Series: Lords of the Armory, #5
Traits & Tropes: spies/government work; illegitimate hero; soldier; widow; widower; protector
Publication Date: 07.26.22
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency, London, England, 1817
Heat Level: 3
Rating: 3.5/5
Lady Sydney Rowland, Baroness Rowland, has secrets to protect, most importantly that of the existence of the young son she can’t acknowledge publicly as her own. Now widowed and finally out from under the control of the husband she loathed, she just wants to be left alone, but when she’s blackmailed into working for a revolutionary group working to overthrow the government, she cooperates in order to keep her son safe.
Captain Nathaniel Reed knows Sydney is connected to Scepter and sets out to find out just how deeply involved she is. When he realizes she’s innocent, he becomes fiercely determined to protect her while also keeping her at a distance and ignoring the clear attraction blossoming between them. But when the threats against her turn more serious, Sydney turns to Nate for help, and he’s immediately determined to help her and show her just how much she means to him in the process.
Nate may just be the perfect hero. He’s a former soldier with some PTSD, sensitive, still mourning the loss of his wife and their infant son and wracked with guilt that he was away at war and not there to help them. In short, he’s that hero that you just want to hug and cuddle and take care of and it makes him instantly likable. Add in his tendency to be protective over Sydney even when she pushes him away and Nate is nearly irresistible. Sydney, on the other hand, I found to be quite a pill. Her behavior and hesitancy to trust Nate at first is totally understandable and relatable, however, it goes on much too long after their relationship has progressed, and I felt like she should’ve been beyond that. She also gave Nate a lot of mixed signals that I wasn’t crazy about, being alternately hateful to him and then all over him. That erratic behavior and refusal to confide in him got a bit annoying and I felt like it crippled their relationship trajectory and made it seem like she only wanted Nate for sex, even when he was quite clear that he wasn’t one to sleep around indiscriminately or without commitment. This was yet another of his characteristics that I found irresistible and that made me even more annoyed with Sydney for jerking him around and disregarding his feelings. Then she had the nerve to wonder why he wasn’t giving her much attention after she so coldly refused him. It was just offensive that she refused his efforts to make their relationship permanent and had the audacity to compare him to her previous husband when she’d had time to come to know Nate so well and had to know he possessed a superior character in every way. I was just left feeling that she didn’t deserve him if she still couldn’t banish her fears after how much he’d proven himself to her, plus she had the absolute gall to point out their differences in rank/social status, despite having praised him previously for making such a name for himself as a war hero. Give me a break.
The bottom line here is that I adored this hero, and I loved the storyline with us finally getting more information about Scepter and what seems to be their ultimate downfall. The heroine brought this down for me, but I still enjoyed this story and I’m pleased with it as a wrap-up to a series I quite liked and would most definitely recommend.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/730366183
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4818193287
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