Mandi recs 'Lord of Darkness,' 'The Problem With Seduction'
Happy March! Here are two historical romance books I found quite enjoyable this week.
Lord of Darkness by Elizabeth Hoyt (historical romance). I adore the Maiden Lane series, and this fifth book is a very welcome addition to the series. Godric St. John watched his wife die of a debilitating illness for nine long years. After her death he becomes a recluse, except at night he goes out as the masked Ghost of St. Giles, thwarting lassie snatchers and cleaning up the streets. Megs got pregnant by the man she loved, but he died before they could get married. Her brother knows Godric's Ghost secret, and blackmails him into marrying Megs so she isn't ruined. Megs goes on to have a miscarriage, and spends the next two years living in the country, away from Godric. But now Megs wants a chance at a real family, and packs up and surprises him at his London home. Godric is still mourning his dead wife and Megs will have her work cut out for her to prove to him their marriage can work. There is also the small problem that Megs believes the Ghost of St. Giles killed her former lover, and now she wants revenge.
Godric suffers so much in this book as he is still in so much pain from his first wife dying. I love a broken hero and Godric has much healing to do. Megs is also battling depression over her former lover's death, so these two have that in common. They slowly fall in love with each other and it's sexy and sweet all at the same time. For all the grief, Elizabeth Hoyt puts much humor and some lighter scenes into the book as well. This can be read as a stand alone but I adore each book in this series and encourage you to start from the beginning. (Check out HEA's interview with Elizabeth.)
The Problem With Seduction by Emma Locke (historical romance). Elizabeth is a wealthy, former courtesan who wants her baby back badly. Finn, her former client and father to her infant child, demanded the baby live with him and his wife, leaving Elizabeth devastated. But she comes up with a plan that involves the penniless fourth son, Lord Constantine Alexander. Con has covered for his twin brother's gambling debts for years and has made some very bad investments, leaving himself with no money. When Elizabeth tells him she will pay him 10,000 pounds to publicly declare he is the father of Elizabeth's baby, putting doubt into the ton's head and embarrassing Finn, he nervously decides to go for it. And the plan works. Finn returns the baby but vows revenge. Con gets the money, but he also gets more problems. His parents and four brothers now want to meet "his" child. He starts to feel protective of his pretend son and as he spends more time with Elizabeth, he develops feelings for her as well.
Con is such a different romance hero. He is poor, he is not smart when it comes to business decisions, and after he becomes involved with Elizabeth, he kind of lives at the mercy of her. He comes to rely on her for a lot of things. The power roles switch and I really enjoyed how the author writes both protagonists. They didn't think through the ramifications of getting the baby back, and their current situation becomes very rocky. They unite as a team, as Elizabeth learns what it really means to have a man truly care for her, and Con comes into his own and learns to stand up for himself. This is a well-done romance book, and I'm excited to get more in this series.
Mandi Schreiner started romance review blog Smexy Books in 2009. She is obsessed with reading romance novels and collecting fictional boyfriends.