Lawson’s review of Untouched by Anna Campbell
Historical romance released by Avon November 27, 2007

Blurb:

Beautiful Grace Paget has no reason not to believe these words. After all, she was kidnapped, spirited away to a remote country manor, and told she is to grant this man his every desire . . . or lose her life. But Grace is no common trollop. So she risks everything to save her virtue by planning a daring escape, even though she finds herself tempted by this handsome man. There is something in his eyes that makes her wonder if he is as dangerous as he would have her believe.

Sheene knew nothing of the plan to bring him this woman. Locked up as a prisoner, called “mad” by all of the world, he will do anything to reclaim his life, and Grace’s sensuous beauty has distracted him from his goals. And although he finds her irresistible, he is horrified to hold her against her will. Now, together, they must both revolt against the strange set of circumstances that have forced them together—for only then will Grace truly surrender to him . . . forever.

Excerpt. 

Isn’t the cover so pretty? I personally love it and think it is a great fit for this book. But . . . on to the review.

Grace Paget hasn’t had the easiest life, especially since she has recently become widowed. Things have become much worse when she’s kidnapped off the streets of Bristol while looking for her cousin. Spirited away to a country estate, she awkens in a room with two thugs arguing about whether she looks like a prostitute or not. Grace soon finds out the two thugs are bodyguards on a walled estate that’s a prison for Matthew Landsdowne, Marquess of Sheene.

Grace has been brought to keep Sheene in line by his uncle. Thinking that a woman will distract him, Sheene’s uncle is doing all he can to keep his nephew locked away so that he can continue to dig into the family fortune for his own benefit. As much as she tries, Grace cannot escape the estate and is at the mercy of the two jailers and the daunting gaze of Matthew himself, who she doesn’t believe is wholly sane.

Though a childhood illness made Matthew an invalid, he is recovered and chafes at his prison. He’s attempted escape numerous times, but his uncle catches him and does everything in his power to punish those who helped Matthew leave the prison built for him. Far from sane, yet tired of his uncle’s manipulations, he doesn’t trust Grace and does what he can to make her life as miserable as his is.

Soon though, Matthew realizes Grace is as innocent as he is, and he works to trust her. But when they don’t share a bed, Matthew’s uncle issues an ultimatum. If Grace doesn’t get Matthew into her bed in a week, he’ll give her to the two thugs to rape and then she’ll be killed. Matthew does what he can to save her, but the close quarters lead to temptation and feelings that have no place in a prison such as theirs, unless they take the risk to secure freedom from captivity. . .and to love each other.

As out of the realm of realistic it seems like, life in the 18th century was rough. There are a lot of books that seem to gloss over that, but if someone was ill and out of their senses without modern medicine, I’m sure that locking them away would be a reasonable option. Especially if the guardian of said person was a greedy, grasping person like Matthew’s uncle, Lord John, and had the power to sweep it all under the table. The treatment of those who were deemed madmen was unfair and helped Lord John to keep his true actions hidden.

Even with the unfair imprisonment and treatment doled out to Matthew, he’s still an intelligent, caring person who is there for Grace and saves her as much as she saves him. Being unfairly imprisoned for eleven years would drive any sane person nuts in the first place. Every obstacle that Matthew’s uncle throws at him Matthew is able to turn around for his own benefit and triumph in his own way.

Once Grace is able to get Matthew to believe that she’s not in league with his uncle, sexy things start to happen. For two people that are rather sexually inexperienced, there was some hot stuff going on between the sheets. The story works so well because these two characters, though forced together, are still believable and use their minds to get out of situations rather than wait on fate to come along and help them.

Lord John and the two prison guards, Monks and Filey, are drawn as the worst of humanity, which understandably they are. The resolution of the evil they inflict, while not satisfying, was realistic and fit with the rest of the tone of the story. The end also was not as satisfying as the rest of the book, but it was realistic and though I felt Grace’s choice was not the best one to make, however in her situation I might make the same one.

Where the title for this one came from though. . .it makes one wonder who or what is supposed to be untouched. Grace, when Matthew doesn’t trust her? Grace because of her past? Matthew because he’s been locked away from the world for so long? How the title fits in with the story is a bit beyond me. . .but it didn’t take away from the power of the book either.

Another dark love story from Campbell, but it keeps with the times in terms of what would happen to people, the characterizations and above all it gives a HEA.

Grade: B+