Alexander Sinclair, the Fourth Earl of Falmouth, has a reputation for revelling in vice. But his taste for wine, women and dice is only a fraction of the dangerous truth, for the Earl is the force behind a powerful gang, smuggling contraband between France and Cornwall. Never afraid to get his hands dirty and with an abiding love of living recklessly, Alex leads many of these runs himself, until … himself, until one fateful night when the Revenue appear. Forced to sail into a violent storm, the ship is lost and Alex is washed ashore, barely alive, close to the French port of Roscoff.
Innocent beauty, Célestine Lavelle, has lost everything. The daughter of a noble French family forced to flee during the Revolution, she has been forced to work in the kitchens of the local whore house, where her future is shrouded in sin. Desperate and completely alone, the discovery of a half drowned English smuggler on the shore will lead her heart in directions she never dreamed of.
Determined to save his beguiling rescuer, Alex plans that her future should be full of everything that is good and honourable, but will the temptation to take her as his own be too hard to resist?
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It drags somewhat. It’s as if the author was trying to put in every type of plot point possible without much consideration for continuity and how everything will come out in the end.
Easy read. Good for a rainy day. Strong characters
I like the book. I like the characters. The heroine was great, the hero he was okay. But I liked how the story wandered it’s way around, it wasn’t the usual fare and I liked that about it most of all.
I read the first book in the series and loved it so started this second book right after. The author’s writing flows and is very easy to read.
I liked the characters also. Both H and h are well built by the author, and even though Celeste is very young, and it took me a bit to be OK with her age, her life’s experiences made you understand how she was older than her chronological age. She still acted a bit childish sometimes which also made sense since she was young.
Alexander was chivalrous and tried hard to do what he thought was the right thing but in the end what’s righter than following your heart?
I’d give 4.5 if it was an option.
Much better if you read the first volume before this one
A tortured hero. An orphan heroine and a terrible villain. Sounds rather ordinary but this story matches two delightful characters with settings in France and England. The hero and heroine must surmount their own fears to live and live. Delightful.
This is a great book the time table was great.
Great read, love the series.
I liked the basic plot but found certain aspects to be very unrealistic. First, it was never made clear why a respectable earl would be so deeply engaged in smuggling. Seemed very unpatriotic and unlike the earl’s character. Second, the heroine Celeste swore like a drunken sailor–again very unrealistic. There was irreconcilable tension between the depiction of Celeste as an innocent while simultaneously bawdy. Didn’t really work. Third, it was extremely unrealistic that the bad guy would pursue here and even be able to find her. Fourth, the misunderstanding scene was really boring and trite and just unbelievable all around.
Finally, i note there is a big age gap between the H and the H, which seemed far too great a leap to bridge in terms of life experience etc.