Lawson’s review of Worth Any Price by Lisa Kleypas
Historical Romance released 03 Jan 28

Alright, so Sybil went to lunch with Lisa, so here’s my review of my favorite Lisa book, Worth Any Price. If you haven’t read it yet, just be warned, there are spoilers!!

Worth Any Price stars one of my favorite heroes as well as being one of my favorite books, Nick Gentry. Nick hasn’t had an easy life. Though the son of a viscount, when his parents die, there’s not much there to take care of him and his sister Sophia. Dire circumstances force Nick into a life of petty crime and at the tender age of twelve he’s arrested and sentenced to a prison ship.

Fast forward to the future and Nick is a Bow Street Runner. He’s on the case for a rather crazy aristocrat to find his bride-to-be, Charlotte Howard, who has run away. Nick finds her at the estate of Marcus, Lord Westcliff (hero of It Happened One Autumn) and plans to lull her into his confidence and then take her back to her fiance.

The plan changes, however, when Nick realizes that perhaps Charlotte is perhaps the perfect woman for him. Nick is someone that can be called The Anti-Touch. He’s not a big fan of people after his time on the prison ship, and has a hard time letting others get close in anyway. The problem with this is he’s also a testosterone crazed male and needs to get some. He’s had only one lover, the madam of London’s famous brothel, and Lottie has that something extra that he knows makes her the right woman for him.

Lottie, after Westcliff reveals who Nick is and why he’s there, makes a decision that Nick is the lesser of two evils. He lied to her, sure, but he’s not crazy. They get married and Nick takes her back to London as his wife, and new viscountess. They get along well enough, Lottie meets his family, and Nick introduces her to the world of sensual pleasures.

With Lottie’s love Nick is able to overcome his fears about people, his place in life and accepting his heritage. I love that these two characters have so much to overcome and they do it together. The steamy, sexy part of this is the inclusion of the Kama Sutra, tantric sex, and the raw sensuality that just seems to roll off Nick, especially as he falls in love with Lottie.

There are a wealth of great secondary characters as well.

Grant Morgan, the head of Bow Street (from Someone to Watch Over Me), Ross Cannon and Sophia (from Lady Sophia’s Lover) make appearances. Lottie’s parents give the reason that Lottie was turned over into the hands of a crazy aristocrat. That crazy aristocrat had attempted to mold Lottie into his idea of the perfect woman, and Lottie knew that would kill whatever individuality that she had. All for giving her parents money so they could live above their means.

Worth Any Price has it all. . .and it just makes me go ssssqqqquuuueeee!

Grade: A+

What is the price of love?

Nick Gentry is reputed to be the most skillful lover in all England. Known for solving delicate situations, he is hired to seek out Miss Charlotte Howard. He believes his mission will be easily accomplished — but that was before he met the lady in question.

For instead of a willful female, he discovers one in desperate circumstances, hiding from a man who would destroy her very soul. So Nick shockingly offers her a very different kind of proposition — one he has never offered before.

He asks her to be his bride.

And he knows that this will be much more than a union in name only. For he senses what Charlotte does not yet know — that her appetite for sensuality matches his own. But what Nick learns surprises him. For while London’s most notorious lover might claim Charlotte’s body, he quickly discovers it will take much more than passion to win her love.