Beware of Spoilers
Standalone
**Narration: third-person
**Length: 352 pages
**Setting: London, England 1805; And Africa<3
**Themes: Angst-filled Second Chance Romance. Includes major groveling!
**Content Warnings: Heroine has a miscarriage on page; Cheating (physical, not emotional) by hero on page.
**Sexy Times : Numerous *explicit* steamy scenes.
The book description is pretty awesome, so I'll skip a recap of my own.
What did I love? To begin with, everything.
Keeping this review short will be challenging.
Cait Harmon
She stood out to me from other heroines I've read in Regency romance. Granted, the start of the Regency era is 1811, and Cait is American, not English, but still unconventional for the times. She was fiercely independent, and an adventurer! "She didn't play by society's rules. Cait lived her life as she saw fit. She'd been places, seen things that would make the average woman swoon." My gosh, I loved her already. I should mention her bravery, too. During an expedition in Africa, Cait hit a leopard on the head with a log to save her love from becoming leopard food. It was already dead, but she didn't know that! I swear, if I never get to travel to the coast of Africa in search of lost treasures and have my own swoony hero follow me across the seas and save me from getting my face bitten off by a nasty snake, I'm going to be hugely disappointed. Damn you, romance novels!
Randall Clayton, 7th Duke of Beldon.
The ultimate rake, indeed. It was absolutely satisfying watching him lose his ever loving mind over Cait. He lost more than his mind, he lost his damn heart. I love how it all started with the sound of her laughter. Before he ever saw her, he first heard her laugh, and that sound...changed his life forever. Gah! The list of things I enjoyed about watching Cait & Rand fall in love is long. I loved it when he'd call her Caitie. I can't explain, but something about him saying it *sigh* it turned my heart all soft and mushy. He absolutely, positively, without a doubt, adored Cait. He was possessive, but so was she! Sure, they differed in their beliefs--to the point I questioned how things could possibly work out for them--but what they felt for each other was soul-mate deep love. I can honestly go on and on about Cait & Rand, swooning all over this "review" but I'll move on.
The problem with Rand was..
He was conditioned by his father not to give in to feelings. The gentle, sensitive side of Rand was ridiculed and condemned by his father. It was literally beat into him that feelings, especially those of the heart, showed weakness in a man, and should be suppressed at all costs. But what he felt for Cait could not be contained, and well, this was the catalyst for what was to come. The man didn't know whether to scratch his watch or wind his butt. Needless to say, the issues between them get extensively messy before they're resolved. I don't know why I eat up this frustrating stuff up with a spoon, but I do. And I love it.
Now let me address the elephant in the room:
The reason this book gave many reviewers a conniption is that Rand cheated on Cait when they were married, following a tragic event. If you've read those reviews, you got the gist. I know, it sounds terrible but probably more so when you read the details out of context. However, after reading the book, I can say I'm 100% convinced Rand deserved a second chance. What is even second chance romance without characters that make mistakes? Of course, each reader gets to decide which ones are redeemable in their eyes. Because it's all subjective, as we know, or should know. No doubt, Rand fell from grace, to put it mildly. But I also understood the reason behind his destructive behavior. It wasn't callousness, but cowardice . It was an ingrained defense mechanism. Born of fear, and a soul-crushing misery. His behavior was an escape, and yes, that included an ex-mistress among all the other bad habits he lost himself in to numb the pain. The pain of losing his newborn son, and the realization that Cait had become his everything, the only person in the world who had the power to--as he believed--turn him weak. I'm not excusing him, but I'm not screaming, "Off with his head!" either. Watching him betray Cait was gut-wrenchingly devastating. Yet, it was clear to me he was also betraying himself in the process. He lost Cait as a result, and he hit rock-bottom.
I'm rambling. Enough with deconstructing Rand. Look, the man took a bullet for her at the end. What more do you people want? LOL Yeah, I know, one bullet may not be enough for some of you.
I almost stood on my bed to applaud his friend when she told him be following:
“Your father was right, Rand. You aren’t a real man. A real man would never have acted the way you did. A real man would never have left the woman he loved.”
And yet, the waterworks fell from my eyes for Rand, because I felt every bit of his repentance and misery in that moment.
HEA √ Epilogue included. The epilogue wasn't exactly grand but it still left me happy.
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Digital List Price: $19.99 
The Digital List Price is the suggested price provided by the publisher for the eBook format.
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- Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2022
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- Amazon CustomerReviewed in the United Kingdom on May 22, 2015
this was by far the loveliest book I read by ...
