#CBR8 Book 49: "The Earl Takes All" by Lorraine Heath

Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 3 stars
 
Twin brothers, orphaned at seven, Albert and Edward Alcott were sent to be raised by a family friend, the Marquess of Marsden at Havisham Hall. Insane with grief after losing his wife, Marsden wasn't exactly the best person to raise his own son and three orphaned boys (the third being the Duke of Ashebury, hero of the first book in the series). As the boys grew up, roaming free, they became collectively known as the Hellions of Havisham.

Then Albert, the elder by a few minutes and therefore the Earl of Greyling, wanted to give up his wild ways and fell in love with Lady Julia Kenney. Edward resented the way this woman seemed to be stealing his brother away, and one fateful evening, pretending to be his identical twin, he kissed her the garden at a ball. Only after their passionate kiss does Edward reveal his identity, leading to Julia loathing him utterly, even after she marries his brother.

On one last adventure together on safari in Africa, Albert is mortally wounded, and his last words to Edward are: "Be me!" Julia, having miscarried multiple times, is pregnant with what they hope is the heir to the earldom and has managed to stay pregnant for nearly seven months already. Albert is worried the shock of his death will make her lose this baby too, and therefore persuades his twin with his dying breath to pretend to be him, until the baby is safely delivered. Edward is to pretend that it was in fact HE who died in Africa, while taking care of his sister in law until she gives birth. While this is an absolutely moronic plan, he agrees, because he loves his brother, and let's face it, has some pretty strong feelings about Julia too, and not just in the pants region. Initially, he tries to stay away from her as much as possible, using grief as an excuse. But when Julia starts questioning why her husband has become so distant, he needs to become more affectionate so as to not give the game away.

His friends, who always knew the twins better than anyone else, uncover his charade at the funeral but reluctantly agree to keep the secret for the sake of Julia and Albert's child. They strongly warn Edward against getting too close to Julia, though, or in any way taking advantage of her. She'd figure out that something was wrong if her husband never even kissed her, though, right? While thankfully, sex is out of the question, to protect the baby, there is definitely some pretty passionate kissing and fondling and I have to admit I was pretty uncomfortable during this section. Then of course, the baby is born, and it's not a boy, like Albert and Julia were convinced it was going to be. So Edward is in fact the Earl now and needs to tell Julia the truth. Will she hate him forever?

Of course not, this is a romance. Besides, it's not like Edward does the honourable thing and confesses right after his niece is born. Nope, it's just before Christmas, and no one should find out they're a widow at Christmas right? Just a few more weeks of lying to the woman he loves, deceiving her in word and deed, because once she realises what he's done, she's going to never want to speak to him again. Of course, Julia is devastated when she discovers the truth. Not only is her husband dead, but her brother-in-law has been lying to her for months and she betrayed her husband's memory without even realising it, because she felt more comfortable and passionate with Edward than she ever did with Albert.

It's a heck of a plot to try to carry out, but this is the same woman who basically wrote Overboard in the Victorian era a few books back, so I guess if anyone was going to do really uncomfortable plots in romance, it's Lorraine Heath. It's an absolutely preposterous premise, and I still find it unlikely that the twins were so identical that Julia never once suspected the truth until it was revealed to her. Especially as Julia and Albert didn't have a marriage of convenience where they spent most of their time apart, only spending time in bed when trying to conceive an heir. Nope, Julia and Albert were a love match and confided in each other about everything. Even if Edward looked the same, being able to fake being his brother for months should have been impossible.

I still kept reading to find out what was going to happen, though, and the plot got a lot less squicky once the truth all comes out. At that point, Edward also confesses to Julia that the reason he couldn't tell her the truth as soon as the baby was born was because he's in love with her, and has been for years, and crushed and betrayed as she feels, Julia is starting to wonder if she doesn't feel something similar for her brother-in-law. Once she knows, she can see how blithely she brushed away all the things that didn't make sense, because she actually enjoyed spending time with Edward even more than she had with Albert before he left.

