Devlin is the illegitimate son of a duke. Although welcomed into the ducal family with open arms by the duke and his duchess and all of Devlin's half siblings, there is still a lot of unresolved emotion towards the mother who gave him up.
Devlin is also battling the lingering after-effects of fighting Napoleon.
Devlin has recently been made an earl, and his new estate comes complete with the illegitimate child of the previous earl. The child has been running free without parental supervision and Devlin takes her under his wing. The child and the soldier slowly heal each other, but the child's aunt is Devlin's true salvation as they slowly learn how to heal each other.

Anyone who loves regency romance, and particularly fans of Grace Burrowes. You'll see characters from her other books in this one, including the duke, Lord Valentine and Lord Amery.

The character of Winnie, who gave a fresh, unique appeal to this book. I also like the reality and seriousness with which Devlin's post-traumatic stress was dealt with. The author didn't suggest that love would heal all his wounds magically.

Winnie had been running free before Devlin came on the scene. She was unbelievably dirty, malnourished, had no manners and was accustomed to disappearing for days and nights on the estate...at the age of six. Yet we are meant to believe that her aunt loved her and had watched over her, albeit from afar. That doesn't wash with me. If you love someone, you don't allow them to go hungry and cold and (especially when they're six years old) disappear on a large estate where anything could happen. Later, Winnie disappears for a time and they panic about all the things that could go wrong - why wasn't Emily worried about Winnie before Devlin came along?

Read Lord Valentine's story, the next in the series.

If you read the series, this book is necessary to fill in the gaps and keep the flow of the series smooth. I highly recommend this series, and thus this book as a part of it. By itself, the book is fine, but not amazing.

This book is part of a series, but all of Grace Burrowes' regency romances are connected. Definitely read them in order if you can, they are more enjoyable that way. This particular series is The Duke's Obsession and starts with Gayle's story - The Heir. Read that one before reading this one. I'm off to read the next one - The Virtuoso.

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Created Aug 13, 2013 at 6:18pm • Submit your own review...