Series: Billingham Bastards, #1
Traits & Tropes: revenge; enemies to lovers; secrets; ruined heroine; titled hero; compromised; house party; forbidden; third act separation
Publication Date: 10.27.09
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency; England, 1816
Heat Level: 3
Rating: 4/5
Narration Rating: 4/5
Simon Crathorne, the new Duke of Billingham, must now turn his attention to the duty of finding a suitable wife and continuing his illustrious family name. However, the only woman who stirs even a shred of interest at his country house party is perhaps the most inappropriate of all.
Lillian Mayhew hopes to ruin Simon’s family by revealing secrets about Simon’s father that will ruin the family’s prestigious reputation and salvage some of her own family’s tarnished honor. But when she meets and comes to know Simon, Lillian begins to question her motives. Soon the man she once wanted to ruin is the object of her desires. The two fall into a passion-filled affair, but with so many secrets around them, Simon may yet find himself betrayed and ruined.
I don’t typically care for the revenge trope, but this was a fairly different spin on it that I haven’t read before. Lillian started off being very unlikable for me, radiating poisonous rage all the time, but she displayed a lot of character development as she came to know Simon and adjust her thinking. Once she realized that Simon had also been deceived by his father, and she was able to see him for the good man he was, it was nice to see his genuine sweetness and kindness change her heart and weed out the hate that had consumed her. I was never really sure why exactly Simon found Lillian to be so remarkable, especially the meaner she was to him the more he seemed to like her (I never like that trope), so I was glad to see him being a good influence on her. It was actually quite lovely to see this development come full circle in that Lillian was also able to be there for Simon when he needed someone to support and love him. I’ve been working on some older backlist books that I have in my physical collection, though I listened to this one on audio, and I liked that it is a bit of an older publication and that it feels grittier than some of the more modern historical romances. I’m intrigued by the set up here and I think I’ll continue this series, especially since I think I may have some of the other books in my collection as well.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/2055450443
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4700532714
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