As an added complication, there's the laws that a widow was forbidden to marry her husband's brother (or a widower forbidden to marry his wife's sister). If Edward tells the world the truth about his identity, he can never marry Julia. Having spent more than two months with him, seeing how responsible and capable he is at running the estate, how good he is with the servants and tenants and how affectionate and caring he's been with her, Julia has realised that the drunken shambles that Edward made out to be in the eyes of his family and the world is in fact a clever ruse, to make sure that Julia kept him in contempt and neither she nor Albert ever realise the truth about his shameful feelings about his sister-in-law. She hates that the entire world thinks that Edward was a frivolous adventurer and drunkard who never really amounted to anything, and wants the achievements he's working towards as the Earl of Greyling to be in HIS actual name, not that of his dead brother.

While Julia and Edward eventually get their happy ending (there were ways around the inconvenient legal issues, if you had enough money and knew where to travel), I do hope that Edward sorted out his drinking problem. Certainly in the first half of the book, he's throwing down glasses of alcohol every chance he gets. I think Julia should have serious issues about trusting him, considering how skilled he proved himself to be at lying, but if she chooses to spend her life with him, who am I to argue. I much preferred the first book in this series, but then I always find Lorraine Heath to be very variable in quality (not that it stops me from coming back to her books again and again). Hoping the last Hellion's book (he's the one with the mad dad) is less uncomfortable. 

Judging a book by its cover: See, cover designer of Cold-Hearted Rake. THIS is how you portray a woman in mourning. Not in a pink giant-skirted monstrosity when your heroine never takes off her widow's weeds a single time over the course of the book! In The Earl Takes All, Julia actually does wear other colours occasionally, yet she's also a grieving widow for much of the book, consequently frequently clad in unrelieved black, and the dress described on the cover actually matches the description of one she wears in the book. That's good! Not sure about gazing soulfully at the white rose she's holding. Still, I should complain. This is a surprisingly decent romance cover, even though I suspect the low-cut back is less than entirely appropriate for Victorian times.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 124: "When the Duke was Wicked" by Lorraine Heath

Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 3 stars

This review was written with the help of Mrs. Julien's romance review template (tm).

When the Duke was Wicked is a romance of the "friends to lovers" variety. The hero and heroine have known each other since they were young, as their families are very close. The heroine and the hero's younger sisters are BFFs. The hero grieves for his dead wife and had determined that he will never love another. The heroine believes she can get the hero to re-join polite society by asking for his advice to avoid fortune hunters. Hijinks ensue. The couple move forward together, secure in their love and commitment.

A historical romance set in Victorian London, When the Duke was Wicked is the thirteenth book I've read by Lorraine Heath. I generally find Ms. Heath's work to be entertaining, if only occasionally really good, but this was not one of her more memorable books. It was, however, acquired in an e-book sale for not very much money and allowed me to see how Grace, the best friend of Miranda from Falling Into Bed with a Duke and Lovingdon, Miranda's half-brother actually got together. As they are frequently occurring supporting characters in that book, I wanted to see how they arrived at their HEA. I found When the Duke was Wicked rather uninspiring, but while it was a bit of a dud, I will no doubt continue reading Ms. Heath's books (especially if I find them on sale) because every so often she produces a real gem. I would not recommend you start with this particular effort, however.

As I said above, the plot is a variety of the friends to lovers trope. Henry Stanford, the Duke of Lovingdon was everything that was dutiful and respectable until his wife and young daughter died. Blaming himself for the illness they contracted, and for the lie he told his wife on his deathbed (that he would keep them safe), he became consumed with grief and threw himself into debauchery and becoming a rake of the first order in an attempt to forget his formerly happy family life. He is handsome (of course), stubborn and rather single-minded. I found Lovingdon the biggest detriment to my enjoyment of this book, as he frustrated me immensely with his continued wallowing and his vow never to love another. There are many ways to love, dude! You can love your relatives, friends and spouse in different ways. Also, she died years ago. Get over yourself!

