Publisher: HQN
Where did you get the book: Netgalley
Release date: Out now
Iain Sinclair, Marquis of Alynwick, is certain there is a special hell for him. An unrepentant rake, he holds nothing sacred – except for beautiful Elizabeth York. For years, Alynwick has tried to forget the woman he loved so well, and treated so badly. A woman who could hold nothing in her heart for him except hatred.
All of society believes Elizabeth, blind daughter of a duke, to be a proper young lady. But no one knows of her wanton affair with Alynwick. When Lizzy learns of her ancestor’s ancient diary – filled with exotic tales – she longs to uncover the identity of the unnamed lover within and hesitantly allows Alynwick, who claims to have knowledge of the “veiled lady,” to help her solve the mystery.
Eager to be Lizzy’s eyes, Alynwick brings the seductive text to life, and each night it takes greater effort for her to forget his betrayal. With each whispered word, her resolve gives way, without her knowing that a centuries-old secret will lead them to a present-day danger.
*blurb taken from Goodreads*
When I read the blurb it caught my attention because I’m a sucker for the ex-lovers trope. It’s also the third in the series, but apart from the overall arc story of the Brethren, I don’t believe I needed to read the other two to follow this romance. Unfortunately, this book didn’t work for me and that was due to the almighty angst-fest that featured throughout the entire novel.
Elizabeth and Iain have a past history when he took her virginity in a lusty affair. Iain left her afterwards with nary a word, and Lizzy has never forgiven him. Iain since then has become a major man-whore with his darkest and deepest desires. In the beginning of the novel, the first page is dedicated to him as being the devil with the blackest of souls. In other non angsting words, his dick enjoys a merry good ole time.
We’re in the present day, and Iain is sleeping with another man’s wife to gain information about Orpheus. He really dislikes her though because she’s skinny and a bitch. But whilst he sleeps with her – and all the other woman for many years – he dreams and thinks of only one in his deepest of hearts, Elizabeth, with her bountiful curves and womanly body. So after he sleeps with Georgina – who happens to be married, and Iain is soon to partake in a duel with her husband — he goes to see Lizzy, and Iain looses all control and becomes a dangerous raving beast when he sees her on the arm of another man. In this scene, I pictured Iain as a caveman, ready to pick Lizzy up and carry her off to his cave to show her that she belongs to him.
And this is pretty much what happens in the entire novel. Iain makes so many moves on Lizzy where in return Lizzy tells Iain how much she hates and despises him, but he still makes her feel all lusty inside. I felt no real emotion between any of them, and because it was so over hyped in the angst stakes that when emotion was tried to be conveyed, it came off as incredibly cheesy and cringeworthy.
Lizzy’s blindness was conveyed well, but I did get a little tired of her complaining that she couldn’t partake in their investigation and discussions anymore. It felt as if she was stamping her foot in a tantrum. It got repetitive when Iain and Lizzy were like this throughout the entire novel with no change in character development. I pretty must lost interest in the Brethren side of things because I couldn’t take it seriously after the antics of Iain.
It seemed that he was stamped with the archetype man-whore emo hero. Lizzy was marginally better, but the fighting between the two just got incredibly tiring. The ending was a love-fest where both proclaimed their love, and again the emotion didn’t feel real to me because of how angsty everything was. I also disliked the stereotypical behaviour she gave to Iain because he was Scottish with his big lusty self and bad temperament.
All in all, this was a big disappointment and it’s very unlikely that I would read a novel by this author again.
I give Temptation and Twilight a D
That sure is a disappointment! I like the blurb, but if the book is this bad, no thank you.
@aurian: Let’s just say that I won’t be picking up any books from this author again.