Review: beautifully crafted regency romance that started and ended with a bang, and was utterly captivating within
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 15, 2014
A beautifully crafted regency romance that started and ended with a bang, and was utterly captivating within.  The first book from this author that I have read, A Kiss of Lies is a wonderful first installment in the Disgraced Lords series, and has me looking forward to find the culprit behind the plot against the Libertine Scholars.Characters in this story were beautifully crafted with strengths and wounds that are well defined, creating great gaps in their confidence.  But, Bronwen Evans allows each character’s heart to show through: Christian’s protective kindness and honor, and Sarah’s willingness to look past the shell to see the intentions behind the words.A gentle, and not so gentle, back and forth between these two characters as they both seek to redeem and protect.  Their connection is palpable, even with the secrets that they are holding from one another.  For his part, Christian is seeking only to protect and honor Sarah, he is totally surprised by the love that he feels for her, and believes it returned in the sureness of her gaze and the gentleness of her touch.  Sarah hopes to help him to see that only his outer self is changed, and that his character, his honor are so striking that his scarring doesn’t matter.  Believing that she will never have a chance to marry and have her own family, she takes the opportunity of the journey to England from Canada to experience passion from the man she has dreamed of for years.Wholly engaging and filled with moments to bring a smile or a tear, Evans does step from the more traditional regencies to illustrate the slow awakening of Sarah’s more passionate side at Christian’s more experienced hands: and the scenes are both sensual and incredibly emotional as the pleasure in giving and experiencing this passion is clearly defined and described for all to see.Then we add in the mystery: just who and why is this particular group of society’s  eligible men being targeted for ruin? While we have met others in the infamous group called the Libertine Scholars, and those we have met are all huge fans of Christian and his new love,  they are all still Libertine’s to one degree or another, yet determined to ferret out the solution.  I can’t wait for the next in the series!I received an eArc copy from the publisher via Edelweiss for purpose of honest review with Tasty Book Tours. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.