4 out of 5 stars
E-book. 290 pages. Published June 13th 2017 by Smashwords
Blurb:
Three traitor lords plotted to kill the king; now their sons must deal with the aftermath.
Solicitor Robert Clarkson had begun to think he’d never have his own law practice, not when all of the work he was given at Glasson & Co. involved estate matters, until he was assigned to handle the business contracts of Lord Heathborough, son of one of the notorious traitor lords. Lord Heathborough has connections that could lead to the kind of clients Robert finds most interesting, and it doesn’t hurt that he is exceedingly handsome.
Laurence Nelson, Lord Heathborough, had always known his father would destroy his inheritance somehow and had built up a fortune of his own against the day, but he certainly never expected it to come in the form of a plot to kill the king. As the only traitor lord captured, his father was only making it worse enjoying the notoriety and telling the press anything he thought would make the conspirators seem clever, including details of the stock swindle used to finance it. At least his new solicitor isn’t bothered by it, although Laurence is certainly bothered by the handsome Mr. Clarkson.
When the Crown begins to suspect Laurence of using his companies to aid the traitor lords in their stock swindle, he’ll need to decide if he can trust his new solicitor, or if Robert was part of the plot all along.
Likes:
- Both men were likeable.
- Lots of mutual longing.
- Good side plot.
- Lots of little touching moments between Laurence and Robert.
- Approving side characters.
Dislikes:
- My interest dropped when Robert and Laurence got together.
- Robert’s situation with his dad reminded me of a teenager.
- The side plot seemed to get wrapped up really fast at the end.
I definitely liked this book better than the last. The romance was simply better. One of my big complaints about Lord Lynster Discovers was that the characters didn’t spend enough time together, which led to a lack of little moments.
For me, a romance is made up of the little moments, those small gestures that bring a couple closer. This book definitely had lots of them. I especially loved when Robert taught Laurence how to make toasted bread and cheese over the fire. It was super sweet. Both men were yearning for each other but were too worried about rejection and the possible consequences to actually make a move.
The yearning was strong in this book. I don’t think it was UST – unresolved sexual tension. Yes, the men wanted each other, but it was about more than sex. They both wanted someone special in their lives. But the downside to this was that once the men actually got together, my interest dropped. It was like the tension had gone out of the story. The ‘will they, won’t they’ was resolved, leaving the remainder of the book relying on the side plot to hold my attention.
The side plot was basically Laurence trying to distance himself from his father, who was blabbing to the press about the traitor lords plot to kill the king. I never really felt like Laurence was in much danger of being linked with the plot, unlike James from the first book. So I simply didn’t find the side plot as interesting. Perhaps I wasn’t the only one, because it got wrapped up really fast at the end.
Both Robert and Laurence were likeable characters, as well as being nice men. Robert was a bit shy, but very smart and talented. Laurence’s success in business was due to his own hard work and attention to detail. He was a wealthy man, but wasn’t a snob. He actually cared about people, and went out of his way to make sure his father’s tenants and his own former butler were taken care of.
It was really fun watching the two men get to know each other and fall in love. Laurence’s hesitations were well explained and felt realistic. It was hard for him to open up to the possibility of romance, and he almost botched it, but he wasn’t too proud to apologize and admit he made a mistake. He really made a lot of progress over the book, learning to trust Robert completely.
I felt bad for Robert. Arguably, it was Laurence whose father was the worst of the two, but Robert felt like he was a grown man being forced to live like a teenager. His father monitored his coming and going from the house, Robert had to give excuses for coming home late, and his father constantly tried to chip away at his confidence.
Like in the last book, Robert and Laurence’s romance wouldn’t have been possible without the support of a number of side characters. The support was more subtle than in the previous book, but it was definitely still there. It was nice to see, especially given the time period the book was set in.
Love is Love Reviews 