Garrick Stratfield has a horrible secret—one that has scarred him his entire adult life. (And no, I’m not going to tell you what it is… Monica Burns does a great job of building that tension, there’s no way I’d ever rob you of the delicious inner turmoil of following his story.) Not only that, but he’s just been left by a mistress he’s come to love like a sister, and a little boy he’d begun to think of as his own. His life seems centerless. Until he meets Lady Ruth.

Lady Ruth is a titled woman of means who just happens to prefer the company of a man’s bed and the subsequent benefits of being kept to the alternative. Whatever the current alternative might be. But when her lover spurns her for a much younger woman, she’s looking for a little payback, and a little cold comfort. Handsome, dashing, deep, mysterious Baron Stratfield might be just what she needs.

This erotic historical romance release from Berkley Sensation will have you on the edge of your seat as this love story unfolds. Not because there’s a mystery to solve, but because the tension between Garrick and Ruth is exquisite, and the story moves at just the right pace to always keep you wondering how their relationship can ever possibly succeed. Reading this book is like having an attentive lover keep you in anticipation of the certain shattering orgasm to come… for three hours. Monica Burns does an excellent job of unfolding just a bit at a time, never revealing to little or too much, and stroking you in all the right places to frenzy your expectation so you can’t wait for the conclusion.

The characters that Burns creates fairly jump off the page in their flaws and their strengths. Garrick is a deep, caring, sensitive novice whose fierce protection of those he loves makes him an endearing hero. Ruth is a self-assured, independent, capable, vulnerable beauty with the experience to teach Garrick a thing or two, but the reserved reverence of his masculine pride to draw him along into the thick of his own uncontrollable desire.

Fans of Elizabeth Boyle’s Memoirs of a Scandalous Red Dress will adore this book, as it has many of the same elements, with a ramped up steaminess. If you’re a reader of Angela Johnson, Kimberly Killion, or Eliza Knight, you will find a resting place here. Monica Burns creates the opulent fantasy of London nobility while also making appealing characters and an interesting plot. If the story-telling had been a little more solid in the last third of the book, this easily would have gotten a ten from me. A high recommendation, despite a few flaws. But as it stands, I’d read it again, and I’d recommend it to friends of historical romance just for the pleasure of getting to spend a few hours wrapped in Monica Burns’ delightfully tense story-making.

Reviewed by: Camryn