Lady Grace Mabry is lucky enough to have a huge dowry, but is worried that only cads and fortune hunters will be interested in her. She is clever, rather sneaky and convinced she can save Lovingdon from himself. Not entirely sure what she sees in him. She gets points for showing up at Lovingdon's town house and not blinking an eye when he opens the door while in the nude. She forces him to review all her suitors to give her advice on who's trying to dupe her. To do this, he has to show up at a number of society functions. She tells herself she is completely over her childhood crush on him (she was heartbroken when he married, even though she was a teen and he was a fair few years older than her), which is clearly not true. He doesn't think any of the men vying for her hand are good enough (he's not wrong) and gets crazy jealous at the thought of any of them touching her. If only his heart wasn't dead and buried along with his poor wife. Le sigh.

MINOR SPOILER! Once Grace is kidnapped by one of her suitors, Lovingdon comes to his senses and realises his true feelings for her. Will he be able to tell her before it's too late?

I forget if there are any significant subplots in the book. Some time is spent with the character Drake Darling, Grace's foster brother, who runs a gambling club. He's the hero of Once More, My Darling Rogue, a book which I refuse to read because Victorian Overboard is not a thing I will put myself through. You can read Mrs. Julien's review here, though.

While this book should have had Grace ending up with someone more awesome, I don't regret buying it for the price I paid. Anyone looking for really good Heath novels can check out Lord of Wicked Intentions, The Duke and the Lady in Red or her most recent release, Falling Into Bed with a Duke.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR7 Book 122: "Falling Into Bed with a Duke" by Lorraine Heath

Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 4 stars

This is the first in a new series by Lorraine Heath, featuring the Hellions of Havisham. The first of these Hellions is Nicholson Lambert, the Duke of Ashebury. He lost his parents in a gruesome train accident and was sent to the country to be raised by the Marquess of Marsden. Along with him were the Earl of Grayling and his twin brother, orphaned in the same accident. Their parents appointed the Marquess of Marsden their guardian, unaware that Marsden was driven pretty much out of his mind after the death of his wife, leaving him in no fit state to raise even his own son, let alone three other boys. As a result, Ashebury and his three friends, close as brothers, were allowed to run entirely wild and as grown men, they all have quite the reputations.

The Earl of Grayling is the only one happily married, none of the other Hellions are intending to settle down or looking for spouses. Having seen how loss and heartbreak drove Marsden insane, Ashebury has no plans to ever allow himself to fall for a woman. He prefers to travel the world, exploring and adventuring, taking beautiful and striking photographs to document his journeys. When he's in London, he indulges in tasteful nude photography for his private collection, hoping that images of physical perfection may eventually supplant the nightmare visions of hideous, mangled bodies that he's haunted by.

Miss Miranda Dodger is the daughter of one of the richest men in England. Her enormous dowry has made her a favourite target for greedy gold diggers, so much so that she even wrote a book on how to spot and avoid fortune hunters. At the age of 28, she has yet to find a man who she trust actually likes her for who she is rather than the ridiculous amounts of money she'll bring to a marriage. With her father's head for business and very firm opinions, that she refuses to keep to herself, she's acquired a reputation as a fierce blue-stocking. She's also convinced that she's very plain and that no man would find her beautiful if she didn't have money. She despairs at ever finding the great love her parents or her brother and best friend share. She wants to experience passion, lose her virginity and feel desired. So she gains access to the Nightingale Club, where society ladies don masks to protect their identities and seek out lovers for uncomplicated liaisons. Miranda figures that the mask will not only protect her from scandal, but ensure that the gentleman in question sees only her, not her money. It will also allow her to feel more confident, as her homely features will be hidden.

