Lord of Temptation by Lorraine Heath (The Lost Lords of Pembrook #2)
Released: September 25, 2012
Historical Romance
Avon

Reviewed by May 

He didn’t want to be here. He didn’t’ want this.

The captain’s huge paw of a hand landed on his shoulder with enough weight to jar him.

“I’m called Marlow Have you a name, lad?”

“Lo-“ He stopped. He couldn’t tell anyone that he was Lord Tristan Easton, second in line for the dukedom of Keswick. Until they reclaimed their birthright he was only a commoner. He cleared his throat. “Tristan”

“Well, Lo Tristan, who you be running from”

Tristan pressed his lips tightly together. The captain had caught his mistake, was mocking him. He would never be so careless again. If he was to be nothing else, he would become a master keeper of secrets.

“So be it,” the captain said. “I’ll call you Jack.”

Tristan jerked his gaze up to the towering man. “Why?”

“When you’re seeking to hide, lad, you hide everything.”

Once upon a time there were three brothers, fourteen year old twins, and a younger brother as well. After the death of their father, their evil uncle locked them in a tower and planned on murdering them. They escaped into the night, separated, and vowed to return to reclaim their rightful places in society.

Stories were told, theories made about the lost lords, but nobody knew what happened to them until the night that they made their grand re-entrance to London society- a soldier with a missing eye and severe scars, a wildly handsome pirate, and the owner of a gaming hell that knows the dark side of London better than anyone. This is the second story, about the handsome pirate brother known as Crimson Jack, formerly known as Lord Tristan Easton.

While this is a trilogy, and I did read the first story in this series as well I think it stands alone wonderfully as well. The brothers don’t interfere a great deal and any plot points a reader would need to know are nicely incorporated. The premise of the young pampered lords forced to make their own paths in the world with no money or support is an intriguing one, and I was looking forward to. Lord Tristan is shown in the first book as a handsome, seemingly carefree flirt who has captured the attentions of all the ladies in London. He basks in their attention and seems to enjoy himself.

The boys were separated more than a decade ago, as kids that had just lost their father. That said, fourteen is grown up enough that I had a very hard time believing that they were so wild, so unable to cope with society. Yes, they went from pampered to running for their lives and being penniless. But they lived in that society and I just felt like it didn’t mesh. The desire to return home, but the insistence that they could never come home grated on me. Quite honestly, I ended up being greatly annoyed by Tristan and as the story went on his pirate alter ego seemed more and more like an excuse to act as he pleased than anything else.

Ann, the lovely young lady who hires Tristan’s ship to sail her to Scutari to get closure, started out interesting. It seems she’s suffering from depression, she has many regrets regarding her now deceased fiancé, and she wants to kick start her life with this trip and adventure. I really liked how she thought her decisions through and acted like a smart and capable woman.  I really enjoyed her a lot.

The real problem I had with this book, is that I never found it compelling in any way. At 376 pages it felt never ending at times, and while I liked aspects of the story and the characters it never really came together, and I never really felt like we dug deep enough emotionally to offset the lack of action in the second half of the book. There is an absolutely idiotic young lady that causes all kinds of trouble for the couple, and I felt like she could have been eliminated entirely. She added nothing but irritation to this story for me.

Why is this couple so perfect together? What makes them such a great love story? For me, I just never really saw it. I saw a woman doing her best to balance living a full life and pleasing her family, and a man who just wanted to play pirates forever. Even the extensive scarring on his back was shown to be not really a big deal after all – it’s just something that happened because he didn’t take orders well.

As much as I enjoyed a lot of details, and elements of the author’s writing as well I just can’t recommend this book in any way. It didn’t satisfy me, and left me wishing the story had been told in a much different way.

Grade: C-

Recent Reviews:
Hanging with Bells – 4/5
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