The Highwayman (Victorian Rebels, #1)
Kerrigan Byrne
They’re rebels, scoundrels, and blackguards—dark, dashing men on the wrong side of the law. But for the women who love them, a hint of danger only makes the heart beat faster… STEALING BEAUTY Dorian Blackwell, the Blackheart of Ben More, is a ruthless villain. Scarred and hard-hearted, Dorian is one of London’s wealthiest, most influential men who will stop at nothing to wreak vengeance on those who’ve wronged him…and will fight to the death to seize what he wants. The lovely, still innocent widow Farah Leigh Mackenzie is no exception—and soon Dorian whisks the beautiful lass away to his sanctuary in the wild Highlands… COURTING DESIRE But Farah is no one’s puppet. She possesses a powerful secret—one that threatens her very life. When being held captive by Dorian proves to be the only way to keep Farah safe from those who would see her dead, Dorian makes Farah a scandalous proposition: marry him for protection in exchange for using her secret to help him exact revenge on his enemies. But what the Blackheart of Ben More never could have imagined is that Farah has terms of her own, igniting a tempestuous desire that consumes them both. Could it be that the woman he captured is the only one who can touch the black heart he’d long thought dead?
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I listened to this book on audio, and enjoyed the experience.
The 'twist' of who Dorian really is was not surprising to me at all. I mean, I don't think it would be to any romance reader. I will say that though I was confident on Dorian's real identity, there were one or two moments that that confidence was shaken, and I wondered if he really could be Dorian. To me, this was masterful writing, to take a trope that is known and expected and to really write well enough to have the reader doubting!
I understood Dorian's reservations about his problems with being touched and reconciling his wanting Farah with his own opinion of himself and how unworthy of her he thought he was. That being said, I wanted a little more 'burning' for her without the accompanying negative thoughts that hounded him. And Farah was just a bit too innocent... I think I was just wanting more sexual tension than this book was offering? The tension was there in all the angst about their identities and getting along and Dougan between them. But the main sex scene was SIZZLING and I wanted more of that!
(Huh. Dorian sure got over his anti-touch thing real fast... and had quite a turn around of his life and demeanor during the epilogue. That felt like a different character.)
I did enjoy how villainous Dorian was--I frequently feel like the male characters I read who come from dubious pasts (or are criminals, or who claim to be unworthy of the pristine heroine, etc) have maybe done something(s) that are criminal or even reprehensible, but are really a big softie? And Dorian really was working on overcoming that idea about himself throughout this book, and doesn't even fully manage it (IMHO) until the epilogue? So I enjoyed reading a truly cold and calculating real bad guy--to the extent that that could be written and still be our hero. Definitely morally gray, which I love.
I found this book a bit predictable but I liked it overall, and want to continue this series or at least this author, who many of my friends quite like!
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