Genre: Historical, Romance, Regency
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay
Reviewer: Jau
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About The Book
Rollo Duchamps-Avery, the high-spirited second son of the eleventh Earl of Rossingley, is not in his father’s best books. After one misdemeanour too many, the earl ruins Rollo’s idyllic summer by packing him off to the wilds of rural Norfolk, arranging for him to stay with the Duke of Ashington’s loathsome brother.
Lord Lyndon Fitzsimmons has an aversion to houseguests. Shunned by polite society for crimes far wickeder than anything Rollo could dream up, all Fitzsimmons wants is to drink himself into a stupor, tend his beloved hydrangeas, and take potshots at tin soldiers.
If only his inquisitive young visitor, with his pretty little head of wispy blond hair, his stupidly coltish legs, and his knack of always being where Fitzsimmons would rather him not, would leave him in peace.
This third book in the Rossingley Regency romance series features the fourteenth Earl of Rossingley’s lively second son, Rollo, and the Duke of Ashington’s disgraced brother, Lord Lyndon Fitzsimmons. This book can be read as a standalone.
The Review
I always enjoy well written Regency romances, and this one is no exception. Like Georgette Heyer, the doyenne of Regency romance, the author pays attention to period detail and to minor characters, including family and servants.
This is no alternate universe where same sex relationships are accepted; the men in the Rossingley series are all too aware of the illegality, and the danger of acting on their preferences.
There is both humour and angst in this story of Rollo, sent to the country to repent his sins, and Lyndon, his host, whose official exile has ended but who maintains his banishment for his own reasons.
I was slow to appreciate Lyndon, having met him as the villain in a previous book in the series, but as he showed true remorse and some kind of mitigating explanation, I warmed to him. And of course, Rollo simply fell in love.
If you squint, this is a Regency version of Beauty and the Beast; though Lyndon is handsome from the outset. his character is perhaps almost beastly at first. Rollo is sent to him by his father, and when he and Lyndon are parted due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, there is a great deal of drama until they are re-united.
Highly recommended for readers who love Regency romance.
5 stars.
The Reviewer
I’ve been doing book reviews on my website, crossposted or linked to various social media, for a few years. I read a number of genres but I really enjoy all kinds of speculative fiction so thought I’d like to share my views with you. I love sci fi and other speculative fiction because of the way it can, at its best, make us see ourselves in a new light. Quite apart from the exciting stories, of course! I used to be an English teacher, and I’m a writer (fantasy) so I can be quite critical about style etc. but I hope I can also appreciate properly some books that don’t appeal to me personally but might be simply perfect for others. I have, obviously, read widely, and continue to do so.
