Category: Victorian Era (1837-1901)

In the history of the United Kingdom, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria’s reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian period, and its later half overlaps with the first part of the Belle Époque era of continental Europe.
Preceded by: Regency era
Followed by: Edwardian era
Monarch: Victoria

The Scoundrel in Her Bed by Lorraine Heath

On By TracyIn Top Pick - Highly Recommended, Tracy's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)3 Comments

The Scoundrel in Her Bed (Sins for All Seasons, #3)The Scoundrel in Her Bed by Lorraine Heath
Tracy’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Sins for All Seasons, #3

Release Date: February 26, 2019

Finn Trewlove and Lady Lavinia Kent met when she was only 15, Finn was immediately smitten and spent the next two years meeting her in secret and falling even deeper in love. When she turned 17 and was preparing for her come-out, their relationship changed and Finn learned his “Vivi” loved him too. It was an impossible dream, Vivi has been betrothed to the Duke of Thornley since she was a child, but Finn is her heart’s desire. Their relationship changes yet again and Vivi gives Finn more than just her heart. They declare their love and plan to runaway together. But they are betrayed and torn apart – each believing the other betrayed them.

Think this sounds like every other second-chance love story you have ever read? Think again!

Eight years later, Lavinia has jilted Thorn and has disappeared into the streets of Whitechapel. She has made it her mission to save children from baby farmers, she walked away from her society life and has no desire to go back, nor does she ever want to see Finn again. But when a meeting in an alley goes wrong, it is Finn who intercedes and helps her. Finn soon learns that his Vivi is not the sweet, sheltered, innocent miss he knew 8 years ago.

They quickly learn that they were betrayed and that neither was to blame. They both paid heavily for their doomed romance, but Finn doesn’t know the true price Vivi paid. He wants to spend time with her and see if they can recapture what they lost – but Vivi has secrets that she is sure will make a future together impossible.

She tries to keep him at arm’s length, but Finn still loves the girl she was and is falling for the woman she has become, despite his family still believing she is not for him, Finn’s Folly is what they call her and at one time he agreed, but now he is not so sure. He won’t walk away and tempts her with an opportunity to make her dream of opening a children’s home come true. Vivi never stopped loving Finn, but will need to confront the demons in her past, before she can even contemplate a future.

This is an absolutely brilliant book, it is well written, flows nicely (even with the insertion several flashbacks), yes, the trope has been done before, but never like this. Finn and Lavinia are amazing leads, what they each endured during their time apart is heart breaking, but seeing them support and defend one another, makes you believe that their young love was in fact true, soul-mate love. I laughed, I cried, I sighed – the book is filled with emotion, gut-wrenching choices, a hero who loves with every fiber of his being and a heroine who against all odds has survived and grown from a spoiled girl into an amazingly strong and generous woman. I loved this book – I thought that Ms. Heath couldn’t surpass the first book in the series and while I think I might still consider that my favorite, this book is definitely going on my To Read Again list. This is the third book in the series, but you can absolutely read it as a stand alone – if you do, you are missing out on two fantastic reads, but it can be done. I highly recommend this story and can’t wait for the next one!

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an uncorrected eARC that was provided to my by Edelweiss and the publisher.*

Scandalous Heiress by Cerise DeLand

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)4 Comments

Scandalous Heiress (Those Notorious Americans, #4)Scandalous Heiress by Cerise DeLand

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: Those Notorious Americans #4
Publication Date: 2/4/19
Number of Pages: 284

I really enjoyed this story. It was well written and the characters were interesting and relatable. I loved Ada. She was bright, mature, steady and loyal and she comes from a large loving family. I had more of a love/hate relationship with Victor. I really loved him and felt his pain, but he annoyed me at the same time. His father gave him money (£10,000 per year) and property but he was still constantly worried about money – and it also bugged me that his first thought was to run away when scandal/trouble came rather than stay and fight. He’s panicked, worried about money, worried about supporting Ada, and the whole time Ada is just calmly going along and fixing everything.

Ada Hanniford is an American heiress living in England with her family. Her father is rich as Croesus – he just has that golden touch when it comes to business. She reads the newspapers, is interested in politics, designs garden layouts and is totally unimpressed with all those titled gentlemen who are interested in her £50,000 dowry. Ada doesn’t hate men and doesn’t really have anything against marriage, she’s just never seen a man she wanted to spend any time with. Well, at least she hadn’t until she accompanied her best friend Ezzie to a house party at the home of the man they expect to propose to Ezzie.

Lord Victor Arthur Sunderland Cole is the second son of the Duke of Brentwood. He adores his parents but is sad that his father is very ill. His father’s illness is the main reason he and his two daughters have returned from Shanghai where his business is headquartered. Victor’s first marriage was a huge, scandalous disaster and he’s certainly not interested in ever marrying again. His first wife created such a scandal that Victor had to take her and the girls and move to Shanghai to let it die down. When he first arrives at his parents home he hears the most enticing, tinkling laughter outside the window. Hmmm, it must be the young woman to whom his brother, Richard, is planning to propose.

Over the next few weeks, Victor and Ada see each other more and more and become closer and closer to each other. Victor still isn’t sure he wants to marry again, but he is certainly drawn to Ada. Then, a terrifying event occurs and they are forced into marriage. Can they make it work? Each admits to loving the other, but – is love enough? Maybe not, because at one point Victor says, “I will go and you will stay. Because love is not enough to change the world.”

As I mentioned above, Victor’s propensity to run away bothers me. He hurts Ada unbelievably because he, evidently, can’t stand the heat. In just a very short period of time he went from, “From this day forward, he wished to never let her go.” to “Go to bed. Stay there. Do not come here because I cannot have you. Not tonight. Not… perhaps ever.” to “I must return to Shanghai. There is no future for me here.” At that point, there was no ‘we’, it was all about ‘I’ and ‘me’.

Luckily for Victor, Ada is a sharp cookie and knew what to do to fix everything and it didn’t require running away. However, what I have to wonder is – where were all of those friends and family while Victor and Ada were on their honeymoon? Ada’s father had vowed revenge, but then evidently did nothing on his own. Friends were the same story. They could have prevented the whole thing had they REALLY been friends and family.

I really hate it when the villain gets totally away with whatever crime they have committed and this villain was a nasty piece of work. Why couldn’t he, in a drunken, drugged-up stupor fall off his horse and break his neck? It would have been so very good for so many people.

Anyway, it is an excellent read and I really enjoyed it – even if Victor annoyed me on occasion. It has to be a sign of a well-written book when the characters are so believable that you want to grab one of them by the shoulders and shake them!

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“I requested and received this e-book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher.”