Month: September 2020

Beauty Tempts The Beast by Lorraine Heath

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)5 Comments

Beauty Tempts the Beast (Sins for All Seasons, #6)Barb’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Sins for All Seasons #6
Publication Date: 9/29/20
Number of Pages: 384

It is poignant and bittersweet to bid farewell to the Trewlove clan in this, the final book in the series. This world needs more Ettie Trewloves in it. She took in six children in the stews of London – cast-off children, by-blows of the aristocrats – and she raised those children as her own. She loved them, taught them love and respect, and saw that they were educated, even though that meant teaching themselves. I’ve loved each of Ettie’s children – Mick, Gillie, Finn, Aiden, Fancy, and now Beast (Ben). I have been anxiously awaiting Beast’s story because he’s always like a shadow – secretive and in the background of each story – and he has intrigued me. All I can say is that I think it is the best story of the series. Not only is the story steamy and romantic with a hero who is one of the most generous and honorable men you’ll ever meet, but the Epilogue is absolutely to die for. It may be one of the best Epilogues I’ve ever read.

Benedict Trewlove began protecting people when he was just a young lad. He was big and gangly at the time, but he still had the nickname of Beast. That caring and protectiveness are how he came to be the owner of a brothel. He hates owning the brothel. He assures the ladies are protected. He takes no money from the ladies. He also does not partake of the ladies themselves. He has found other occupations for most of the ladies, but he still has a few for whom finding other employment has been more difficult. If he could just do something for them, he could close the place down. What he needs is someone to teach them proper ways of doing things so they can become seamstresses or whatever else they’d like to be.

Just the person he needed dropped right into his lap when he went to his sister’s pub for a drink. She was riveting and she definitely didn’t belong in this place. He was sure she had Mayfair written all over her – but she very firmly rebuffed his questions. That, of course, only piqued his interest more. When he told her that he had a proposition for her, she went ballistic and made assumptions that weren’t true, but he could see where she might leap to that conclusion since she didn’t know him.

Lady Althea Stanwick, daughter of a duke, once the darling of the ton, had her world turned upside down. Everything was stripped from her and her brothers when her father was caught and hanged for treason. They were turned out of their home with little more than the clothes on their backs. She was now just plain Miss Althea Stanwick and she and her younger brother, Griffin were living in a cold, unfurnished shack in Whitechapel. Nobody would hire her as a governess or companion, so she’d tried other jobs – like a seamstress, but she was soon dismissed because her stitching just wasn’t fine enough for quality clothing. Now, she’s working at the Mermaid and Unicorn serving drinks to customers. She tries to keep her head down in order to escape being noticed by the men, but that doesn’t always work. She’ll just have to do her best because she cannot afford to lose her position.

After overhearing a conversation between her brothers, Althea makes a life-changing decision. She will take the Beast up on his proposition and become his mistress. OH! MY! However, when she tells him she’ll be his mistress – he tells her that wasn’t his proposition. Sharp and quick thinker that she is, she makes an alternate proposal.

I absolutely loved how resolute Beast was – how protective. Althea was determined to get some ‘lessons’ for herself and Beast was determined not to give them. I loved watching them fight their attraction. When Beast loves, it is totally, deeply, and forever. He is a wonderfully sigh-worthy hero.

I hope you’ll read and enjoy this book as much as I did. Just be prepared – you’ll run the gamut of emotions right along with Beast and Althea. Joy, heartbreak, anger, shock, triumph, revenge – you’ll experience it all. Then, you’ll get to the Epilogue and OMGoodness. It is wonderful and perfectly wraps up the series.

BTW – although we’ve sadly said farewell to the Trewloves, there is a two-book series (duology?) coming and it will feature Althea’s two brothers who are trying to redeem the family name by identifying the co-conspirators in their father’s treachery. Maybe we’ll get some cameo appearances by a Trewlove or two in those.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Obsessions of Lord Godfrey Cavanaugh by Stephanie Laurens

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

The Obsessions of Lord Godfrey Cavanaugh (The Cavanaughs, #4)The Obsessions of Lord Godfrey Cavanaugh by Stephanie Laurens
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: The Cavanaughs #4
Publication Date: 7/16/20
Number of Pages: 332

The final book in The Cavanaughs series is finally here. I have really been looking forward to Godfrey’s book because he always seemed to be on the outside looking in. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his siblings and their families, it was just that with their horrendous upbringing, he had learned to hold himself apart. The love was there, it was just more ‘formal’. I wanted to see the woman who could get through that aloofness. I met her – I liked her – but, it was all sort of — meh. The story was neither exciting nor steamy. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the read, it was a nice story, it just didn’t raise my pulse rate in the least. It seems I’ve been all over the place with this series – 4-stars for the first book, The Designs of Lord Randolph Cavanaugh – 5-stars for the second book, The Pursuits of Lord Kit Cavanaugh – and, 3-stars for the third book, The Beguilement of Lady Eustacia Cavanaugh. Now, I’m at 3.5-stars for this book and will round it to 3.

Given his family history, Lord Godfrey Cavanaugh learned very early in life to spot fake from real. While that applied mostly to people, he quickly learned he could do the same with art – especially paintings. He studied and honed his skills until he became the sought-after authority for authenticating paintings. The National Gallery asked him to travel to North Yorkshire, the home of Mr. Hinkley, who had offered to sell the museum a rare High Renaissance painting by Mariotto Albertinelli.

Godfrey runs afoul of a nasty winter storm and is nearly frozen when he finally arrives at Hinckley Hall – where he promptly falls over, totally unconscious. Between nearly freezing and then developing lung fever, he was confined to bed for over a week before he could begin his authentication. During that time, he got to know and became smitten with Hinckley’s daughter, Ellie.

Elinor (Ellie) Hinckley is a caregiver by nature. She always puts others first and herself last. That is why she is eight-and-twenty, unmarried, in the middle of cold Yorkshire, caring for her invalid father and her two siblings. Life has passed her by, but she is happy with her life – really, she is. She’s also contending with two suitors who want to marry her (or her family name/prestige/money) and don’t seem to want to take no for an answer.

When Godfrey can finally begin his work, he’s entranced with the documentation the family has kept over the years. Goodness – if the provenance is that good, he can’t wait to see the painting!

There is a villain afoot, and when Godfrey is attacked, it could be the end of his life. He’s shocked to learn who the villain is and when Ellie tries to save Godfrey, she’s in danger as well. The villain had panicked when he discovered the plans to sell the painting and made plans to act to thwart them. He nearly succeeded.

This is an enjoyable read and I am glad I finally got to see Godfrey’s HEA. However, it wasn’t particularly exciting nor passionate. I wouldn’t read it a second time, but I am glad I have read it.