Series: League of Dukes, #1
Traits & Tropes: second chance; bodyguard, illegitimate hero; spies; lovers to enemies to lovers
Publication Date: 01.08.19
Genre/Setting: Historical; Victorian; London/Oxfordshire, England, 1882
Heat Level: 5
Rating: 3/5
Narration Rating: 4/5
When her husband is assassinated in a politically motivated attack, Araminta, the Dowager Duchess of Burghly, is also under threat. The Crown assigns her a full-time bodyguard, but the man is not a stranger to her, but rather the only man she has ever loved. Clayton Ludlow, illegitimate but beloved son of a duke, coldly abandoned her and broke her heart, after taking her innocence, eight years ago and he's the last person Ara wants to see now. But Ara is older and stronger now and capable of resisting Clay's charms and making him atone for his past mistakes.
Clay has never loved any other woman but Ara, yet he hates her too. Her brutal betrayal left him with a vicious scar on his face to match the one on his heart. Since then he has thrown himself wholeheartedly into some of the Crown's most dangerous missions, making himself a highly feared and respected agent and the only one to be trusted with this assignment.
Clay only wants to eliminate the threat as quickly as possible and remove himself from Ara's presence forever, but leaving her proves harder than he would like. When secrets come to light and danger comes ever closer, Clay learns the truth is far from what he imagined and with Ara restored to him, he will do whatever it takes to keep her forever.
I didn't like this book nearly as much as I wanted to. The flashbacks and ruminations on the past somehow became a rather repetitive for me and jarred me out of the story at times. Mostly, however, my issue was Ara. I know she'd been through a lot, but she was either raging or sobbing and it was hard to keep up with her. Also, her hatefulness toward Clay, even if he was rather rude to her in return, made her hard to stomach, especially when she was so haughty and belittling to him. The lack of communication between Ara and Clay went on entirely too long, continuing the misinformation of the past that tore them apart in the first place and leaving them still sniping at each other even at the 57% mark, only to then devolve into what is essentially hate sex. It took much too long for real, open communication to happen between these two and then suddenly, once the truth was at last revealed, everything was perfectly fine. There were no apologies necessary for how mean they were to each other, especially her awful behavior, they just went on as if nothing happened and I just didn't quite buy it. This felt like a missed opportunity to me for some real emotional bonding and a lovely heart to heart that just didn't ever come. The final drama felt a bit rushed and predictable, but I did love the steamy scenes between Ara and Clay once they progressed from trying to hurt each other to expressing genuine love and it was nice to see that their love never died even after everything they went through.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/3066752694
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2662957546
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