Lucretia ‘Crecy’ Holbrook has a secret, a secret she has kept for many years. Even her dearest confidant and sister, Belle, would not understand what Crecy is prepared to do, the risks she is prepared to take, to get her heart’s desire.For Crecy is not like the other smiling débutantes; she despises poetry, thinks dancing a chore and is quite prepared to throw something at the next fool to … fool to compare her to Aphrodite.
Far more likely to return from a country walk with a badger’s skull and some bloody, injured creature than a posy of wildflowers, Crecy is drawn to the dark, the damaged, and the unlovable.
Her heart longs for one man alone, one with a wounded soul, one so dreadfully damaged that even her tender care might not be enough to save him.
Viscount Demorte is everything she dreams of.
With a reputation that covers blackmail, murder and madness, cruelly handsome Lord Gabriel Greyston, Viscount Demorte, is far more dangerous than any wounded dog, and his bite … just might leave Crecy ruined beyond repair.
**NOTE: Contains mild swearing and mildly graphic and descriptive sex scenes – NOT erotica **
more
Not sure how to describe this book. I have to read it again. I could not our it down. I just found this author and have bought the series.
This book was a roller coaster ride. It pulled me in from the very beginning. Both characters were very unique. I would have reactedd the same way if I came across a wounded bird. You really do root for the villian.
So happy to have found the series.
Love this whole series of books but this one is my favorite so far. Guess I love a complicated individuals. Pick it up and you won’t be disappointed
Some spoilers below.
This was a disappointment. It’s not as disappointing as Silent Melody which has the worst two character betrayals ever, but still. Fictionally speaking a damaged bad boy can be tempting and fun to read. This was one damaged and pretty charming under the skin, but the heroine fell short in both her character and her redemption of the hero. She was just too perfect and way, way too tolerant of his idiosyncrasies and broodiness. Even in a fictional romance set in a fictional version of the Regency era it didn’t ring true.
Premise is the H is damaged because his mother committed suicide because of his father and his father committed suicide right in front of the ten year old hero, but not before extorting a lifelong plan of revenge on the H of the first book. H has been the supposed villain in past books, but apparently has a secret heart of gold.
Crecy who was nice and quirky in the last book (she liked to cure wounded and damaged creatures and would have been a vet if allowed) stumbled into Mary Sue territory if Mary Sue.
Her favorite book is Frankenstein as she cries over the monster; she never bats an eye at the hero’s gruff pushing her away, she’s understanding when he whisks her away to France after she becomes pregnant but doesn’t marry her. It’s still the Regency!!!! Nobody is that understanding.
It’s still a good read, but my expectations were too high.
Charming epilogue though with the hero and his daughter having tea together.
I always like a romance to clear my mind pallet before taking on more complex stories. I guess I am just a romantic at heart!
nice series
I ended up getting all the books in this series. This story was fast paced and kept my interest. It had me rooting for the female lead to be right in her assessment about the “villian” being worthy of redemption.
I was sorry to see this book end … well written with believable characters! Loved the ending too.
True Obsession
Beautiful but eccentric bluestocking, Crecy, grows up on an estate owned by wealthy relatives. It’s next door to another large estate where Gabriel, a young man about ten years older than she lives. The first time she sees him at 12, she knows he is destined to be hers.
Viscount Gabriel is a young man who has seen the worst thing possible as a boy. His overly possessive father drove his mother mad with loneliness, so she cheated on him once with Lord Winterborne while he was away. When he returned, he found out and nearly beat her to death, then left to confront Winterborne for taking his wife, his possession!
After a fight, Gabriel’s father returned home, but Gabriel’s mother had slit her wrists. Free of his tyrannical rule at last. Young Gabriel found his mother dead in her trashed room. When his father found her, he killed himself, never caring that he left a five-year old son all alone.
Gabriel grew up a dark and obsessed adult. Because the deaths of his parents were totally beyond his control, he took an obsessive and mentally sick control of his own life and actions. He is obsessed with the number three, and with cleanliness, and order. Everything and every object has a place it must be put in, exactly and neatly.
All this time, Crecy, his Young neighbor, has been writing to him since she was 12 years old, and sending him an odd gift every year in his birthday. He has every gift arranged in a drawer in order. For some reason they comfort him. He has saved every letter she has ever written to him, but he never answers. When they meet again, Crecy is now a young woman, and he tells her he has burned them all without reading them. Crecy knows he is lying.
Gabriel feels himself so dark and broken, he does what he
can to discourage Crecy. He doesn’t tell her of his ongoing plans and endeavors to destroy the current Lord Winterborne.
Can Crecy hope to bring Gabriel back into a normal life? She never gives up!
Great book! What a dark tale of obsessive behavior and obsession!
I rated this book as okay. I did find it a nice enjoyable read and I liked the author’s writing style. Not a classic but still fun to read.
Remarkable descriptions of a Gabriel’s damaged soul and the demons in his mind that manifest in obsessive compulsive behavior, and Lucretia, the strongest of heroines with a devotion to Gabriel that cannot be broken.
These small inconsistencies bothered me:
– Pronunciation of Crecy, per the narrative is Kuh-ress-sey, whereas in my head Kree-see makes more sense as a diminutive of Lucretia.
– if Gabriel’s birthday is on the 17th of April, why do gifts arrive a day late, on the 18th?
– the duel after the ball is in March, which doesn’t fit the timeline.
I enjoyed this book, but I did not like the ending. Although there’s a happily every after, it how they got there I didn’t like. The heroine gave up everything for this man, I can not bring myself to call him a hero, and yet it wasn’t enough. Having said that, she was strong, smart and delightful. She is worth reading this book.
One of the best books I have read in quite awhile and I read a lot.
I highly recommend this book. Excellent read!