Miranda and Ashe meet at the club. Ashe wants to photograph Miranda's ankles. She thinks he's gorgeous and is more than happy for him to be the man to deflower her. Posing for a naughty photograph, however, makes her nervous. When Ashe discovers that the mysterious Lady V is actually a virgin, he sends her home, saying she should spend her first time with someone she at least cares for, not a complete stranger. They do share a scorching kiss before they part, though.

Ashe becomes determined to discover the true identity of his mystery woman with the perfect ankles and it doesn't take him long before he's almost confident that the unconventional Miss Dodger and Lady V are one and the same. With every encounter, he becomes more and more interested in Miranda, and as he needs a wife to continue his family line, he decides the only one who will do is her. Of course, with so many fortune hunters having come before him, Ashebury has his work cut out for him. Can he convince the woman who literally wrote the book on fortune hunters that he's a genuine suitor?

This book has cameo appearances by a lot of characters from Heath's previous series, most notably her most recent one, the Scandalous Gentlemen of St.James. Miranda also appeared in those books, but now she gets to be the heroine in her own story. As this book also introduces the four Hellions of Havisham, there is quite a bit of back story given and some attention given to Ashebury's fellow Hellions, only one of whom is married (I do hope he doesn't lose his wife in some tragic accident, so as to make him an even more tortured hero later - dead parents AND beloved wife). I'm assuming that at least Ashebury's unmarried foster brothers will be heroes in later books, there's certainly a lot of interesting trauma in their pasts to make them suitable tortured hero fodder.

Ashebury was the eldest of the Hellions, I want to say he was about eight when his parents died. His last words to them was some variety of spoiled, angry shouting and naturally he feels terribly guilty that after he had a tantrum, they went and died gruesomely in a train accident. While he never saw their bodies, his imagination has more than amply provided nightmare fodder for him throughout his life. He tries to capture beautiful things in his photographs to try to drive the horror images out of his mind. It's also clear that all four boys experienced a lot of bad stuff due to Marsden's madness.

Miranda is a clever and engaging heroine, whose main flaw is that she's so convinced she's not pretty. I honestly don't remember if there is any real background to her conviction that she's so plain and unremarkable, or if it's just that Grace, her best friend is very pretty, and she feels homely in comparison. It's quite clear from the POV of everyone else that she's deluded on this point, and while she's not a diamond of the first water, she's certainly not some hideous troll either. Raised as the only girl in a household of brothers, Miranda is well-read and has a head for finances, happily advising her male friends and relatives on business ventures. Refusing to hide her brains and giggle demurely when she is out in public, she scares off a lot of men who want a nice biddable wife. Her massive dowry does more harm than good, as she's convinced (mostly from bitter experience) that it only attracts unscrupulous fortune hunters. I liked that she tried to take control of her own sexuality, but it also seemed realistic that she got cold feet when she was actually faced with jumping into bed with someone.

The main complication for the couple seemed a bit simplistic, and I'm surprised it took Ashebury quite as long as it did to figure out a solution. It seemed to me that what he came up with was the only sensible option and it would have saved a lot of time if he'd thought of it sooner.

Lorraine Heath's books can be a bit hit and miss. This one is definitely more of a hit. I liked both protagonists and am looking forward to seeing what is in store for the other Hellions in future.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR7 Book 63: "The Duke and the Lady in Red" by Lorraine Heath

Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Rosalind "Rose" Sharpe is a con woman, in London looking for her next victims. Posing as as the widow of a man killed in India, her story is that she's currently low on funds, as her legal counsel are trying to get her inheritance transferred - naturally a complicated and time-consuming process. When she meets the Duke of Avendale, she is immediately drawn to him, knowing that he is rich enough that if she plays her figurative cards correctly, she might never have to swindle another man again, but also wary, as he is much more powerful and ruthless than any of the men she's used her feminine wiles on before.

