Lady Camilla James has a terrible condition—writer’s block. As one of London’s most celebrated writers, she’s worried about losing the affection of her admirers.Especially her father. But her last few books have been rejected by publishers. What to do? She’s willing to try anything to gain inspiration. Including spend time with a man she knows her family will never approve of.Sir William Husher … will never approve of.
Sir William Husher has wanted many things in his life.
Becoming an earl was never one of them.
But with his military career as a spy slowly coming to an end, he’s feeling more lost than ever before.
Then Camilla comes into his life and everything seems brighter.
But William is not what he seems.
A darkness clings to him, and if they’re ever to find happiness, the darkness must be faced.
Can Camilla find success in both her books and love?
Or has Will’s past ruined everything for both of them?
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This story has a lighter tone than the last couple before it. I love Camilla and Husher together. Although Husher feels he missed out on the love of his life, he finds Camilla intriguing and Camilla is using him to write her books. Together, they seem to grow, but Husher has secrets he’s trying to hide from Camilla. This story is great in the fact that Camilla is a very open person and Husher can’t control his mouth around her. This story has a much brighter theme.
The Exception of an Earl
The Valiant Love Regency Romance
Deborah Wilson
Kindle, Jan 2020
689 pages
Historical Romance
KU for Kindle app
4.5
The cover is a complete disaster! All that pink, including the dress the young woman is unfortunately wearing. And the awful hairstyle. She’s not even a terribly attractive woman. What were they thinking when they put this one together? Well, I guess when there are over a dozen or so in a series, you start to run out of young women to use.
Good thing Ms. Wilson hasn’t run out of good stories to write! This one is really quite good, too.
Camilla wants nothing so much as for her father to love her and want to spend time with her. Her father lives with his mistress and their daughter. Camilla lives with her mother and older brother. To get her father’s attention, she wrote a book called The Good Father. Her father was quite pleased as it was a best seller and she became a famous best selling author, while people thought she had patterned the wonderful man in the book after her own father. However, the man was actually patterned on her brother, who is now responsible for her and is usually very kind to her. But it’s been some time since that book came out and she hasn’t been able to come up with a manuscript that the publishers will accept for print. She seems to have writer’s block. She needs inspiration, a muse.
Sir William Husher is a former soldier and a spy currently working for Duke de Vero. He is soon to become an Earl, but that is not commonly known, yet. Will is a deadly man and one often feared by men in society. How does such a man cross the path of an innocent such as Camilla?
In a dark shadow at a society party when she was stealing kisses from a young man for references for her writing. He scared her. He thrilled her. He caught her attention as no other man had ever done, all the way to her core. And she couldn’t forget him. The smell of him. The feel of him. The look of him. She had to have him for her muse. She had to learn all his secrets.
I highly recommend this book, close your eyes on the cover. I have gotten the first book in the series and intend to read more of them to see if they are like this one. I’m very hopeful as I really liked this one. If I could figure out how to put a cover on an ebook, I would.
Lady Camilla James, her brother the Earl of Tolkin and their mother were abandoned by their father who went to live with his mistress. The effect this had on Camilla was to provide her the impetus to write a successful book, “The Good Father”. Now, Camilla is working hard to produce another book that has the power to connect with the reader as did her first book.
Woven around Camilla’s struggle to produce a new book are themes of: her father’s ongoing negligence of Camilla and her feelings; Camilla’s coming to maturity and longing for love; a sick friend who is held back from life and love by her ill health; and a newly knighted man who has worked for Lord Van Dero as well as a spy for the government. The meeting between Sir Will and Camilla sets the stage for an interesting story of comparisons and contrasts, of unsuccessful marriages and, apparently, successful ones.
I like our Hero and heroine, and worried as they seemed to have difficulty drawing close to, and trusting, each other—the writing was very believable in describing the rocks that stumbled each on the road to their HEA. Once again Lord and Lady Van Dero take up the role of supporting the weak and downtrodden, and a few familiar characters appear, but they are on the periphery in this story which concentrates on a new set of characters. A clean book that will entrance Regency Romance readers.
Yet another good read in the Valiant Series.
Though this is Book 16 in a series it can be read as a standalone. I have to say this was one of my favourites, it flowed well and the romantic elements felt believable. It was far less dark than some of the books have been. As in previous books there are threads that will carry forward into the next book.
I loved the sweet and gentle nature of Camilla and how she looked for the good in everyone. Her doubts over men and love were understandable after her brother knocked the blinkers from her eyes and I loved the patience and steadfastness that William showed her whilst he waited for her to admit her feelings.
There are a fair number of typos but less than in previous books in this series.
Man o man I thought this series was ending with the previous book and I am so glad it didn’t.
It was great getting to know Husher on such a personal level and finding his greatest pain and joy. He is much more than lead to believe.
Getting a glimpse of Raven was icing on the cake too.
Thanks for Camilla who is a mixture of innocent and sultry but is unaware of her power.
Husher has divided loyalties but they eventually lead him to Lady Camilla, who desperately needs the affirmation that comes from writing. Her first book was a resounding success as she had written from the heart, but repeated failures have taken their toll on her resilient spirit. Deciding to take a new direction, her need for inspiration leads her into a dark ally, where she comes face to face with Husher, a man who says, “I make people shut up.” He quickly becomes Camilla’s inspiration for her new book but in doing so exposes emotions and feelings that she is ill-equipped to deal with. Sent on one last mission for the Duke of Van Dero, Camilla unknowingly becomes a pawn in Husher’s investigation, one that exposes family secrets and the true nature of their relationships. Whilst there is a case to be solved, this novel is also one that draws Camilla and Will Husher together, nurturing their romance and building trust where it has been all but demolished by the actions of those closest to Camilla. A number of loose ends from previous books in this series are tied up and the story comes to a happy conclusion. I received a copy of this book as a gift and this is my honest and voluntary review.
I love this series, and I think this may have been my favorite book yet! I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before, but there are typos and wrong words used at times, but most don’t truly hamper the story, and I enjoy the stories so much that I’m willing to overlook them. It’s sad, but I don’t think I’ve read a single book over the past year that didn’t have any editing issues. As I’ve said before, I love the characters and watching their growth, and watching their love and understanding, both of themselves, and the one they love, grow.
I do recommend this book for anyone who enjoys historical romance with a little intrigue and mystery thrown in.
I’ve been waiting for Husher’s story and it was worth the wait. This story has all the strong characters and interesting story line of the previous books in the series. I love the heart of both Husher and Camilla. Deborah Wilson has once again kept me reading instead of sleeping. I look forward to the next book even knowing it too will cost me sleep.
The storyline was great and the strongly written characters kept me totally glued to my kindle until the very end!