Sybil’s review of The Sins of Lord Easterbrook (The Rothwell Series, Book 4) by Madeline Hunter
Historical romance released by Dell 27 Jan 09
The Sins of Lord Easterbrook is a novel I have been waiting for since “the end” of The Rules of Seduction. Christian, Marquess of Easterbrook is a puzzle, an enigma, you know there is such a story there to be told. Who is this man who walks around ‘half dressed’, obeys no rules but his own, does not suffer society and still manages to remain in favor. He IS Easterbrook. And Madeline Hunter made us suffer through three books to get here, it is a damn good thing they were good books. Of course the problem that always leaves us with is… does the book live up to the wait?
To be completely honest, I got a few chapters into the book and was some what annoyed and put the book down. In fact I didn’t make it back to the book for a few weeks because I thought The Sins of Lord Easterbrook was going to take a turn off into a paranormal direction. It was rather short-sighted of me and I didn’t give the book enough of a chance, once I picked it back up and decided to just see where the author was taking us (and did learn that no woo woo was involved in Easterbrook’s Sins) it was all good.
The book opens with Lord Easterbrook trying very hard to find his ‘center’ and his valet pretty much thinking his job sucks. There is a disturbance in the force so to speak and next we know Lord Easterbrook is having Leona Montgomery kidnapped (in a most polite way) off the street and taken to his home for a chat. There she learns Christian, Marquess of Easterbrook, is really Edmund the same man who once stole her heart a life time ago and who she thinks might hold a key to why she is now in England.
This all happens in the first two chapters of the book.
As always she [Madeline Hunter] has wonderful characters, awesome detail and grand attention paid to her research. Or she fakes it really well ;). For someone like me who has pined for a character for as long as I have, and she did make me wait a good long while to get Christian’s HEA, she delivered and delivered well.
I know it seems like I am not giving you a ton of detail and I almost feel like I should say “sorry” but seriously – I put this book down or at least a month after waiting 100 years for it – you think I am going to give you spoilers? READ it.
Grade: A
Read more info and reviews of this series by following the its tag.
Summary:
Only a desperate mission could bring Leona Montgomery face-to-face with the scoundrel whose dangerous sensuality once sent her fleeing from his arms. But she has under-estimated Christian, Marquess of Easterbrook. As irresistible as ever, his past swathed in mystery, Christian has his own plans for the woman he has waited seven years to claim. Yet once desire reignites, bringing a dangerous secret into the open, Leona will find herself bound to the seductive nobleman in ways she could never have imagined. Seven years have changed nothing: this man can tempt her to ruin with just one touch. With Leona’s reputation and hopes for her family’s salvation in tatters, she must follow the only course left to her…even as each step brings her closer to a shattering truth and a passion she can no longer live without.…
Read an excerpt.
Other books in the series:
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Madeline Hunter is one author I just don’t “get.” There’s something so vague, so remote and distant, about her writing that I just don’t “picture” what’s happening. It’s almost as though she’s writing in some foreign language, but no, it’s English, yet I might as well be reading Dutch. Maybe it’s just me, I dunno …
But I’m glad you liked the book.
I definitely plan on reading it soon as I get it in my hands, glad to hear it was worth after all the waiting for his story.
I also put it down and am having a hard time picking it back up, which is annoying, because I usually love Hunter. I’m hoping it’s just a mood and I will love it later.
(But… there is woo woo. Maybe not an awful lot, but definitely a touch.)
The more you get into the book and once it is explained you see it isn’t what you assumed it was.
I started it at a time I was totally paranormaled out. So when it hit me I admit I was like what the fuck. And I assumed all sorts of things. Of course I KNEW what was going on… I didn’t allow for any room that I might not be wrong *g*.
And really I had just had the black out and was starting a med that was making me a touch wiggy or I would have emailed the author and been all WTF. 🙂 she would have slapped me and told me I was wrong and I could have picked the book back up sooner. I don’t know how far you got into it.
But really the woo woo of it isn’t as much as *I* made it out to be and there is a point he explains what it is to her where I was like no way and on the reread (I have read this book like three times now) I saw all the spots where I KNEW what was going on where if I had just read the words and shut up the voices in my head *hee* I might have heard what the author was telling me.
let me know if you finish it… would love to know if you still didn’t like it or not
sadly some books just don’t work for us
I finally managed to finish it, after several false starts, and I see what you mean. His situation reminds me of autism a little (my son is autistic) – the sensory issues which cause a need to shut the world out sometimes.
But on the whole, I was disappointed. It just didn’t speak to me much and everything that wasn’t about the relationship was really boring to me. The language felt a little overblown, too. So it goes. She is still one of my favorite writers.