Born in a London workhouse, Sarah Connolly's only desire is
to put the city firmly behind her. Physically and
emotionally scarred by her brutal upbringing in one of the
bleakest quarters of the grandest Victorian city of them
all, Sarah has her sights and heart set on Venice, where
she can make a fresh start. Hired as a companion to an
elderly lady and her three young charges, Sarah sets off on
a journey that will change her life in ways she could never
have dreamed possible.
Sebastian Grimsthorpe, Lord Wortham, is a man driven by
revenge. His young illegitimate daughter was raped by a man
he considered a close friend, and now Sebastian can't rest
until he sees the man brought down and destroyed. Sebastian
concocts an intricate plan, which begins with him
engineering his own death and assuming an alternate
identity. Sebastian follows de Lint, his daughter's rapist,
to Venice. There he finds de Lint in the company of his
elderly mother, her companion, Sarah, and their three young
wards. Unprepared for the inclusion of Sarah in de Lint's
party, Sebastian is forced to alter his plan to accommodate
her. Believing her to be his enemy's whore, Sebastian
decides to seduce her and use her to bring about de Lint's
eventual downfall.
What follows is the slow and sensual seduction of the timid
and insecure Sarah. When the cloaked man she meets in
Venice marks her for his own, she's ready for him. But
Sarah isn't the only one who falls under the city's sultry
spell. Sebastian is mesmerized by the small, plain woman.
And although he planned for her to be the instrument of his
revenge, he finds his hard heart is slowly melting and the
woman he planned to use and cast aside has taken up
stubborn residence in his barren life, refusing to be
dislodged.
The city of Venice is as well-rounded a character as any
other in this book. You completely fall under the city's
spell with its canals and midnight masquerades. Sarah is
insecure, so meek, so cautious, but at the same time has an
inner strength and drive to rival the most spunky and
outspoken of heroines. Sebastian blindly rushes forward
with his plans for revenge (blindly being the key word
here), never thinking about the consequences. Somewhere
deep inside, he realizes he's losing a part of his
humanity, but he's so focused on "justice" he doesn't care.
In the end, Sarah makes him care again. A sensual and
bewitching Gothic-type romance.
Sarah Connolly leaves a past of desperation in London to
help an old friend in Venice. There, she discovers dark
secrets and a mysterious figure lurking in the shadows. He
is Sebastian Grimsthorpe - once carefree, now bent on
exacting pitiless revenge on the man who nearly destroyed
him. But his plot is obscured when he discovers Sarah,
whose tragic eyes seduce him into a world of secrecy and
deception.
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