What happens when an earl weds a lady so that he can seek his revenge though marriage?Lady Lucy Newpark has been living the life of a servant in order to save her nephew. She’ll do anything to protect the innocent boy… remember why she is in this mess, much less how to take her next breath.
The Earl of Ganden.
Kent Harris has always been sure of two things:
1- His title as the Earl of Ganden.
2- He can never trust anyone – especially women.
After suffering at the hands of his parents, the men Lucy work for are but a walk in the park.
But it’s the woman who’s given him a hope for the future.
Until she betrays him.
Now free to do as he pleases, Ganden will stop at nothing to get his revenge.
But revenge is quickly set aside when the feeling Ganden tries to fight off returns.
Hope.
But is hope enough to change his heart of stone?
What about love?
more
This is book 6 of Deborah Wilson’s Valiant Love Regency Romance Series. The first 4 books are about the Curbain siblings. Book 5 is about the Marquess of Denhallow, one of Laurel (Lore) Curbain’s best friends, who we’d met several times before in the series. This book is about the Earl of Ganden, who has become a close associate of the Marquess, and whom we met in books 4 and 5. If you read my reviews, you’ll know that I have been lucky enough to receive ARCs of these books, for which I am very grateful. I had never heard of this author before reading that she needed ARC readers for historical romance, which is my favorite genre, so I volunteered. This has become one of my favorite series! And I will gladly give you my honest feelings about each book I receive!
Although this was probably the darkest out of the series, it was a really good story. Our hero has more than his share of anger issues, with the biggest one pointed at Lucy for betraying him instead of saving him when the lords were captured. But as usually the case, people have their reasons for doing what they must. It was interesting to see these two slowly come to see and eventually truly accept who they are and what they mean to each other. This whole series was very good in the way each lord dealt with what happened after being held captive by a maniac for years.
“Anger is the way we hold ourselves captive. Forgiveness is quite liberating.”
SETTING: London. June 1819
First at the hands of parents who had rejected him for reasons unknown to him, then the hands of an evil group of men who had stolen his money, Kent Harris, the Earl of Ganden, greatly suffers. Kent is one the ‘The London Lords’ in this series taken by Mr. Goody, but arranged by powerful men—perhaps even with his mother’s awareness! This is Kent’s story, and of his redemption from despair by the hand of one who had also been ‘imprisoned’ and tortured by same group of men, Lady Lucy Newpark.
This is also a character study of how different people bear up under rejection, imprisonments, and threats to their loved ones, and how they conduct their lives after release from such enslavement. How do some maintain love in their hearts for others, while others lash out at everyone and everything? More importantly, how can the one lashing out be saved from his despair? Interestingly, the key comes from an unexpected source, his housekeeper Mrs. Barton:
“Anger is the way we hold ourselves captive. Forgiveness is quite liberating.”
CRITIQUE: Just as I had been with the other books in the Valiant series, I was drawn into the story and became very invested in seeing a good outcome for all. The storylines are well-designed, and harmonize well with what was written in the prior books. Bits and pieces of the captivity story not covered in the other books of this series are found here, which round out the situation. The H is calmed from a raging beast into a loving husband by a h who suffered right alongside him, but maintained her soft heart. Thankfully, they have their HEA.
This book will hover in your mind for some time, as it speaks so well to the cruelty of some towards the young and defenseless who do not deserve it, and of the ability of love to aid in the recovery of those victims.
This story starts in the dark of heart of an angry man. The story is dark and heartbreaking, but when Lucy decides to just love Kent, instead of fighting him. She finds the key to help heal his anger and rages. The only problem is the man who instigated the kidnappings is still manipulating their lives two years later. Lord Maltsby is a true villain and man never to be trusted. The plot is clear and the story takes unexpected turns, but the light of Lucy shines in the angriest Lost Lord.
Every time I read one of Deborah Wilson’s books, I always tell myself I’ll never love a couple more than this couple. But every time I fall in love with the new couple. Kent and Lucy are no exception. Kent and Lucy are very special – what do I mean by that? Grab this book and find out!
Making Your Own Peace
This book was great! So glad the author chose to do Ganden story at this point. He has such a large of amount of rage in him he does not know peace.
Harlot is not what I expected and her capacity to give to the point of her own self is amazing.
These two are not the only characters in the book you will get to read about the others held in captivity with Ganden and how they are adjusting or not after being released.
“It was time Kent stopped letting revenge and anger control him.”
The Earl of Ganden, Kent Harris was a survivor, an angry one to say the least thanks to the abuse he suffered as a child by his parents. Would you trust anyone surviving that? And now, imprisoned by an unknown, he is cared for by someone he knows only as Harlot. She ultimately betrays him and when he is free, he wants nothing more than revenge. He gets it when he forces her to marry him.
