After a traumatic illness robs her of her looks, Rose Davenport has little expectation of making a good marriage—until her feckless father, Miles, unexpectedly brokers a dazzling match for her with the heir to the Earl of Stanhope. Unfortunately, the marriage doesn’t live up to her hopes. Instead of the kindly bridegroom she’s expecting, Rose gets a sullen young husband who can barely stand to … look at her.
Gil Truman is in love with the beautiful Tilly when his father informs him that he must instead marry plain, sickly Rose. Forced to agree to the marriage to recover the family fortune his father lost to Miles Davenport in a game of cards, Gil is bitter and heartbroken. Their wretched wedding trip ends with him abandoning Rose at his remote Northumbrian estate, intending never to return.
After five years of exile, Rose loses patience and travels to London to make a bid at seducing her errant, faithless husband. But their first encounter at a masked ball changes everything. When Rose learns the secret truth of how Gil was blackmailed into their marriage, her appetite for revenge dissolves. It’s too late to turn back, though. Their night of passion has had consequences that force Rose to confront Gil again.
Gil’s discovery that the lovely, masked stranger he fell for is none other than his own wife, leaves him feeling sick and betrayed. As for Rose, she has deep wounds of her own from years of Gil’s neglect. With such unpromising beginnings, can Rose and Gil make any kind of life together? Or are some wrongs too painful to ever be forgiven?
This is a second edition of a book previously published by Samhain Publishing
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Emotionally grabbing until an ill choice of words disrupts sort of like a sharp jab in the middle of a caress.
The circumstances of this couple coming together was degrading. I didn’t particularly care for the main male character. I did find the heroines journey to be heart wrenching. She shouldn’t have had to go through this. Although I’m glad she got her HEA, he wasn’t worth it. The men in her life, failed her.
Exceptionally well written…
Gil’s father was a gambler and he lost all his property to Davenport. He was a full
time gambler with a daughter he wanted to secure a good marriage. She was 17 and wanted her to approve of the man. He and The earl of Stanhope arranged a meeting between the tow not telling them of the plans. Rose liked him and agreed to marry Gil. He was in love with another and didn’t know of his father’s plans.
Gil had to marry her to save the family. The property would be the returned to the Stanhopes when they married.
Not your typical regency romance. Completely original plot. I enjoyed every second.
I really liked the heroine and her character arc. I really didn’t like the hero and think he started out as an ass and was all the way until the end. Excellent storytelling, and the author does a good job of scene and setting without relying on the Regency era cliches like Gunter’s, Tattersall’s and White’s. The writing is solid all the way around.
I loved this book because it showed how strong a woman can become against adversity and turn her life around.
Ironic but sensuous!
Really enjoyed this book. Thought Rose was a great heroine.
Loved it.
I give it three stars
This had a unique plot which made it hard to put down.
Great!!
The characters seemed to evolve with the story and kept me interested in continuing to read till the end.
I really liked how real the characters felt and how you understood both sides of the conflict and the choices that the characters made based on pride or hurt. I gave it 5 stars because I really enjoyed it, but I do agree with the other reviews the end was a bit quick and wrapped things up too neatly. It is hard to believe that these characters would have ever come to that conclusion so quickly or so cleanly. I think another chapter or two was necessary to bring about the healing and not a two pages.
The plot of this book was what drew me to read it and it lived up to my expectations. There were times when you knew what was coming, but most of the time, it entertained and kept me interested.
The flawed hero and heroine makes for more interesting and realistic reading then the usual romance novel. One would think the twists, turns, and misunderstandings would grow tiresome but I actually found myself enthralled by how the hero and heroine did an emotional dance around each other. At times I wanted her to just leave him and start an affair with Will for revenge, at other times I wanted him to just scream that he loved her, in any case the story held my attention throughout. I know the author mostly writes novels involving romance between men, but she did a terrific job with this male/female romance and I hope she writes more as I will certainly order them.
Page-turner
Great read. The story was very well told. It is a great story and the characters tug at yout heart
I found it haunting. So many feeling unexpressed, so many misunderstanding. Thankful it is all resolved in the end.