Lord of Scoundrels

- Loretta Chase -

I defy anyone to read this book and then continue to dismiss historical romances as fluff(oh look, I have become a convert).

Loretta Chase created such believable, damaged characters whose childhoods and past traumas continued to have a strong hold over them, and then took us on the journey as these issues were worked through and the characters emerged stronger on the other side.

The hero, Dain (as he is referred to through most of the story), was abandoned by his mother and unloved by his father, abused at school and has grown up convinced he is unworthy of love and determined to live life as shallowly as possible to compensate.

Jessica, a determined and self reliant woman, has come to bail her useless younger brother out of the latest trouble he has gotten himself into.

The two are immediately attracted to each other, resistant at first and ultimately, when circumstances faciliate their getting married to avoid scandal on her part and humiliation on his, they come together both sexually and emotionally and Jessica is able to draw Dain out and come to understand how he became so emotionally withdrawn.

What I loved the most about this (apart from how well developed, written and paced it was) was that Dain was the one with the severe emotional problems to overcome, and Jessica was the one drawing him out and trying to understand how to help him. Too often in historicals, it seems like the hero (by virtue of generally being the one with sexual/life experience) ends up in the role of teacher/guide to the heroine.

In this book, Jessica was firmly in that role as she tried to make Dain see that he was worthy of being loved, of being a father and even of being happy. He was in such genuine, heartbreaking pain and to see him overcome that with her assistance was a brilliant emotional journey to be a part of.