Lady Lucy Newpark loves her nephew George as if he were her own. George’s father, Lord Maltsby, has literally forced Lucy into servitude to protect George. While her new husband meets with the other Lost Lords to plot to punish Maltsby, her nephew George begins to become someone Kent allows himself to care about, and in doing so, he comes to care about Lucy. However, with everything she knows, could she trust her new husband would stand by her and George?
This was a very different kind of Regency for me. At times confusingly dangerous, the characters are well thought out and the plot line could have come straight out of a contemporary daytime serial. This was an outstanding book and I highly recommend it.5/5
[disclamer: I received this book from the author and voluntarily reviewed it
An Enjoyable Story.
The Earl of Ganden is still filled with rage, 2 years on from his release from unlawful imprisonment. It doesn’t help that he cannot find the woman who he learnt to trust, who then betrayed him. When he finally sees her again, he is determined she will not flee from him and forces her to marry him. Supposedly this marriage is in order that he can punish her, though it is obvious that his violent temper will not be visited upon her. He finds himself calmed by her presence in his life and quickly becomes attached to her nephew George whose childhood has parallels to his own. Good story, with interesting characters. Though part of a series this can be read as a standalone. Dropped a star due to editing issues.
In the aftermath of a cruel and torturous kidnapping, Kent, Earl of Ganden is enraged with not only the malicious treatment he received but the betrayal he experienced at the hands of the one woman he allowed to get close to him. In the twenty first century, Kent would have gone through a debriefing session followed by treatment and therapy to help him adjust to normal society upon his release. However in 1820 Kent had to face his demons in the only way he knew how, mainly through violence and the need to find the servant girl that deprived him of his revenge. Upon meeting Lucy, Kent loses no time in discovering the reasons for her part in the crimes against him, and demands that she marry him. Lucy doesn’t come into the marriage alone, but she has her young nephew with her, the one person in her life for whom she would sacrifice everything. Young George brings the first ray of healing light into Kent’s broken soul. However Lucy is hiding further secrets and as they come out, Kent is devastated by what he discovers. This book is dark and as the reasons for his kidnapping are exposed, one finds that the story is darker still. Kent is almost too late in expressing his true feelings for Lucy, and once again it is young George that makes the way possible for him to reach her heart. This book is part of a series and characters from previous novels appear in this one too. It is nevertheless a standalone and although well written with a well thought out plot, I cannot say that it was always pleasant reading as the story is also highly suspenseful and traumatic. It should therefore come with an age restriction and a warning to those who have suffered from violence or PTSD.
An intense story that will kept entrainment you until the end
Wonderful characters and plots…
Fun and surprises that will kept you reading until the end.
in this story a new expect of the pain of the earl of Ganden will be revealed and some balsam to his soul and health.
I recommend this book to all that love regency
Dread of the Earl by Deborah Wilson is very compelling and dark. In a previous book we learn that Kent Harris, the Earl of Ganden, along with several other peers have been kidnapped. Some for years. The Lost Lord’s of London, as they are called, we’re finally rescued.
Kent Harris lives for one thing, finding Harlet. Her job was to take care of these captors and she ended up betraying him. Lady Lucy Newpark was just as much a prisoner as the men. There is so much going on with this story. Ms Wilson is quite the storyteller. It is well worth the read.
I really enjoyed this story, even though this whole series is a little darker than I usually like, Ms. Wilson finds a way to pull you in to the story & the life of her characters. The Earl of Ganden is part of a group of titled men that were kidnapped by an evil man and held away from their families; they were finally rescued & reunited with their families/friends but they needed more evidence to convict the madman that held them captive.
Lady Lucy aka Harlot was forced to care for the men in captivity & was being blackmailed to do so by the madman threatening the health of her nephew. Lucy & Ganden became friends during his captivity & after his release he vowed to find her by the only name he knew “Harlot”. The story is based around him finding her, the dangers the faced & the strong pull of the love he felt for Lucy & overcoming amazing odds to find her.
I highly recommend this book & this whole series – the books have many things I love in historical romance reads!
This is the story of Lost Lords trying to seek justice for their kidnapping and torture and also of Kent Harris, the Earl of Ganden, trying to put the pieces of his life back together by seeking revenge on the woman who had the power, supposedly, to set him free. But his plan backfired on him when he fell in love with her and her nephew. Of course the romance part was full of angst. The Earl was full of anger and easily lost his temper but found he couldn’t really show his anger in front of the boy he had grown to love. Neither could he really be angry with Lady Lucy as she was his only solace when he began to feel anger. I was elated to finally read about what had happened with the Lost Lords after they gained their freedom. Also, it was very gratifying to learn that justice was finally served to those responsible. What a wonderful HEA to this story, one that I highly recommend reading if you have read any book in this series that touched on the subject of the Lost Lords.