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Well, well, well, Lorraine Heath! You blew me away again! And it actually made me reread the Scoundrels of St. James series again!
So here we are over thirty years (?) after Surrender to the Devil and we meet Frannie and Sterling’s son, Alistair who is Grace’s (When the Duke was Wicked) younger brother. Whew! Lorraine Heath really loves her Scoundrels of St. James series which is inspired by Oliver Twist.
So, our hero Alistair doesn’t have any plans to marry, but he said that when he does, he will marry someone with a spotless reputation. Why? Because he was bullied when he was in school. If you read Surrender to the Devil, you will know that Frannie lived and also worked as a bookkeeper in a gentleman’s club. Anyway, even though she is now Frannie is now a Duchess, the ton still doesn’t accept her 100% and we also see this based on Alistair’s narration. Anyway, he has SWORN not to have his future children suffer the way he did.
Enter our heroine, Tillie, a divorcee who managed to keep her title! Ha! That one was refreshing because I haven’t heard of such a thing before! Also, I think it helps that she is a rich American heiress, too. Tillie is planning to leave for America but she won’t leave until her younger sister finds true love. Unfortunately, Alistair is courting her. And Tillie does not trust him one bit!
I love both Tillie and Alistair! Tillie is such an amazing heroine because she is strong and fought for something unconventional during the Regency period. She also hates the ton and because she was shunned after her divorce, she never ventured out. Not until she was forced to because of Alistair.
Alistair was an amazing hero as well because he is the type of bad boy that would be perfect for reforming. He also couldn’t understand why he was attracted to Tillie and really tried his best to lure her out of her townhouse. Their romance is slow burning but man did it burn!
The .5 star goes to Frannie and Sterling, though! We are able to glimpse them as an older couple with Sterling [spoiler]almost blind! This fact is mentioned in their own book.[/spoiler] I LOVED it when Alistair pointed out how Frannie was leading Sterling on the dance floor to hide his disability. Also, I could see their love! I basically squeed when I saw them!
An Affair with a Notorious Heiress was an amazing read and also brought back the nostalgia of the original series AND a glimpse of my favorite characters.
The only downside is that the cover is just horrible! Ugh! Avon can do better!
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Do you like to read about your favorite couples when they are older?
I’ve read a couple of books by Lorraine Heath, but I seriously need to pick up more by her. I’ve heard good things about this new series of her in particular. This one sounds amazing. I especially love the sound of that slow burn romance. I love that it brought you nostalgia too! Glad you loved this one! 🙂
Nick recently posted…In Which I Die of Swoons: My Roommate’s Girl by Julianna Keyes & Way Down Deep by Charlotte Stein & Cara McKenna
Thanks, Nick! I have enjoyed a lot of Lorraine Heath’s series! Scoundrels of St. James series is an Oliver Twist retelling and is soooo good!