The Duke of Avendale, known for his wealth, scandalous behaviour and all-round rakishness, is bored, even more so after his former cronies are all settling down with matrimony and domestic bliss. When he sees the striking Mrs. Sharpe in a red dress at what used to be his favourite gaming hell (which is now opening its doors to women - what has the world come to?), he suspects he might have found just the thing to pull him out of the funk he's currently in. He's deeply attracted to her, even more so because she refuses to give into his immediate attempts at seduction. He orders his house cleared of gamblers, drinkers and floozies, intending to make it a place suitable to entertain the enigmatic widow. So when he discovers her about to leave town with quite a substantial sum of her money, and her servants in tow, he's furious, but also realises that he can have what he most desires.

Avendale and Rose make a deal. For a week in his company and his bed, she can keep all the money she was trying to steal, he will pay her current debt and he won't report her to the authorities. Rose will be at his disposal day and night, as long as she gets two hours every afternoon to go home, and Avendale can't ask any questions. Avendale thinks he has the upper hand, but quickly discovers that Rose has a lot of secrets and that the delectable lady in red is going to change his life irrevocably.

The Duke and the Lady in Red is the third book in the Scandalous Gentlemen of St. George series, which in itself is a sequel series of sorts to Heath's previous Scoundrels of St. James series. This series concerns the various offspring of the heroes and heroines of the first series. Can this book be read as a stand-alone? I would absolutely say so, as I haven't read the book concerning Avendale's mother and her husband, nor any of the previous books in the series. The incomparable Mrs. Julien has, however, and based on her reviews, I'd say I may check out the first one (based also on the cameo appearances of the couple in this book, they were cute) and give the second a miss. Ms. Heath's books are frequently romances I enjoy, but they don't really make any impact or stay with me for very long.

There are some exceptions, however, this being one of them. Avendale is the least interesting part of the story. He really is your stereotypical wealthy and dissolute rake. He's heavily into his drinking, gambling and promiscuous sex and naturally, because he is at an age when his former partners in debauchery are getting married, no longer interested in a life of constant hedonism, he's getting oh so bored. He barely speaks to his mother or younger siblings and is naturally quite lonely, although he would never admit this.

Rosalind is a great heroine, though, who more than makes up for the rather uninspired take on the Duke. She has been a successful con woman for years, not just for the thrill of it or to live a life of leisure, but because she's supporting a household of very unusual servants and her beloved brother, Harry, who for reason's I really don't want to spoil can't really be out and about in society. The relationship between Rosalind and her brother, or with her servants, who are really more like friends who work in her household because they have nowhere else to go, is lovely. It's quite clear that her dishonest means of earning money weighs on her, and that she'd much rather find a more honest way of supporting herself and her dependents. By neccesity, her chosen lifestyle also means that they can never settle very long in one place, always having to be on the run from creditors and angry victims.

While Rosalind may have conned a number of men and merchants out of a lot of things, she's successfully managed to avoid having to play the whore. She's both surprised and slightly scared by the intense attraction she feels for Avendale and it's one of the reasons she's not as careful as she might have been, conning him out of too much money too quickly, and as a result getting caught. His suggestion that she spend a week with him seems to come as somewhat of a relief, as she's been fighting her instinctive need to give into his attempts at seduction. The fact that she's been posing as an experienced widow causes some initial difficulties, but having sworn to uphold their arrangement, Rose isn't about to let Avendale suddenly develop a conscience because of her inexperience.

Rose's brother is a wonderful character, and as I said, I don't want to go into the details as to why Rose feels she needs to swindle and con to make enough money to support them. Suffice to say, there are good reasons for why he's living hidden away in her town house. While Avendale's reaction when he found out may have been plausible, my disbelief was strained to the breaking point by the way everyone else treated Harry, as I just don't think people in Victorian society were that accepting and open-minded, no matter how kind an individual was or how powerful a friend and patron he had.

