Review: A strong romantic story.. two tortured souls who find strength in each other.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 25, 2014
Originally Reviewed For: Bodice Rippers, Femme Fatales and FantasyWhile Regency Romance remains the favored genre for historical writers these days (ok their publishers) it seems the Regency World has gotten a whole lot darker. Instead of all is beautiful and light.. now we have dark and broody. Dangerous souls with tortured pasts and honestly that seems a bit more realistic. Sure there was an air of je ne sais quoi surrounding this era. After all it was a time of change, a golden era so to speak. BUT.. it was also a time of war.. or rather the end of a war. We all have lived through the horrors of returning veterans.. life is not always easy.In A Kiss of Lies, author Bronwen Evans begins her Disgraced Lords Series.. and I absolutely adored it! A slow started that reeled me in without my even realizing it. The series is about six men who met in school and instantly bonded. NOT because they were randy rakes, which they were, but because they had brains and actually used them. Each of them comes from a position of wealth and power and are gloried by the ton. They became known as the Libertine Scholars and were adored by all. Although their lives were not as perfect as everyone thinks they do have it pretty darn good. Or they did, now things are starting to get a little interesting as someone somehow wants them dead..Christian Trent had it all, the golden boy of the scholars. A gentle man with a heroes heart. He served well in the war and yet now that he has returned home a wounded hero, it seems he has been shunned. Enough so that the women who adored him have turned their backs, even his mistress has found someone knew. And Christian is forced to actually pay someone to suffer his attentions.. it wasn't much but it was his life. Until he woke up in bed with a knife at his throat and an angry father wielding it. Seems Christian the fair (my term) had battered and raped a young woman. Christian can not believe it, won't believe it of himself.. even drunk he would never. Only said father and brother want him dead. But since they can't do that they want him gone. Together they manage to Shanghai him and send him to the wilds of Canada. Where life surprisingly enough gets a whole lot better.Sarah Cooper is on the run.. a bruised and battered wife she is in disguise and has one goal. To return to England and hide in the countryside. Amazingly enough, the man she had a crush on for years is hiring a governess for his young ward. Sarah knows if she can get him to hire her, she can escape. What she doesn't count on is once she gets to know her girlhood crush she discovers a man worth loving.These two wounded souls have a long journey ahead of them. Together they must traverse the trials of both of their lives. Who hates Christian Trent so badly that they are willing to destroy him and everything about him. He didn't rape that young woman so the question is who did? And why does she insist that he did it? Sarah on the other hand.. is running from her demons.. both her inner ones and the real ones that come in the form of men. She has to discover who she can trust..A strong romantic story.. two tortured souls who find strength in each other. Each is willing to sacrifice all so that the other can be free and happy. Both forgetting that without the other there is no happiness. A truly powerful story.But fear not Ms Evans doesn't forget to tease us with stories of the rest of the Libertines.. they too are dark and deadly! They entice us each and every one of them! Also, the mystery of who wants Christian to suffer gets more and more intriguing as the book goes on. The story teeters on romantic suspense but remains a Regency Romance in all it's darkened glory.Now's the time to get in on this fabulous series.. in the beginning.ShauniThis review is based on the ARC of A Kiss of Lies, provided by netgalley.