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“Loved this one! Heartwarming... :)”
Emily G wrote this review Sunday, August 2 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I liked this one better than I have a lot of Laurens books. I think perhaps because it had a really good mystery plot to go with a really good romance plot, and not so many love scenes that they got boring. (Yeah, I know.) The hero and heroine have a past. He thinks she threw him over for money. She thinks he abandoned her. They're both right, but there are Reasons (of course). When the book opens, the heroine has just come to beg the hero for help. Her husband's been found murdered in a locked room, and her brother is accused of the crime. She knows her brother couldn't have done it, but he's making himself look bad. She's willing to do anything--ANYTHING--for the hero's help. And he's willing to take her up on it. Laurens moves skillfully through the novel, revealing the truth behind the heroine's marriage, and her estrangement from the hero, as well as how the murder was committed and who did it. This is truly a masterful story. I enjoyed it a lot.”
Gail Dayton wrote this review Tuesday, October 21 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I love all of Stephanie Laurens books. And we thought there was only one Bastion hold-out..Ah but there is Dalziel...and although some secrets are out not all. Love this series and the Cynsters.”
Marty H wrote this review Monday, October 13 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“They proved their bravery fighting for His Majesty's Secret Service and were rewarded with brides of great beauty and breeding. But one member of the Bastion Club has remained a bachelor . . . until now.
Aurian wrote this review Sunday, October 5 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
"Christian, I need your help. There is no one else I can turn to . . . L."
When Christian Allardyce, 6th Marquess of Dearne, reads those words, his world turns upside down. Lady Letitia Randall is a woman like no other, and the day he left her behind to fight for king and country was the most difficult of his life. He never forgot the feel of her lips against his, but never expects to see her again. Yet now she seeks his help, and Christian knows he will not resist her plea.
Letitia believes that Christian abandoned her when she needed him most, and she hates to call on his aid. But to clear her brother's name, she has sworn to use every weapon at her command, even if it means seducing her ex-lover. Yet all the while, Christian is waging a war of his own - a campaign of pure pleasure and sweet revenge that will take them both beyond the edge of desire.
When Christian was 22, he lost his heart to Letitia Vaux. A family known for their volatile tempers. But he never got scared, he found it merely entertaining. When Christian went of to war, Letitia promised to wait for him. They wanted to marry, but Christian didn’t want the chance she be a widow soon, so they waited.
But she didn’t wait, she married Randall, and his heart was broken. Perhaps she didn’t love him as he did her, because the rumors said it was a love match. Only it wasn’t. The Vaux family was on the verge of bankruptcy, and Letitia had no other choice but to marry Randall, to save her family from ruin. Only he was rich enough to help them out. She tried to find Christian, but couldn’t reach him. His regiment at the guards didn’t know him. Of course not, he turned spy, and told almost nobody how to reach him, as he was deeply undercover in France. But she didn’t know that, so he couldn’t save her. He betrayed her with not trusting her with the truth, by not being there for her when she needed him the most. But her pride didn’t allow her to tell him that when he finally returned from the war. She was not happy in her marriage, lived a live apart from her husband, and now, when he is murdered and her brother Justin is accused of the murder, she realizes she knows nothing about her husband. She needs Christian to find the real murderer, to clear Justins name. And the whole Bastion club comes down to help finding things out about her own husband. Where he came from, how he got his money, what his business he spend so much time on, really is.
Christian realizes very soon, he never stopped loving Letitia, and he still wants her as his wife. And when he finally finds out, he is the betrayer, not the betrayed, he will do whatever is in his power to make her love him again, to trust him again with her heart. Because he cannot envision a life that does not involve her as his wife.
I got really captivated by this story. The way Stephanie Laurens describes feelings, emotions, thoughts, as if they are your own. The language she uses, almost makes me grab a dictionary, she does use a lot of long words to say something. But it is her own style, and I like it a lot.
Of course Christian gets Letitia in his bed very soon, and the love scenes are all really steamy, but it are the feelings that matter. For Letitia to recognize her love, but to find her trust back again, to be able to take the risk of giving him her heart again. And for Christian to be honest with her, to believe in her feelings, to trust her to make the right decisions without crowding her. Christian is a real alpha male, big strong and handsome, and you just have to love him. He is not a rake, or a scoundrel, just a man. How without the slightest hesitation he comes to her aid, wants to protect her from everything and everyone.
And the suspense part is great too. The difficulties in finding out everything they can about Randall, and then dealing with what they discover. How far Letitia married beneath her, the background of his business. There are no suspects lining up for a long time, they have no idea who could have done it, until they find out more about his past and his businesses.
The other Bastion Club members play only little parts in this story, except for Dalziel. Letitia clearly knows who he is, but all the ladies of the ton has sworn to keep his secret and she does too, frustrating Christian and his friends to no end. It will come out soon enough, and in the end of the book, we finally get to know who he is. Only that book will come out in the fall of 2009, a whole year to wait again.
The secondary characters as her sister and her aunt, really all of their family and of course Lady Osbaldestone play their own parts, nudging Christian and Letitia closer together. Not that they need that sort of nudging ofcourse.
If you are a Stephanie Laurens fan, you will love this book like I did. Two strong characters, thrown together again, already knowing each other and finding their love again.
4 stars.”
“Leticia was annoying as stated by another post here. But I did enjoy the book and I do look forward to dalziel's story ...”
Joanne B wrote this review Monday, September 15 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“stephanie laurens is a never miss- another solid historical romance. enjoyable. very interested to read dalziel's story. leticia was a little bit annoying in parts of this story.”
californiameaghan wrote this review Friday, September 12 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Second to the last of the Bastion Club Series, this was one of the better romance novels I've read in a while! The storyline was far better than most and didn't focus exclusively on the romance, but intertwined it with another mystery story line of "who done it and why"! It also did an excellent job setting the scene for the last novel which is coming out next Fall.”
Kona T wrote this review Saturday, September 6 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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