From a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author:TRAPPED IN DARKNESSViolet Whitechapel committed an unspeakable crime to save a child. To escape the hangman’s noose, she takes refuge in a crumbling abbey with secrets darker than her own. When its master offers her a temporary post, Violet cannot say no. Just as she begins to see him in a new light, her past catches up to her and endangers … new light, her past catches up to her and endangers them all…
THEIR PASSION BURNS BRIGHT
Alistair Waldegrave keeps his daughter imprisoned in the black heart of his Gothic abbey. As he searches for a cure to the disease the villagers call demonic, his new governess brings much needed light into their lives. But how can the passion between them survive the darkness encroaching from outside their sheltered walls?
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Gothic romance at it’s best! When I began the first book in this series, I was so excited to be reading stories with a gothic setting. The dark and the light. The tortured hero and the redemption he needed from the heroine. Each book has been true to the genre and as I read this last in the series, I could only feel a small sadness they were at an end!
Their death was and accident, but Violet could not be sorry. Her life was forever changed and she hated to leave the girls she had taught and helped come off the streets just as she had. But she had no choice but to run.
When her funds ran out as did her body, she stumbled upon an enormous building which looked like a monastary but all the windows were boarded up. Would this be her end?
She ended up at Waldegrave Abbey where Alistar Waldegrave had his daughter Lily locked in and all he could contemplate was finding her a doctor that could help her illness.
She had collapsed and ended up inside the dark Abbey where she met Alistar. When he realized she had been a teacher/governess he hired her to work with his daughter.
Erica Ridley weaves a tale with her descriptive prose that makes you feel you are there with Violet and can literally be part of her emotions. She is such a fighter from having to survive not that many years ago. She has a strong, wonderful heart and empathy for Lily, Alistar’s daughter and brings light to the darkness for those around her.
But will the past catch up for her crimes and can these two really find a love to endure?
Truly loved this story and know I will read this series again. I highly recommend!
This is a great story of misunderstandings, mystery, strange happening at a boarded up Abby feared by the townspeople. Violet Whitechapel never knew her mother or father, she was raised on the streets in London. She had an horrible hard life, till she gets a job teaching other young girls saved from the streets at Livingstone School for girls. This is the only home she has ever known.
When the owner dies, the new owner is a young brash evil man who thinks girls,and women are only here for his use. When Violet finds him trying to rape one of the young girls with a friend of his waiting his turn, she saves the girl but both men are wounded. Violet runs for her life. She ends up at a strange Abby as she is about pass out from lack of food and shelter. When she wakes it is to a dark and unworldly place. The Abby is owned by Alistair Waldegrave who has not been out of it for nine years, since the birth of her daughter Lillian. Lillian has a horrible illness that if the sun touches her she is badly burned. As Violet, Alistair and Lillian learn to trust each other and grow to learn about the others. The feelings between them all is unique. The love and passion between Alistair and Violet will either tear them apart or help save them. How Violet uses her past to help
a scared and lonely little girl is a tear get er. You will cry, laugh and hold your breath doing this book. A wonderful book of 2nd chances, trust, and love just might win over all.
I received an ARC of from the author and this is my honest opinion.
I have read this book under the previous title Dark Surrender but enjoyed reading it again. Violet Whitechapel found safety teaching art at Livingstone School for Girls, but when a new heir takes over, she is forced to defend a girl from two men. Certain the men were dead, she ran for her life until she stumbles wearily upon a crumbling abbey. Alistair Waldegrave’s daughter had an unknown disease and the villagers call her “demonic” due to her reaction to sunlight. Violet understands Lily and is hired to tutor her, bringing a lightness to the household. Will Violets past catches up to her and will Alistair overcome the villagers fear and his daughter? This was a great book and I loved the characters and the love that grew between Lilly and Violet.
Lily is running for her life when she finds strange refuge. Alistair is seeking a cure for his daughter so he can keep her safe. All three together will find that they were each what they were searching. This is a great story about the unending love a father has for his daughter and the depths he would go to protect. These are some great characters that you will want to visit with more than once.
