very sick little boys and their mother. The twists and plot turns lead to romance, facing Michael's disabilities, keeping Bryony and her boys safe from her late husband's brother and an all-around good story. The Model Master is a great historical romance with scenes of how Michael and Bryony become sexually involved using a variety of ideas to help them come together despite Michael's inability of walk and use his legs. The influence of a healer from India was an interesting plot twist to show where there is a will there is a way and a hero doesn't have to be a perfect alpha male but a gentle man with a good heart.
Michael takes over the medical care for two very sick little boys and their mother. The twists and plot turns lead to romance, facing Michael's disabilities, keeping Bryony and her boys safe from her late husband's brother and an all-around good story. The Model Master is a great historical romance with scenes of how Michael and Bryony become sexually involved using a variety of ideas to help them come together despite Michael's inability of walk and use his legs. The influence of a healer from India was an interesting plot twist to show where there is a will there is a way and a hero doesn't have to be a perfect alpha male but a gentle man with a good heart.
August 24, 2012
I hate to say it but I just couldn't get into this book at all. I didn't particuarly care for either of the characters. There was just something missing. So I ended up giving up which doesn't happen that often.
April 4, 2014
Story line not as good as others in the series. Too many "detailed love scenes".
May 24, 2015
Very very boring!
March 15, 2016
Sorry - not my cup of tea - did not finish
March 11, 2016
Maybe 2.5. If any one is on Mumsnet and reading this, I have two words. Yoni massage.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews