London’s Last True Scoundrel (The Westruthers, #1)(Ministry of Marriage #4)By Christina Brooke
Blurb:
When he was bad, he was so very, very good…
London’s Ultimate Bad Boy…
Physically reckless, irrepressibly roguish, and poised on the brink of ruin, Jonathon Westruther, Earl of Davenport, returns from the dead only to throw himself into dissipation. Until he meets his worst nightmare: a straitlaced former schoolteacher he can’t get out of his head. He resolves to seduce the delightful Miss Hilary deVere by fair means or foul. But when his past returns to endanger Hilary, he must protect her at all costs…
Meets England’s Most Proper Miss
Dismissed from her post at a ladies’ academy because of prejudice against her uncouth family, Hilary will do anything to avoid going back to live with her loutish brothers. She longs for a London season to show the world a deVere can behave with utmost decorum and to find a respectable husband. Everything about Lord Davenport appalls her, but desperation makes strange bedfellows. To get to London, Hilary strikes a bargain with the devilish Davenport, confident that she’s immune to his charm. But as she discovers surprising depths beneath his rakish surface, this infamous scoundrel becomes more temptation than even the most proper lady can withstand…
Review:
This is the 1st book in the Westruthers series (the Westruthers guy cousins) and the 4th book in the Ministry of Marriage series (the Westruthers girl cousins). In the Ministry of Marriage series you have been introduced to many of the characters that will be in the Westruthers series. For this book, Jonathon Westruthers was first introduced in the Ministry of Marriage series book 3, A Duchess to Remember.
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Lets start with what I liked.
The story was typical, hero is a titled rake, rogue, scoundrel- everything bad to unmarried and proper young ladies. The heroine is a proper, strong, determined, lady with a bad guardian and uncaring brothers and a falling down home in the country. She gets saved by the scoundrel and taken under the wings by his family and has a come-out into polite society. He has a secret and there is danger lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce and do some damage. Heroine gets mixed into the danger, hero dissuade heroine’s feelings to protect her. Heroine becomes hostage anyway and hero try to be a hero, but heroine saves the day. Hero finally sorts out his feelings and confess, but heroine leaves town rejecting hero’s suit. But in the end they get their HEA! Yay~
The Characters:
I truly adored both characters at different points in the story. I loved Hilary (Honey) deVere from the beginning because she was a strong and determined young lady who was dismissed from her position as a Lady’s teacher at the young ladies school because of her infamous name and ancestors. But she was determined to prove people wrong about her and prove that she’s nothing like her relatives. I loved her sassiness, and boy can she punch! But as the story went on I kind of lost that feeling I had for her. Yes, she changed but she wasn’t that same girl I fell in love with. She became this vulnerable, sensitive, naive, prim and proper young lady that I didn’t quite enjoy. Her sassiness and strong determined will was lost, and a whole new heroine appeared. It was like I didn’t even know who I was reading anymore. My heroine just disappeared.
The hero I found intriguing and fascinating. I liked him from the first page and knew I was going to go through a whole lot of sh!t with him. I knew he was going to be trouble and he was going to be a changed man at the end of the story! I also knew I was going to find out a whole bunch of things about him that will make me swoon and adore him even more (I didn’t read the previous books in the series to know his dark secrets so this was a great chance to know him). But once he met the heroine, I hated him! Everything he did and was doing was going to ruin the girl and I hated that! He was ruining her chances at starting a new life free of her assholes of brothers, a greedy guardian, and her infamous deVere blood! But then we got to see his side of the story; how his family looked down upon him, how society looked down upon him too, and we felt for him because we knew he wasn’t what society deemed him to be because we got to know his secrets and well, we loved him. I stared to adore him again….A little. At the end though, he was a totally different character from the one we first saw at the beginning and well, it was awesome!
Loved the Beginning:
Hero gets drugged by cousins and dumped in the country. He wakes up in a barn bruised and tattered, burrows a horse and rides in the rain to a near town but happens upon a young miss walking in the opposite direction. The young miss has just been dismissed at her position, is sadden and angry to be returning back to a home which isn’t a home but more like a run down shack to her 2 rake of a brothers. The hero offer a ride and is intrigue of her sassiness and persuades her onto the horse. They banter on the way as he irritates and annoys her and she plays haughtiness to his rudeness. He kisses her and she hits him and they both land in the mud. She storms off home and he follows. She then received a surprised visitor for a new position (hoping to leave the dreaded place) but scared the lights off of her new employer when the heroine attacked (jumping on and punching) the hero (in anger, irritated annoyance and humiliation) upon finding him emerging from her parlor in the arms of 2 naked prostitutes, and referring to her as “Honey“.
What got me complaining to my sister and almost got me to throw the book against the wall in the middle of the night and put it up on the DNF pile! Everything.
Heroine hates Hero, Hero smiles, Heroine’s heart pulse fast, Hero wants Heroine in bed, Heroine’s determined to protect her virtue from the rake, Hero flirts with Heroine, Heroine yells at Hero, Heroine’s determined to find a proper husband in London, Heroine’s guardian and brothers are asses, Hero offers to take Heroine to London, they take off to London, they banter, Hero smiles some more, Heroine thinks him handsome, they play fake husband and wife for one night, Heroine’s deVere guy cousin won’t receive her but he is married to Hero’s girl cousin which will receive Heroine, family intervention on Heroine arrival, guardian to send Heroine back home, they lie about betroth, Heroine get’s to stay, Heroine won’t sleep with Hero, Hero flirts and tries to seduce Heroine, Heroine’s determined to find suitable mate and determined to prove society wrong about her bad blood, Heroine has to stay virtuous, Hero kisses Heroine, Heroine surrender to kiss and sleeps with Hero, Hero definitely do not want to get married, Heroine still determined to find proper husband……..
Okay, I hope you get the picture. The thing that really got me mad and clenching my teeth and all was when the Heroine slept with the Hero and still thought that she can find a suitable husband and prove that she wasn’t a bad blood, scamming, whore of a deVere. I nearly rip the book in half! What happened to her strong determined woman power? It just all of a sudden vanished into thin air once she got kissed! (Sad to say, she turned into this naive silly lovesick girl).
And then for the Hero to just want to sleep with her at first sight, a proper Lady of the same class and status as him with out thinking about her virtue? Unbelievable! I really liked him and thought that he would be a gentleman as he was meant to be, but when he deflower her and thought not one bit about marriage and doing the right thing I was about had it. I mean come on, all the little things we read about him and how he wasn’t bad like people made him to be, I thought at least he would still keep that part of him but no, it didn’t happen. I understood why but still, like I said, I adored him, but at times, no. I really had hopes for him you know.
Over all, I still really enjoyed this story and Christina is an amazing writer and wow, she can really play with my emotions! The characters were great to follow, although I lost the heroine once she had her passionate night. The hero was great, I adored him but….hmmmm he had so much stuff I can’t even start or how to put it in words.
But this was a really great story with banter, action, sassiness, strong women presence, close family support and understanding, good looking cousins, and just rumble tumble of things that worked and fitted together to form a great and enjoyable read. Even though I had a fit, I still really enjoyed this story and can’t wait for the next book!
This ARC was provided by the Author and the Romance Bandits Blog.
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