Review: When the Marquess Falls

Review: When the Marquess FallsWhen the Marquess Falls (Hellions of Havisham, #3.5) by Lorraine Heath
Series: The Hellions of Havisham #3.5
Published by Avon Impulse on March 14th 2017
Genres: Historical
Pages: 128
Goodreads
four-stars

This review contains a serious spoiler if you haven’t read the other books in the series.

FINAL DECISION: Know the secret of this book, grieve with every word, and read it anyway.

THE STORY: George, the Marquess of Marsden has been friends with the baker’s daughter, Linnie Connor, since they were children. Although he knows he loves her, George knows that there cannot be any future between them because of the difference in their stations. With their friendship on a deadline (Linnie plans to move to London to open her own shop and George knows he must marry) the two cannot stop the deep and forbidden passion that flares between them.

OPINION: I have had this book for months and just couldn’t bring myself to read it. This book has a horrible middle that readers of the series will know about — the heroine dies young in childbirth. Yet, it is a beautiful romance even if it doesn’t fit the standard confines of the genre.

The story between George and Linnie is more beautiful knowing that it is both such a short story and a long romance. While this won’t be a book that I will pick up again and again to read, I greatly admire Heath for writing this book. Most writers would have left readers with — the romance is not a HEA and thus there is nothing more to write. Heath instead rises to the challenge and gives readers a book that has a happy ever even if it is not in this life.

WORTH MENTIONING: I cried and cried and cried.

CONNECTED BOOKS: WHEN THE MARQUESS FALLS is book 3.5 in the Hellions of Havisham series. In some ways it is both a prequel and a sequel for the series. I think this book is better read after the series.

STAR RATING: I give this book 4 stars.

four-stars

Review: The Viscount and the Vixen

Review: The Viscount and the VixenThe Viscount and the Vixen (Hellions of Havisham, #3) by Lorraine Heath
Published by Avon on November 29th 2016
Genres: Historical
Pages: 389
Goodreads
four-stars

FINAL DECISION: With a heroine who is unusual in historical romances, this book shatters traditional romance tropes. Deeply emotional and difficult, I ended up liking it quite a bit, but had to struggle with it a bit.

THE STORY: Viscount Locksley intends to save his mad father from a mercenary woman who has shown up to marry him. Instead Locke marries her himself because he knows that while he wants her, she is the type of woman he could never love. Portia Gadstone is desperate for security and is forced to agree to marry Locke in his father’s place. Two people who plan never to love find that getting to know one another changes everything — until secrets from the past threaten everything.

OPINION: It’s taken me nearly a year to actually read this book because I made a mistake that I’ve done before and likely will do again — I read reviews that gave away the big secret in the story and I hated it. And then I couldn’t read the book because every word I tried to read was infused with my dislike for the ending.

I know better — especially with Lorraine Heath books. Heath often challenges the assumptions and expected stories. Her characters are imperfect and are put in terrible situations. Yet I love her books for exactly that reason.

While this book never fell into the intense love that I have for some of Heath’s books, I managed to enjoy this book quite a bit in spite of the revelation I knew was coming.

The characters here are complex, especially Portia who is a woman who has been burned by love and has no intention of being vulnerable again. She is different from other heroines and I think that a reader is supposed to learn about her before her secret is revealed.

Locke is wonderful. A dear and caring man who has learned the wrong lesson from his father’s intense sense of loss of his wife. He is so ready to fall in love despite his protestations that he will not. He is kinder and more forgiving than I expected. His character was what made the book for me because through him I could understand how I should respond to Portia.

This is a worthy book to read because of how it challenges the standard historical romance, but I do recommend that a reader approach the story with an open mind, an open heart and without reading spoilers.

WORTH MENTIONING: There is a novella about Locke’s father which overlaps this book.

CONNECTED BOOKS: THE VISCOUNT AND THE VIXEN is the third book in the Hellions of Havisham series. This book can be read as a standalone although there are character crossovers.

STAR RATING: I give this book 4 stars.

four-stars

Review: The Earl Takes All

Review: The Earl Takes AllThe Earl Takes All (The Hellions of Havisham, #2) by Lorraine Heath
Series: The Hellions of Havisham #2
Published by Avon on April 26th 2016
Genres: Historical
Pages: 384
Goodreads
four-stars

“Don’t let her figure out that it’s me, the sneaky bastard who takes what isn’t his. Don’t let her realize that I’m not her husband.”

FINAL DECISION: I love how Heath creates situations between characters that seem impossible and then goes deep into the emotions of the characters to make a situation work out.  I thought this story would never work and yet Heath made it a lovely romance.

THE STORY: Edward Alcott returns from a safari with his dead twin but is himself masquerading as his twin.  It was his brother’s dying wish that Edward care for his wife who is pregnant. Edward intends on pretending to be his twin until his sister in law gives birth.  Pretending to be his brother is more difficult than he expected since Edward has been enamored of his sister in law for years.  Julia is surprised by the changes in her husband on his return.  He seems more wicked and bolder than the man she married.  As she falls even more in love, she can’t help but wonder what has changed her husband so much.

OPINION:  I often start a Lorraine Heath book thinking “there is no way she can make this work” sometimes I even hate the premise.  This book was difficult to imagine from the blurb of the book.  I couldn’t imagine that a relationship that begins with the hero impersonating his dead twin to his sister-in-law was going to work.  For the most part, the book did work. There were a couple of rough parts that called for more acceptance than analysis on my part, but I got wrapped up in the emotional journey of these characters that by the end, I was totally bound up with wanting their happy ending.

This book does demand some patience from its readers as (1) you have to accept that Julia would not recognize Edward’s impersonation of her husband and (2) you have to accept that she will ultimately forgive him for his deception.  Some readers might not be able to get past these hurdles, but accepting these premises allowed me to become absorbed by the emotional conflict in the story which is filled with love, guilt, pain and joy.

In the story, Edward begins as the typical rake, but we soon find out that he is hiding a love for Julia which he always believed was hopeless.  His masquerade of a thoughtless rake allowed him to mask his feelings.  By pretending to be his brother, Edward begins to lose control of those feelings and falls deeply in love with Julia.

I liked these characters and especially appreciated how Heath walks the line of Julia falling in love with both brothers without diminishing either of them.  This is a difficult task and is largely successful — even if I admit that I like Edward better.

The central conflict of the story becomes that even if Julia and Edward fall in love, the deception will have to continue because English law forbids a man from marrying his brother’s widow.  The resolution of this story might seem like a cheat to some, but I really liked that the solution, like the conflict itself, is based on historical fact.  Heath explains some of the real legal issues involved in her afterword.

WORTH MENTIONING:  Fans of Heath’s other series might see some familiar faces.

CONNECTED BOOKS: THE EARL TAKES ALL is the second book in the Hellions of Havisham series.  It can be read as a standalone although the first book of the series gives some further background on the characters and their connection to significant secondary characters.

STAR RATING: I give this book 4 stars.

four-stars