Saturday Review: When the Duke Was Wicked

When the Duke Was Wicked

By Lorraine Heath

Publisher: Avon

Release Date:

February 25, 2014

Lady Grace Mabry is one of the successes of the London season with her dance card filled at every ball and suitors too numerous to count. But Grace is troubled by her inability to detect which suitors are interested in her and which are interested only in the large dowry that is hers as the daughter of a wealthy, powerful duke. The unhappy marriages of friends who thought they were marrying men who loved them have made her even more reluctant to trust her feelings about her suitors. Because of their parents’ long friendship, Grace has known Henry Stanford, Duke of Lovingdon, all her life. He came to her rescue when she was a child, and she has faith that he will help her now. She asks him to use his greater knowledge of love to help her separate the fortune hunters from the men whose affections are sincere.

Lovingdon is no longer the man who was young Grace’s hero. The death of his wife and daughter of typhus two years early has left him filled with grief, anger, guilt, and a determination never to allow himself to be vulnerable to such wrenching pain again. Since the deaths of Juliette and Margaret, Lovingdon has blocked thoughts of the happiness he once knew and withdrawn from the life he had shared with family and friends. He has devoted himself to a life of debauchery, indulging his carnal appetites to the fullest but refusing to feel anything beyond physical pleasure. He answers Grace’s question about what it is like to experience a great love:

“You laugh, you smile. You have secrets to which no one else is privy. You can communicate without words. You know what each other is thinking. There is a sense of euphoria. But it all comes with a price, Grace. Losing it can destroy you, turn you into little more than a hollow shell.”

But he refuses to help her sort out her suitors.

Grace is persistent, however, and Lovingdon soon finds himself forced to recognize that Grace is no longer a child. He thinks of her far more often than he is comfortable doing, and even as he insists he will never love a woman other than his late wife, he hates the idea of Grace with another man. It takes a near tragedy to teach him that real love is worth risking the pain of loss.

Maybe it’s the influence of all those sweeping family sagas I read when I was young, but whatever the reason, I love series that continue into a second generation. So I was delighted that Heath’s newest series is connected to her five-book Scoundrels of St. James series. Lovingdon is the son of Olivia Stanton and the ward of Jack Dodger, the heroine and hero of (Between the Devil and Desire), and Grace is the daughter of Frannie Darling and Sterling Mabry, the 8th Duke of Greystone (Surrender to the Devil). I loved seeing characters from the earlier series make appearances in this book. But even without the connection to other beloved stories, this is an emotional, riveting read.

At her best, Heath can take a standard plot and add captivating characters and emotional richness to produce a story that fully engages her readers. This is exactly what she does in When the Duke Was Wicked. There is nothing new in the tortured hero or in friends to lovers or in the girl child turned tempting woman, but the characters prevent these elements from becoming mere familiar tropes. Grace is an unconventional heroine in her interests and in her actions, but qualities that would be unconvincing in a typical heroine of the period seem perfectly appropriate in the daughter of Frannie Darling. And Grace’s secret adds a poignancy and a reality that aim straight for readers’ hearts. Readers familiar with the earlier books may have a more difficult time seeing young Henry in Lovingdon, but whether or not one sees a seamless connection between the boy and the man, Lovingdon’s journey from desolation and detachment to a new love and a new involvement in life is compelling.

While I think readers of the Scoundrels of St. James series will take particular pleasure in being introduced to a new generation, new readers will find the novel satisfying even without the contexts of the earlier books. I recommend this novel.

How do you feel about books that give you second generation stories?

Tuesday Review: She Tempts the Duke

She Tempts the Duke

By Lorraine Heath
Publisher: Avon
Release Date: January 31, 2011

Sebastian Easton, the eighth Duke of Keswick, was only fourteen and his two younger brothers were only children when, with the help of Sebastian’s best friend, Lady Mary Wynne-Jones, they escaped from the tower in which their uncle had imprisoned them and fled into the night. Twelve years pass. The Easton heirs are presumed dead, and their uncle it just about to be recognized as duke with all the wealth and power that entails when Sebastian and his brothers return. The children who left are now men hardened by all they endured to survive and by war. Keswick, the most scarred psychically and physically by their experiences, is filled with determination to claim what is rightfully his and see that his uncle pays for his crimes, which Keswick suspects includes the murder of the seventh duke.

The years have brought change to Lady Mary as well. When the twelve-year-old Mary asked her father to help the Eastons, he ordered her never to mention the help she had given them to anyone and sent her to a convent where she remained for many years. Although she gives up hope after long years with no message, she has never forgotten her friend Sebastian, the night he left, or his promise to return. Although the scarred, maimed man who returns looks very different from the beautiful boy who left, Lady Mary recognizes him when he and his brothers burst into the ballroom to challenge their uncle’s right to the title.

Mary is betrothed to a man with whom she expects to create a happy life, but the attraction the adult Keswick holds for her is as strong as the tie they shared as children. She is undeterred by his wounds and by her father’s warning that she is courting disaster by maintaining her friendship with the dangerous duke. When her father’s fears are realized and Mary’s betrothal is ended, Sebastian feels honor- bound to marry her. But happiness for the two is possible only if Sebastian’s desire for a life with the woman he loves proves greater than his hunger for vengeance against the man who destroyed his youth.

