Lady of Desire
While running away from home Lady Jacinda Knight encounters handsome outlaw, Billy Blade, who is in fact Lord William Albright, Earl of Rackford and heir to his estranged father’s estate. When he is betrayed to the authorities, he reconciles with his father to save his men and returns to society. There he pursues Jacinda who is determined to marry an elderly widower for convenience and gain complete independence after he dies.
While Ms. Foley is an accomplished writer, I found her lead characters, though well drawn, to be rather unsympathetic. The hero is unreasonably vengeful, blaming the heroine for his own stupidity. Meanwhile she is far too cold and calculating. While it is true both have motivation for such behaviour and eventually learn from each other, the extremes to which the author goes early on spoiled them for me.
Though the well-paced story is somewhat predictable, the writing is smooth, if somewhat rife with purple prose. And while the basics of the Regency era are well portrayed, several anachronisms popped up. Still, fans of the genre who like Alpha heroes and modern style heroines will likely enjoy Ms. Foley’s latest effort.
