The Viscount’s Desire
Marguerite Lewis
Historical Romance
Two black sheep must work together to save an innocent girl. All the while they are being watched by a secret group of rogue vigilantes: The London Harriers.
Anna Thatcher’s only goal is to leave the slums of London and her dark past behind. Most of her time is spent working at Stone Street Inn. Very little of the inn’s time goes to paying patrons, as they bring in prostitutes from the streets wishing to find a better life. Daily Anna takes on extra work as a seamstress to earn enough to help with the inn’s expenses, and to eventually move out of the city. No matter how much good she does, she cannot seem to erase the wrong from her secret past.
Lord Peter Batton the Viscount Bayning has to find his kidnapped cousin before it’s too late. After a horrible accident and his discharge from the military, his family and peers want very little to do with him. That is until his cousin went missing. After a few dalliances with a boisterous crowd, the young Cecily vanished. The only key to finding her is talking to the street walkers of London’s grimiest corners. These sinners and the paying men that see them are the lowly class of people Peter would like nothing to do with, but they are his only door into the elite crowd of the same dark work. The crowd that has Cecily.
Anna does not approve of the way Peter looks down his nose at others, but she knows she must help find the missing girl to save her from a terrible fate. On his own, none of the rough crowd would speak to Peter. Fearing for Cecily, Anna agrees to help. Together they must face the seedy works of an evil industry.
Meanwhile, every move they make is being watched by a rouge group of men. Any mention of the group publicly is thought of as a ghost story. Little do Peter and Anna know, the band is very real, and their only help may come from the secret workings of The London Harriers.
Uncaged Review: This historical romance is much different than most I’ve read. Anna Thatcher works at a run-down inn in the slums of London, trying to redeem herself and her dark past. Taking in as many women prostitutes off the streets to help feed them and keep them safe, the inn struggles. Anna takes on mending work for money, so she can find her way out of London one day. Viscount Bayning is searching for his cousin, after she disappears from her home. Running into Anna, he asks for her help in finding his cousin. The two get off on the wrong foot, but Anna’s desire to help another woman to safety overrides her distrust of the Viscount. Together they slowly learn to trust each other.
The romance between Peter and Anna is very well done, Peter having his own prejudices against prostitutes and Anna showing him what a hypocrite he is. The Harriers are a group of people taking the law into their own hands and helping to rid the city of the filth, although you never truly know who they are.
There is plenty of danger and action, and you visit the slum parts of London, and the story keeps a good pace. There is multiple points of view going on, and it would sometimes throw me off, but overall this is a nicely done original historical. Reviewed by Cyrene
4 Stars