Still, it's a minor niggle and I really did enjoy this book a lot, after a bit of a slow start. Any romance that actually makes me cry can't be rated lower than 4 stars. As I said, I suspect I will be checking out When the Duke Was Wicked, the first book in the series, and keep picking up new books by Heath when they are published. But she's still only in my "buy on sale, or borrow at the library" list rather than the coveted auto-buy or pre-order lists.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR5 Book 49. "Lord of Wicked Intentions" by Lorraine Heath

Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 4 stars

This is the third and final book in the Lost Lords of Pembrook trilogy. It can obviously be read in isolation, but I suspect it works better if you've read at least one of the preceding novels about the two eldest brothers, the first of which is She Tempts the Duke.

Lord Rafe Easton was ten when his uncle killed his father, and tried to have him and his two older twin brothers murdered. Saved by the daughter of the neighbouring estate, Mary, the brothers escaped the tower they were locked in, and ran away. Sebastian (the oldest by a few minutes) became a soldier (and eventually horribly scarred Two-Face style in the Crimean war), Tristan was sold to a ship's captain and worked his way up to become a successful captain (and sometime privateer). Rafe was left at a workhouse, because his brothers (then 14), had no idea what horrifying conditions the children there suffered and what a fate they condemned their baby brother to.

Now the proprietor of a successful gambling club (this seems to be a really common way for the heroes of Romancelandia to support themselves), Rafe is happy that they've got their revenge on their uncle, Sebastian is restored to his rightful title as the Duke of Keswick with Mary at his side, Tristan has found love and is also happily settled. He is not really interested in spending a lot of time with his brothers, though, as he's unable to completely blame them for the years of torment he went through in the poorest areas of London, fighting his way through the seedy underworld. His life has taught him that everyone abandons him, sooner or later, and so it's best just not to get attached to them in the first place.

Until he meets the very special someone who can crack his hardened and bitter shell, obviously. Evelyn Chambers is the illegitimate daughter of an Earl. When her mother died, her father took her in, and had her raised in comfort at his country estate. When the Earl dies, she naively believes that her half brother will keep his death bed promise to see her comfortably taken care of, by helping her find a husband. Her brother, being a cowardly weasel of the highest order, instead intends to sell her as a mistress to the highest bidder, to gain funds to repay his many gambling debts. Rafe is present, as the holder of the debts. He's surprised by his own disgust at seeing the other men lech over the oblivious Evelyn, and his own strong attraction to her, and insists on claiming her himself.

He intends to make her his mistress, but while he thinks of himself as the cruelest of villains, he makes sure to give her enough time to get used to the idea, insisting that he would never force her, and he wants her to make the choice to stay with him of her own free will. Deeply uncomfortable with the strength of his feelings towards her, he keeps trying to be controlling and order her about (because that's clearly what a man with a mistress should do) but he's clearly terrified that she will leave him, and keeps painting a very bleak picture of her chances of managing on her own to ensure that she believes that staying with him is her only option.

Evelyn may start out as blithely innocent and naive to the point of TSTL, but it's quite clear that the reason she's so oblivious is that her father, while claiming to have acknowledged her, kept her hidden away in the countryside, far away from polite society where she might learn that not everything was pretty dresses and dollies and her being a bastard might not mean that she had a bright future as the wife of some kind man ahead of her. She has a very rude awakening, and wises up really quite quickly once her brother deposits her on Rafe's doorstep. She also realises very quickly that Rafe is a good, but extremely lonely and private man, who believes himself to be much harsher and crueler than he really is. All his servants are people he rescued off the streets, who are deeply grateful and loyal to him.

I've read a fair few series where there's a number of brothers (either biological or in spirit) who over the course of the books will find their true loves and live HEA. It seems to be tradition that the most messed up of these individuals are saved for last. The best example of this is obviously the amazing Smite Turner in Unraveled. Rafe, for all that he's had a horrible childhood, at least had a stable and happy life until he was ten. He has a lot of unresolved issues and fear of commitment because of his experiences in the work house, being forced to work in a mine and being a street kid, but he also seems to resolve quite a few of them as soon as he actually lets Evelyn get close to him. I suspect that in reality it would take years of therapy as well as the love of a good woman, but we have to take these things with a pinch of salt when dealing with historical romance. The fact that in Milan's book, there is no insta-healing, is why I love her the mostest of all the writers out there.

