THE DARK AFFAIR is Book three in Maire Claremont's Mad
Passions series. This is the first book I've read by
this
author, but I think this book can be enjoyed without
reading the previous books in the series. However, after
reading this story, I am intrigued and plan on reading the
earlier books. The artwork on the cover and the book
description lured me in.
One of the things I really like
about this story is the inauspicious way the hero and
heroine meet and are thrown together. Crushed by grief over
the death of his wife and young daughter, Viscount Powers
is left to molder in a madhouse. He had been self-
medicating with opium to forget his troubles when his
father had him committed for his own good. Unfortunately
for him, there weren't any fancy rehab facilities like
there are nowadays. That is his situation at the opening of
the book. While there, he is nursed by Lady Margaret
Cassidy.
Maggie is a very complex character. Though from
the upper class herself, albeit in Ireland, she is no
stranger to personal tragedy and nurses for purely
altruistic reasons. In Powers' mind, he and Maggie have a
slightly adversarial relationship, even though he finds
himself physically attracted to her. Due to some
manipulation by Powers' father, he and Maggie wind up
married and he is able to be sprung from the madhouse.
I
liked that she was up front with James right away about his
father's involvement in the marriage scheme. I was worried
at first, that James wouldn't be aware of all the details
until a later point and have feelings of betrayal. The only
thing
Maggie holds back from him is her reasons for marriage as
pertains to her brother and the trouble he's in. She also
is afraid to give into her emotions and foster any feelings
of love she may have for James because of her abandonment
issues. She lost her mother and father to the grave and her
brother took up with revolutionaries.
This is such a great
story for so many reasons. I loved the chemistry between
the hero and heroine and how their relationship evolves. I
love the irony of Maggie trying to heal James by getting
him to open up about his feelings; even though that is
something she struggles with without wanting to admit it.
James becomes a little more self-aware in that respect
before she does. James's father was a surprise and ended up
having more depth than I had anticipated. It was nice to
see father and son healing as a family unit. I also enjoyed
the historical context with Maggie's background and the
Irish famine. I was captivated by these characters and this
story. I look forward to reading the previous books in this
series as well as other books by this author.
The Victorian era was full of majestic beauty and scandalous
secret's a time when corsets were the least of a woman's
restrictions, and men could kill or be killed in the name of
honor¦
Lady Margaret Cassidy left a life of nobility behind
in Ireland, forsaking her grieving homeland to aid
war-ravaged men in England. Still, she never expected a
cruel turn of fate to lock her into an unwanted betrothal
with one of her English patients much less one as broken and
dangerous as Viscount Powers. Wrecked by his tragic past,
Powers opiate-addled sanity hangs precariously in the
balance, leaving him poised to destroy anyone who dares to
utter the names of the wife and child he still so deeply
mourns. So when he is forced to marry Margaret in exchange
for freedom, he is shocked by the desire to earn her trust,
her body, and - most alarming of all - her heart¦
You really should read the first 2 books. Lady in Red actually had Powers in it quite a bit. Glad you liked The Dark Affair. I am looking forward to reading it. Thanks for the review! (Sharlene Wegner 10:56pm February 27, 2014)
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