THE SINS OF LORD LOCKWOOD is book six in the Rules for the Reckless series by the redoubtable Meredith Duran. Liam Devaliant, our tortured (literally!) earl, first stepped into our notice a decade ago in THE DUKE OF SHADOWS, Duran's first novel. While one doesn't need to read THE DUKE OF SHADOWS to appreciate THE SINS OF LORD LOCKWOOD, the reader would be well-rewarded to read it as well. Duran does a fabulous job in both of these books in showing the dark depths of tormented souls. Such angsty goodness!

Lord Lockwood was abducted on his wedding night and thrown onto a convict ship bound for Australia, fraudulently misidentified as a criminal. Lockwood endured terrible tortures onboard and once upon land as a slave laborer, until he led a revolt and killed his cruel captors. Lockwood returns to England determined to revenge himself upon the perpetrator of this evil, only to find his plans thrown into utter disarray by the unexpectedly early arrival of his wife.

Anna is a Scottish countess in her own right. Fiercely independent, she marries Liam in order to fulfill criteria that will allow her to rule her own lands in Scotland. Anna thinks that her husband abandoned her on their wedding night following a quarrel, and she is furious with him. Anna is prickly and smart, and I could eat her up with a spoon.

Lockwood is understandably mentally jacked up by his four year ordeal, and he tried to shut Anna out in order to focus on his revenge. I got irritated with both characters multiple times for not talking to each other. Jiminy crickets! But their reticence, while frustrating, is believable. Anna also keeps pushing Lockwood away because of childhood traumas that left her emotionally isolated. Both Liam and Anna are so broken, my heart ached for both of them. The guilt, regret, and despair are built up in their hearts layer upon layer. It's positively gorgeous to see those layers stripped by love and forgiveness, leaving both Anna and Liam blinking in the bright lights, a little bloody and disoriented, but finally released from the prisons of their own making. Duran's THE SINS OF LORD LOCKWOOD is an intricate story of redemption overcoming the stains of fear and despair, and of love proving that two people together are stronger than two apart.