Review: Why Lords Lose Their Hearts (Wicked Widows) - ARC

Author: Manda Collins
Original Title: Why Lords Lose Their Hearts
Release Year: 2014 (July)
 
Literary Genre: Romance
Setting: England, regency
Series: 3° of Wicked Widows series


Vote: 7

 THIS NOVEL WILL BE RELEASED THE 29th JULY 2014

Perdita, the widowed Duchess of Ormond, keeps a dangerous secret, the truth of how her brutish husband died. Unfortunately a mysterious avenger knows it and threats her life.

There's only one friend she can turn to for help, her husband's former secretary, Lord Archer Lisle, the youngest and good-natured son of the Duke of Pemberton.

Archer has always loved Perdita and he had to witness her every heartache and abuse and for years he could only stand by, seething, as she suffered.

Now he has all the intentions to help her in every way he can, and protract her beloved from this new threat.

The plot was (is) so very interesting; so much so that, as soon as I've received the novel, I started reading it, very late in the night and with a certain eagerness...what a pity that the development didn't exactly satisfied my expectation. Let's be clear, it is not a bad novel, not at all, but I've encountered some uncertainties, some dead parts and some exaggerations as well.

The preamble and the immediately following chapters are amazing; then I don't know what happens but the rhythm is not as incisively protracted.

The strong point in this romance are the characters, no doubt. They are very well portrayed and the connection with them comes easily.

The evil characters are great as well...to be honest I mainly prefer the kind of antagonist with whom you really can't sympathise; I mean, there are bad people in this world, who are bad just because of their characters, there's not always a justification, then why should we always look for some good in everyone?! Well, in Why Lords Lose Their Hearts, the author doesn't try or want to give us that idea, and I've appreciated this decision.

Our hero and heroine are lovely and very sweet together, they are both deep characters. I've liked a lot also Archer's family, his brothers especially.

Unfortunately there are other parts which lack of incisiveness.

The conclusion, where all sins are discovered, is a bit too much in my opinion; trying not to spoiler crucial points, let say that I've liked the idea of the antagonist's motivations and background, but, I know that abuses where de rigueur and even not that badly seen at those times and before, but at the end of the romance, when I was reading AGAIN about another (and I don't mean the second...) abuse, I found it a bit pushed over the edge...same for the old dowager Duchess of Ormond's confession.

Apart from my last consideration, I think this is a nice romance to read, good plot and good characters.

Buona lettura!

M.E.G.

The Wicked Widows series:  1. Why Dukes Say I Do (Trevor, Isabella)
                                        2. Why Earls Fall in Love  (Dominc, Georgina)

                                        3. Why Lords Lose Their Hearts (Archer, Perdita) 

                                 

  

** I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book on courtesy of NetGalley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review, thank you for the opportunity.