She thought nothing could save her life from ruin. He hoped to find happiness in her arms. Nothing could have prepared them for what fate brought next…Edmund Lockridge, the Earl of Huxley and the youngest sibling of the Lockridge sisters has a hard time believing in himself. Most people think him as hard and cruel as his father but he does not care to prove them wrong. The only opinion he cares … to prove them wrong. The only opinion he cares about is the one of the lady who stole his heart…
Margaret Hayward, the illegitimate child of late Earl Hayward, has no time to think about love and happiness. Now that her tormentor has returned stronger than ever, she must find a way to escape the nightmare of his threats as soon as possible.
And what better way to secure her reputation and fortune than an Earl granting her every wish…
What Margaret never expected was falling for the mysterious Edmund so deeply. Now, torn between her guilt and her admiration for him, she must find a way to both save herself and make Edmund happy. Can she play her remaining cards right before the last wave of blackmail brings them both down?
*If you like engaging characters, heart- wrenching twists and turns, and lots of romance, then you’ll love “Freed be the Love of an Earl”!
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Freed by the Love of an Earl takes off into a deceitful web of lies, deception, secrets and mystery in this Regency novel that is well-written, filled with a magnificent cast of characters, a strong plot and great dialogue bring this read together perfectly! With Margaret believing that the blackmail against her ended with the encaration of Jerome Colbourn she is horrified when she receives a new letter from a different blackmailer. Not able to pay the blackmailer she decides to marry well to get the money she needs, Margaret fears if she does not her secret will ruin her. She turns to Edmund Lockridge, a friend sense childhood, for help and right away he offers to marry her. With the hidden lies between the two they will fight their way through all the turmoil, threats, heartache, insecurities, trials and tribulations and with the suspense building and tension escalate, and unexpected twists and turns overwhelm you that make for one heart stopping story. Visiting and catching up with Augustus and Sarah in Melting a Duke’s Winter Heart book 1 and Reginald and Lucille in The Loving Duke For The Shy Duchess book 2 bring this story of Margaret and Edmund together perfectly. Abby Ayles has created a story that grabs you the first few pages and then you can’t put the book down until the end.
Freed by the Love of an Earl
By Abby Ayles
Miss Margaret Hayward parents were dead and her father left her the manor and all that goes with it. She is definitely out of her depth. She knew she would have to marry and soon. She was also still being blackmailed. She thought it was over when Jerome had been arrested. She wanted her friends help but after the last time Lucille had been kidnapped and Reginald was shot in his leg and has a permanent limp. She thought Edmund was so nice and good looking and he was brother to the two friends she had.
Edmund, Lord Huxley, father gambled, lied and cheated where and when ever he could. He left the estate in dire straits. He worried constantly, about how he was going to get his family in the green again. He had sold anything of value that was in the house. It looked quite bare. He had also taken his seat in Parliament but adjusting to it was a trial.
I really enjoyed this story. There was so much going on. Someone was blackmailing Margaret and she felt she could not ask her friends because of what happened. So many twists and turns. The characters were believable and warm, at least everyone who was not a villain. The tale was easy to read and entertaining. The author did such a good job. I very highly recommend it.
I received this ARC from the author and voluntarily reviewed it.
The third, and final?, book about the Lockridge siblings. And it is my favorite of the three books. This book deals with Edmund, the Earl of Huxley following his father’s death in the last book. And he discovers that his father had left the estate in financial trouble. And the woman he gets involved with is Margaret Hayward, who discovered that she is the illegitimate daughter of the late Earl Hayward. This left her vulnerable to blackmail and even though her blackmailer is in jail, there is another person out there that is taking up where he left off.
Both Margaret and Edmund have changed from the first book and it’s interesting to see them get married, not for love, but for different reasons and see them really learn who they are not only to themselves but to each other. And naturally Sarah and Lucille, along with their husbands, are there when they are needed. I love the chemistry between not only the couple’s but with other members of the group.
I highly recommend this book as well as the other two books in this trilogy, which hopefully you have already read. Otherwise, spoiler alerts.
I received an ARC of this ebook to read and give an honest review. In addition, I purchased a digital copy of the book from Amazon when it became available.
This is book 3 in the Lockridge sibling series. This is Edmund’s chance at love. It’s a wonderful story about strife, love, beating the odds and winning!
I really tried to like the h of the story, but I could not. She was always feeling so sorry for herself and too fearful of what those who were closest to her would think. She felt if her secret was known she would lose the love and respect of her closest friends. Had she no faith in their bond and relationship? Apparently not. I also did not care for her many deceptions. Yes, she felt guilty about them but she carried through with her plans regardless of the consequences. It was like she cared more about herself that what hurt she would cause in others. I know in the book it states she really had others interests ahead of her own and that she was protecting them. I just feel that somewhere along the way she would have had some backbone to do the right thing. As far as the H was concerned, he was besotted by the h and he would forgive anything. He only lost his temper once when he found out what was really going on. I feel what he said about the h was correct and understandable but he felt guilty the next morning and he wanted to apologize. Would he ever let the h take responsibility for her actions? I have love all of Abby Ayles books so far. This one is a disappointment and I will put this in the category of an anomaly.
This is a wonderful story. Very well written. Filled with mystery, suspense, unrequited love, secrets, deception, and not least of all, a great romance. It kept my interest peaked. When I had to put it down for a moment, I couldn’t wait to get back to it. I was glued to the pages, wanting to find redemption for Margaret and happiness for both her and Edmond. It was an enjoyable read and I especially loved the characters and wonderful HEA. The only reason I knocked off a star is due to the proofreading errors. They are simple and obvious errors that I don’t necessarily fault this author for as much as I would fault Starfall Publications. They should hire better proofreaders and put out a higher quality content as they claim to do.
This is a very intense story. Although, Edmund has loved Margaret for as long as he can remember, with his estate in tatters, he never hoped to marry her anytime soon. Blackmail has risen its ugly head, and Margaret needs to marry and marry wealthy. Edmund offers marriage when he learns that Margaret need to marry quickly. Both fail to tell each other the issue with their finances, and things proceed to quickly go downhill. I found Margaret to be selfish and arrogant to believe that she could handle things herself. The blackmailer was asking for more than the worth of her father’s estates. The story is very intense, and the plot is definitely intriguing. It seems to me that Margaret has no common sense and could have prevented Jerome Colbourne from escaping if she wasn’t more worried about Edmund and the Ton finding out about her birth. Of course, we wouldn’t have had the thrilling climax. In this case, the story is great with the same wonderful characters from the 1st 2 books, but I have a hard time abiding stupid women.
The third story of the Lockridge siblings, this one is about the youngest, the heir, Edmund. Margaret, close friend of the family, is being blackmailed again. She underestimates her tormentor, the strength of the friendship with the Lockridge twins and the love their brother has for her. Again, true to her writing style, this book has a compelling plot, interesting characters, lots of twists, danger and strong females. I do recommend reading Melting a Duke’s Winter Heart and A Loving Duke for the Shy Duchess before reading this book. I have enjoyed all three books.