CBR4 Book 24: "She Tempts the Duke" by Lorraine Heath

Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Date begun: March 5th, 2012
Date finished: March 6th, 2012

When Sebastian Easton was fourteen, he, his twin and their younger brother were locked in a tower by their evil uncle shortly after their father, the Duke of Keswick's, funeral. They're planning their escape when rescued by Lady Mary Wynne-Jones, Sebastian's best friend and daughter of the neighbouring Earl. She overheard their uncle ordering them killed, and knocks out a guard to unlock the tower. The boys thank her, and promise to return in ten years to reclaim their heritage.

It takes twelve years, and they've been missing so long that their uncle is petitioning Parliament to have them declared dead, so he can claim the ducal title, when the three brothers make quite a dramatic entrance during one of their uncle's balls. Sebastian's been a soldier, and has horrible facial scars (and an eye patch!) after the Crimean war. His twin, Tristan, is now a successful captain, and their younger brother Rafe owns a gambling establishment in London. Their return naturally causes quite a stir, but no one is happier to see them than Lady Mary, who was sent to a convent after their disappearance (because her father wanted her out of trouble). She's determined to do whatever she can to help them back into society, heedless of the dangers to her reputation and what it may do to her engagement.

It's obvious that Mary loves Sebastian and has never forgotten him. He, of course, is scarred both physically and emotionally, and refuses to acknowledge that he may love her too, and keeps trying to push her away, even as she defies popular convention to assist him. Can the lost Lords of Pembrook prove their uncle tried to steal their inheritance, and get their revenge? Can Mary make Sebastian love her, and accept that she doesn't find him repulsive despite his scars?

While I really did like Mary, and especially the depiction of her relationship with her cousin and aunt (who is awesome and clearly wants Mary happy no matter what scandals it may lead to), and I liked Sebastian's relationship with his brothers a lot, the main romance in this book left a lot to be desired. Sebastian is just too caught up in his broodiness and conviction that his facial scarring makes him repulsive to everyone else. He keeps comparing himself to Tristan, who's obviously still very handsome, and it gets old really fast. While it's obvious that Mary's first fiancee is wrong for her, I'm not sure she was better off with "oh woe is me" Sebastian either. He does of course change his mind in the end, but still seems like a bit of a gloomy stick in the mud. I'm much more looking forward to Tristan and Rafe's romances, they both seem more promising.

CBR3 Books 60-62: London's Greatest Lovers trilogy by Lorraine Heath

60. Passions of a Wicked Earl - 4 stars
61. Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman - 3.5 stars
62. Waking Up With the Duke - 4 stars

Publisher: Avon
Total page count: 1152 pages
Date begun: July 29th, 2011
Date finished: August 4th, 2011

Lorraine Heath's London's Greatest Lovers trilogy feature the three sons of the scandalous Duchess of Ainsley. Her eldest son is the Earl of Westcliffe, her middle son is the honorable Stephen Lyons and her youngest son is the Duke of Ainsley.

Passions of a Wicked Earl


Morgan Lyons, the Earl of Westcliffe, has been estranged from his wife Claire for three years. On their wedding day, he found her in the arms of his younger brother Stephen, and he has never been able to forgive her. He exiled her to his country estate, and has become infamous for his love affairs in the years since. Now he's starting to consider divorce, so he can marry his current mistress.

Claire was barely eighteen when she married Westcliffe, in a marriage arranged since she was a girl. Nervous about her wedding night, she went to her best friend Stephen for advice, and seeking comfort in his embrace went badly wrong for her. Now she wants to give her younger sister a season, determined that her sister get to choose her own husband. She shows up on Westcliffe's doorstep, ready to finally be his wife, and is not at all pleased that he wants to end their marriage before they've even had a chance to have a proper one. She gets him to agree that she can stay in the house for the Season, and needs to seduce her husband in order to save her marriage.