I received a free advance copy of this revised and re-titled version of “Dark Surrender”. I read Dark Surrender twice as part of the anthology Tempted by His Touch. Erica Ridley was unknown to me then. I have since read many of her stories, but this is still one of my favorites and is worth a third reading.
I was again totally drawn into this dark story, imagining the dark hallways of Waldgrave Abbey.
Too Wanton To Wed by Erica Ridley
Gothic Love Stories #4
When you reread a book and it is as good as or better than the first time you read it then it is a good book. This is one of those good books for me!
Violet Whitechapel has been given a life caring for young girls in dire straights – girls much like herself not so many years ago. She educates them in art and gives them shelter as she nourishes their bodies and minds until the man who set the school up dies and the inheritor arrives to make things “different” and a whole lot less savory. In saving a young girl at the school she fears her own life may be in danger so…she runs. At the end of her resources – monetary and physical – she stumbles onto Waldegrave Abbey. When she wakes she is asked to become the governess for Lily, a nine year old child living in the Abbey. She believes the job will provide the money she needs to clear her name so agrees.
This story has a father who loves his daughter so much that he is willing to do anything to keep her safe. It has a woman who has done what she must to survive but has always wished for a family. It has a little girl that suffers a congenital disease that is life threatening in some circumstances. It has some wonderful supporting characters and some evil ones, too. It also has a love story that drew me in much as it drew in both Violet and Alistair. It also has a little girl who wants a family willing to play matchmaker to get it.
I loved this book…adored it, in fact! I am sure I will read it again. It will definitely stand the test of time.
Thank you to the author for the ARC – This is my honest review.
5 Stars
This is everything that gothic love stories should be!
There’s a lot going on in this story, yet it flows so smoothly and sweetly that the reader is instantly hooked. Violet’s past is teased out slowly but surely, and Alistair’s hidden depths are revealed only as necessary. Waldegrave Abbey houses a medical mystery, a somewhat spoiled child, more than a few devoted staff members, and one troubled master who is doing the best he can with the awful hand he has been dealt.
Violet is the breath of fresh air that doesn’t really directly change anything, yet she manages to change everything. Watching her relationship with Lily was exquisitely captivating, authentic, and filled with an incredible layer of hope. I appreciated the way the author kept her characters true to their class norms, even when it raises eyebrows with bold honesty. This is a sympathetic look at lives that were less than perfect while still leading to an HEA that was perfectly happy and fulfilling.
This is the best book I’ve read by this author; one of the best I’ve read this year. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.
I think this book in one of my very favorite. Violet Whitechapel is on the run for murder when she collapses on the front steps of an ancient Abbey. Little does she know that the man within is suspected of being a vampire. Has she run from one deadly situation into another? I think Ridley is a master at developing her characters into touchable, believable people. She layers them carefully, and then through the course of the story strips them down to the core of their hearts. Their motivations stay true to their understanding of their surroundings – true or false. I loved the tortured hero Alistair Waldegrave. “His black hair was shiny and thick, and curled slightly at the nape. His sooty lashes and dark eyes stood out starkly against the pale beauty of his face, but his most arresting feature was the wide, perfect mouth above his strong chin. He’d dressed for dinner in clothes equally as outdated as his earlier vestments, but nothing could hide the fine quality of both cloth and cut, or the leanly muscled figure beneath the costume. His movements were graceful, his every gesture confident and purposeful.” Ridley just hits it out of the park with this one. There are several steamy sex scenes. I have adored Ms. Ridley’s Regency romances – my favorite being Lord of Pleasure, but I certainly hope she is planning on writing more gothic romances. I was gifted a copy of this book.
Another amazing and well-told story by Erica Ridley. This one has a bit of ‘heat’ which is quite tastefully done.
This story is about the love between Violet, Alistair and his daughter, Lily and it clearly shows how the keeping of secrets can spoil any relationship.
The characters are really well thought out as is the plot and it kept me fixed to the pages until I couldn’t see clearly anymore.
A really passionate read and one that I am quite happy to recommend.
I read an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of this edition and this is my voluntary and unbiased opinion of it.