Author: Amalie Howard and Angie Morgan
Genre/Age: Historical Romance/Adult
Series: Lords of Essex Series (Book Three)
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Format: ebook via NetGalley
Rating: ✺✺✺✺
Links: Goodreads
Synopsis: He fought battles for crown and country. She waged war for his heart.
Lord Henry Radcliffe, the scarred but sinfully sexy Earl of Langlevit, is a beast. The only way Henry can exorcise the demons of his war-ravaged past is through intense physicality. In and out of bed. An endeavor that has no shortage of willing participants.
Intent on scandalizing London, Princess Irina Volkonsky is a hellion and every gentleman’s deepest desire...except for one. Irina knows better than to provoke the wickedly forbidding earl, but she will stop at nothing short of ruination to win the heart of the only man she’s ever loved.
But when one scandalous kiss makes dangerous passions ignite, neither of them can fight their sizzling attraction. When a sinister plot emerges to threaten them both, they will have to fight one last battle, this time for the ultimate prize...love.
The younger princess catches her man!
Irina is a Russian princess who currently resides in England after escaping the dangers in her home country. She is no longer the young girl that she was when she became a lady's ward. But adulthood isn't as freeing as Irina hoped it would be. As a woman, she is expected to follow society's rules and find a man to marry. It's too bad that the one man she wants is the one who never even looks her way.
Henry has looked Irina's way a time or two, even though he pretends not to see her. She isn't the girl he used to know. She's a grown woman with all of the charm and beauty to go with it. Just because he doesn't fawn over her like most men doesn't mean he can't see how tempting she is. It's too bad that he isn't looking for a wife--even though he's being forced to find one.
While Irina tries to find a way to catch Henry's eye, he does his best to avoid her. He's not the same person he was before war left him scarred and damaged. And despite his requirement to marry, he knows it won't be a love match and so he's made his peace with it. But Irina continues to haunt his days and nights until he can no longer deny how much he wants her. Unfortunately, he isn't the only man who plans to make Irina his wife...
This is the third book of the series but the second I've read. I haven't gotten to the first book yet. In this story, we have the second princess attempting to find her match after her sister did in the previous installment. We did get a few glimpses of the first princess in this book, as well. And I was curious to see how this sister would find her way in an English society when she was raised in a fairly different one.
Irina didn't disappoint me, for the most part. She was clever and brave enough to go after what she wanted. I can appreciate a strong heroine with a smart mouth and a way with weapons. She wasn't some damsel in distress, waiting for a man to rescue her. Although, I didn't think that her plan with Max was a good idea, simply because I've seen how dangerous the betting books can be in other stories. Competition tends to bring out the worst in people, especially men.
For me, Henry was just an okay character. I liked him in the beginning with his rough demeanor. I even mostly looked past his trysts with his mistress that happened throughout the book. I know some readers won't enjoy a hero who is intimate with someone other than the heroine. Usually, I agree, yet I saw how he used the woman as almost a sort of therapy. But when he became entangled with a third woman, I started to seriously wonder if he was worthy of our princess. And after a while, his brooding did start to get on my nerves.
The romance was actually pretty nice considering it was sparse. I could feel the tug of war going on between our couple. The tension continued to build while Henry pushed Irina away and she tried another tactic to get his attention. When the fireworks finally did go off, it was a good show. I just hate that it happened so late in the book which limited the number of times we got to see our couple in naughty action.
My problem with the second book of this series was how long it was. The writing was incredibly wordy and thoughts kept repeating. For this book, I had the same issue. It's over 400 pages long and really doesn't need to be. I can't understand the need for dragging out a book 100 pages longer than necessary, mostly filled with the same things happening time and again. Irina tries to get Henry's attention while Henry denies her and his feelings. We only need to see that a few times, not over and over. It gets tedious to read the same thoughts and see the same hot-and-cold actions. I did a bit of light skimming but still enjoyed this, overall.
In closing...
Despite the length of these books, I am left with a positive feeling after finishing them. Four suns!
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