294 pages

English language

Published April 5, 2013

ISBN:
9780425268889
OCLC Number:
826444489

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (1 review)

Felix Rivendale, the Marquess of Wrenworth, is The Ideal Gentleman, a man all men want to be and all women want to possess. Even Felix himself almost believes this golden image. But underneath is a damaged soul soothed only by public adulation. Louisa Cantwell needs to marry well to support her sisters. She does not, however, want Lord Wrenworth, though he seems inexplicably interested in her. She mistrusts his outward perfection, and the praise he garners everywhere he goes. Still, when he is the only man to propose at the end of the London season, she reluctantly accepts. Louisa does not understand her husband's mysterious purposes, but she cannot deny the pleasure her body takes in his touch. Nor can she deny the pull this magnetic man exerts upon her. But does she dare to fall in love with a man so full of dark secrets, any one of which …

2 editions

A fun romp

4 stars

This is a good modern historical romance (ie: set in the past but the people behave generally like people and have relatable motives, and the world isn’t mysteriously bereft of queerness or something just because it’s the 1800s) that has some fun twists. I especially enjoyed that the woman takes one look at the guy and is basically like, “oh no, he’s too hot” and has to spend the rest of the book persuading him into bed, essentially. (A nice reversal from the usual blushing virgin routine.)

I found the eventual final conflict and resolution to be pretty rushed, but that’s a romance novel for you. The sex is all well written while being surprisingly generalized — there are a lot of scenes of teasing or extended foreplay through objects — which again, is a nice change up and is interesting to see an author do instead of Yet More …

Subjects

  • Secrets
  • Siblings
  • Man-woman relationships
  • Upper class
  • Fiction

Places

  • England
  • London
  • London (England)