I really liked both protagonists in the book, especially Claire. My biggest problem with the book was the continued presence of Westcliffe's mistress. While he doesn't sleep with her after Claire comes back into his life, there are multiple scenes with her, and it's difficult to really like and sympathise with a man who's so blind to what a complete shrew this woman is. I get that she needs to be unsympathetic, to act as an antagonist to Claire, but the scenes featuring her were all tiresome and boring, and took away some of my enjoyment of an otherwise good romance.

Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman


As the only son of the Duchess of Ainsley without a title, being the second son of an Earl, Stephen Lyons was always determined to at least be better at lovemaking than either of his brothers. Regretting the estrangement he caused between his brother Westcliffe and his dear friend Claire, he decides to redeem himself by joining the army. He proves to be a courageous soldier, but is badly injured, and is brought home two years after he went off to the Crimea with an aching leg and complete amnesia about those two years. So he has no memory of the lovely woman who shows up on his family's doorstep with a baby she claims is his.

Mercy Thompson was a nurse who travelled to the Crimea with Florence Nightingale to make a difference. When she returns home with a baby, her reputation is ruined and her father wants nothing to do with her. Believing Stephen, the soldier she admired and fell in love with after one life changing night, to be dead, she wants his family to at least have his son as a reminder of him. So her shock is great when he turns out to be alive, yet he clearly doesn't remember her or anything about his time in the army.  Her father demands that Stephen do the right thing, and restore his daughter's honour by marrying her. Yet Mercy hasn't told Stephen the whole truth about their night together, and while she loves him, she is worried about basing their marriage on a deception.

While a perfectly ok read, Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman was the least enjoyable book in the trilogy, probably because Stephen was the lesser of the three brothers. Always his mother's favourite, and given free rein to do whatever he wanted, while his two brothers tried to be responsible, he just seemed a bit spoiled and self-centred. As the book commences AFTER his time in the army, his bravery becomes a matter of "tell, not show". All the stories of his exploits are told to him by other people. He spends far too long agonizing over his missing memories, and risks his happiness and marriage to regain his memories. Also, when he does find out what Mercy has been hiding, he acts like a complete dick, and frankly, I think she could've done much better than him.

Waking Up With the Duke


The improbably named Ransom Seymour, the Duke of Ainsley, owes a debt to his cousin, the Marquis of Walfort, after a drunken carriage ride two years earlier landed the latter in a wheelchair, while Ainsley escaped with barely a scratch. In the distressing time after her husband's accident, Jeyne, the Marchioness of Walfort, lost the child she carried.

Lady Jayne (yup, the heroine is ACTUALLY called Jeyne Seymour) hates Ainsley and blames him for the accident, her childlessness and the lonely existence of duty and self sacrifice her marriage has become since her husband became paralyzed from the waist down. Now the Marquis has decided that Jeyne would clearly be happier if she had a child, something he can't give her. So he wants Ainsley to father the child instead.

The plan is that Ainsley and Jayne spend a month together, and make love enough times to ensure she gets pregnant. Ainsley is shocked by the proposal, but very attracted to his cousin's wife, so he doesn't protest that much. Jeyne is absolutely appalled, but after a bout of emotional blackmail, pretty much, agrees to the crazy scheme. No points for guessing how long she manages to sustain her hatred for Ainsley after they spend they spend a month together in the countryside.

While the premise for the novel is almost preposterous, and Jeyne does get won over by Ainsley's charm and sexual prowess very quickly, I liked both the protagonists, and was interested in seeing how the plot was going to develop. I also really liked the secondary plot, with Ainsley's mother. I can see why some Amazon reviews question the inclusion of this plot, but if you read the books as a trilogy, you get to know her quite well, and observe her romance with a younger portrait artist. Seeing the culmination of this relationship was very satisfying to me, and since I DID read the whole trilogy, I think the subplot was justified and added to my enjoyment of the third book.