She Tempts the Duke introduces a new series, the Lost Lords of Pembroke, from Lorraine Heath. The prologue introduces the hero and heroine as children. They are brave and loyal to one another, and it would take a reader with a harder heart than mine not to be won over by the characters in this first scene. While there is nothing unexpected in the way the relationship between the adult Sebastian and Mary develops, it remains easy to feel sympathy for them and to root for the two to find their HEA. Sebastian is a tortured hero in many sense of the word, and Mary’s strength and tenacity are admirable. The younger Eastons, Tristan and Rafe, are interesting characters as well.

I liked many things about this book. Heath is an experienced writer who knows how to craft an emotional tale. While this one is not the equal of her best work, Always to Remember and her Texas trilogy, it is an engaging story with characters I cared about. It is also a story weakened by a villain who is little more than a placard reading “Evil Man,” but that’s not a big enough flaw to stop me from looking forward to Tristan’s and Rafe’s stories. With that one cautionary note, I recommend this book.

What do you expect to see in a successful villain? What’s your favorite Lorraine Heath novel?

Note: You will see that I assigned no stars to this novel. This will be my practice with all subsequent reviews. Assigning a grade was often an exercise in anguish when I was teaching, and I find it no less difficult as a reviewer. I don’t have a problem summarizing a story and explaining what worked for me and what didn’t. But not infrequently I spend as much time deciding whether a novel should have three or four stars as I do writing the review. So for Tuesday Reviews here, I will continue to rave about books I love, share the hits and misses of books I like, remain silent about the rest and refrain from “grading” any book.  I have no problems with reviewers who make different choices. When I do guest reviews at The Romance Dish or other sites where the policy is to rate the books with stars or some other symbol, I will follow the policy of the site.

Tuesday Review: Waking Up With the Duke by Lorraine Heath

Waking Up With the Duke

By Lorraine Heath
Publisher: Avon
Release Date: June 28, 2011
Four Stars

Three years ago, two men were involved in a horrific carriage accident. One walked away with no visible scars; one was left paralyzed and impotent. The two men, the Duke of Ainsley and the Marquess of Wolfort, are cousins and close friends. For three years, Ainsley’s reputation as a lover had grown. For three years, Wolfort has adapted to a radically changed life. Now Wolfort has a request of Ainsley: impregnate my wife. Jayne, Lady Wolfort, who was three months pregnant when her husband was injured, suffered a miscarriage brought on by grief and stress. Wolfort believes Ainsley is the ideal man to give Jayne the child she longs for and Wolfort an heir with Seymour blood in his veins.

Ainsley’s shock at the request is exceeded only by Jayne’s. He has always secretly wished that he had met Jayne before Wolfort did and had the chance to win her heart and hand, but Jayne despises him, holding him responsible for the accident and her husband’s injuries. Jayne is also offended by the idea of breaking her marriage vows. Wolfort plays on Ainsley’s guilt and on Jayne’s desperate desire for a child until the two agree. They will spend a month together at Ainsley’s country cottage engaged in a physical relationship, one bound by Jayne’s rules. Theirs will be a relationship devoid of even a hint of intimacy. There will be no kisses, only sex.

But the Ainsley Jayne discovers at the cottage is far different from the conscienceless rake she has created in her need to blame someone for the accident. Not only is he a tender and considerate lover who brings her greater pleasure than she has ever known, but he is also a thoughtful, sensitive, vital man who brings joy to their days together. She falls in love with Ainsley, and he falls more deeply in love with her. A happy ending seems impossible, but this is a romance after all. It doesn’t take a perceptive reader to know there is only one way the requisite HEA can be achieved.

This is the third book in Heath’s London’s Greatest Lovers series, following Passions of a Wicked Earl and Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman, but the book works well as a standalone. There are fleeting references to Ainsley’s brothers and his unique relationship to them, but the focus is solidly on the Ainsley-Wolfort-Jayne story. Jayne is a sympathetic character—a woman, young, vulnerable, honorable, who truly loves her husband. Ainsley is all a reader could ask for in a hero—wealthy, handsome, sexy, intelligent, compassionate . . . In a word, he’s irresistible.  The love scenes between the two sizzle, and Heath includes enough scenes that show genuine liking and emotional intimacy developing between the two to make their falling in love credible. I would have liked to see more of the latter, but given their reason for being at the cottage and the popularity of a high hotness factor, I probably speak for a slim minority.

A secondary plot involving the Duchess of Ainsley, Ainsley’s mother, her much younger lover, and the man she considers the great love of her life adds an extra dimension to the story. The triangle is interesting within itself, and the duchess, a woman who has lived largely and meets the world on her own terms, serves as counterpoint to Jayne who is fearful and concerned about appearances.

Heath is an author who excels at providing the kind of emotional read that has a reader reaching for a second hanky, and she is at her best in parts of this book. I confess when Jayne and Ainsley part at the end of the month, I was a sodden mess. And that was not the only scene that evoked tears. All that kept this from being a five-star book for me was Wolfort’s character. His coldness, his manipulation, and his dishonesty rendered him so unlikeable that it was mandatory that all sympathy be directed toward Jayne and Ainsley. I would have found the story more complex and exceptional had Wolfort been as noble as his wife and his friend.

Do you have a favorite book by Lorraine Heath? Have you read books that fell just shy of your top rating for one specific reason?