flashbacks should be banned ( )

Y'all. This book. It is everything. So good. Sooo many feelings. Jeez. The longing, the angst, the trauma. And the LOVE! Ugh.

So Anna, a bold Scottish countess who needs a husband to inherit, enters into a marriage of convenience with Liam, Lord of Lockwood, who needs a wife with a fortune to prop up his estates. There are genuine feelings between them despite the practicality of their marriage contract.

Then on their wedding night, they quarrel and when Liam leaves to clear his head, he's assaulted and kidnapped and sent to an Australian penal colony as a prisoner. It takes him four years to make it back to England.

When Anna reads in the paper that her wayward husband, who she believes abandoned her on her wedding night, is back in London and spending her money, she packs her bags and heads that way. She has a bone to pick with him.

This book is funny in places, but so so *gut-wrenching* in others. Honestly, all the feels, every single one.

Liam is a sweet baby angel and Anna is a GD queen, and I want to shove this book into the face of everyone I know.

CW: Torture, wrongful imprisonment, PTSD, panic attacks, suicide ( )

Reread 11/18: I buddy-read this with Joanna (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/28993380-joanna-loves-reading) and Gaufre https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/60071686-gaufre and was super annoying as usual. Again next year, guys?
Buddy Read Thread:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/19588945-november-15-reread-sins-of-lord-lo...

Also, I take back that part below where I said I would reread it and update. I much prefer just basking in this feeling that this book is perfection for me. And I'll say one more thing that occurred to me while reading--there aren't tropes I don't like--there are just authors who can and cannot execute. Meredith Duran executed.
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First and foremost, I'd like to thank the many fans who apparently asked for this book. I can't believe it wasn't all part of the plan. Since I have only been reading Meredith Duran and historical romance for a very short time, I'm so thankful she listened to your pleas!
 
I was absolutely riveted by Lockwood from the first introduction in The Duke of Shadows.  A strange, dark charm...I actually didn't realize till late in the book that her new release was to be about him, and I was so happy to hear it. 
 
Now onto the review of this book....
 
It's almost not fair. What kind of brilliance does it take for an author to understand the human condition, make us understand and empathize with both characters nearly in equal measure, hurt and hope with them, and fall in love with them? A Meredith Duran level of brilliance. I know I haven't been reading romance long, but having read #1, #5,#6 from this series I unreservedly say that she is the one of the best that romance has to offer. Her books are instant classics with their meaty plots, incredible but not miraculous character development, and beautiful words. (Which I'll share upon a second reading).
 
 
I am realizing my reviews of her books are far less than adequate. I intend to reread and more heavily review these rich examples of romance. I can tell you in so many ways this book pushes you to the edges of your capacity to understand and creates a little fissure that eventually becomes something you can identify with. Though I still favor Duke of Shadows, this is equally poignant. She's taken flawed characters and made us love them more for it. 
 
I shall stop with the gushing...well through writing, I still have a lot going on my up in my brain over this stunner of a book.
 
Thanks to Netgalley/publisher for the advanced copy of this book.  ( )

The Sins of Lord Lockwood (Rules for the Reckless) by Meredith Duran  


How can it be possible to like and loathe a character at the same time? Meredith Duran makes it possible. The Sins of Lord Lockwood proves how underrated of an author Duran truly is. My heart broke for the lovebirds who never got the chance to be happy. Fate played a cruel joke on two unsuspecting souls. They offered their hearts and instead received heartache. Liam lost his soul to a darkness intent on breaking his spirit. Anna lost her hopes and dreams to a cruelty she fails to understand. Just as easily as hope was snatched away, it suddenly reappears. A vengeful Lord, an emotional whirlwind and a mesmerizing race to a second chance, wage a courageous battle against fate, despair and heartbreak. An epic tale of hearts and faith is at the center of an awe inspiring romance.
 
 


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3.5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.



Thinking they both wanted a marriage in name only, Liam and Anna start to find themselves more than attracted to one another by the time their marriage actually happens.
Thinking Liam is just another person abandoning her, Anna finally believes that his disappearance on their wedding night was all according to his plan. However, Liam was kidnapped and taken to a penal colony in Australia where his journey back to England is going to take more than physical distance traveled.

He was the fifth Earl of Lockwood. He had been abducted onto a prison hulk. He was chained and bound for the Australian colonies.

Sixth in the Rules for the Reckless series, there are characters that connect it to it but the book you'd most want to read before this one is The Duke of Shadows. The mystery and villains of what, why, who, and where are more comprehensively explained and dealt with there. I would have liked the main villain for Liam to have had more screen time here with more of a threaded in mystery plot than at the end condescended version we got. What we do get a lot of is the emotional turmoil and weight Liam lives with, Anna's thoughts, feelings, and how they swirl around and interact with Liam, and how these two fell in love initially and how they can find themselves back to one another.

Do not look at me. Or, more accurately: do not see me.

Stripped down to the frame, this is a story of a hero horribly done wrong, fighting his way back towards sanity, revenge, and a heroine working through her own hurts and trying to reach the hero. It is a tried and true formula but the author's writing ability infuses it with tragic and beautiful emotion; there are lines that will send tingles down your spine and ache to your heart. Liam's love for Anna is always evident, whether it’s shown through his marvel in the beginning, wall he puts up between them in the middle, or the eventual painful desire given into towards the end. I would have liked more of Anna's character flushed out a bit more through interactions with her cousin Moira (who gets a bit ignored at the end) or her people of the island, I felt like a depth of her character was missing because of the lack of friendships. Liam too could have stood to have more scenes with his household friends, imagine the light but incredible heavy scenes those moments could have produced. This was much focused on Anna and Liam's relationship, which I know some readers will love.

Unspeakable things had no reply. But he had survived them. So he could speak them.

There is a lot of anger, hurt, and love in this story, which as I mentioned, makes it a highly emotional read. I would have liked a little more outside of Liam and Anna's relationship influences but they could definitely carry the show. Flashback segments are used to show how Anna and Liam fall in love and except for, what I felt, was a too late placed one, I thought the character development was better for it. It has been a bit of wait to see why Lord Lockwood and his wife had such tension between them in The Duke of Shadows but it was worth it. ( )