Review: Love a scarred hero!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 31, 2014
I am such a sucker for a scarred hero!  Christian is war hero who was once unbearably handsome, but is now terribly burned.  Women who once fell at his feet, now are unable to look at his face.  To make matters worse, as the story begins, he is wrongly accused of rape and exiled to Canada by the victim’s father.  His life starts to turn around when he becomes guardian to a young girl named Lily.  First, in the love and trust he gets from the child –and then, from the lovely Sarah Cooper who takes the job as her governess.Christian has no idea that Sarah is actually Lady Serena, daughter of a London Duke… nor that she is on the run from her husband’s henchmen.  She was was essentially sold into a terribly abusive marriage to pay off her father’s debts and has spent the past two years in agony.  She got away, but had to go to extreme lengths to do it. Now she just wants to live a quiet life in the country.  She wants safety and stability. And when she sees learns of the governess position, it feels like a gift from heaven, especially since she has nursed a quiet crush on Christian from afar, ever since she was a teenager.Sarah sees past Christian’s scars and sees the beauty in him that has always been there. He can tell she wants him and makes it his mission to make her his own.  She’d love nothing more, but she knows the secrets that she is keeping could ruin it all.I really enjoyed this one.  Christian is such a good guy and he has been through so much.  It felt so good, watching him slowly regain his self confidence and feelings of self worth.  I also loved the gentleness and care with which he treated Sarah. She had to learn to trust again after what she endured in her marriage and Christian is patient and loving and sexy all at the same time.It’s not all smooth sailing, of course. There is jealousy… deceit… danger… and mystery.  Like who set Christian up?  And when will they strike again?  This plot was woven in well with the romance, and it sets up the series arc with his band of friends, the Libertine Scholars.I felt like I would have enjoyed a little more angst from both the hero and heroine.  There was some, but for instance, Christian accepted Sarah’s attraction to him so easily off the bat. I would have liked a little more gnashing of teeth, considering all the rejection he has endured.  Or when Sarah opens the door to a physical relationship, I would have expected a harder path, since she has been so abused, but she feels safe and sensual with Christian rather easily.  Considering the depths of their horrors, I just thought that their love came a little easy.But overall, I really enjoyed the book. I really liked both main characters and the storyline.  The sexy times were good; the relationship was easy to root for; and the end was satisfying.Rating: B