Review & Giveaway: The Dark Affair by Maire Claremont

The Dark Affair by Maire Claremont

Publication Date: March 4th 2014 by Signet Eclipse

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iBooks

About the book:

The Victorian era was full of majestic beauty and scandalous secrets—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….

My Thoughts:

I don’t pick up historical romances very often but every time I do I enjoy them.  The Dark Affair was no exception.  As a romance set in Victorian England it was a moving story of love and redemption.

Viscount James Powers has descended down a destructive path over the overwhelming guilt of losing his wife and young daughter.  He blanked out the pain by visiting opium dens, getting addicted to the point that he no longer cares about anything, least of all appearances.  His father, the Earl of Carlyle has other ideas because he needs a sane heir to the title, and so he commits James to a psychiatric asylum.  Desperate to get him back to normal, but knowing the danger of him slipping back into his addiction, the Earl arranges for Lady Margaret, a nurse and aid to soldiers ravaged by war, to help him.  More than that, the Earl wants Margaret to marry James to ensure his lasting recovery. Being that Margaret hails from Ireland, even if she is nobility shows just how desperate the Earl is.  Insanity right?

That’s what Lady Margaret thinks, but a sudden change in her circumstances makes this deal impossible to refuse.  That and the fact that she genuinely wants to help James, because something in this man speaks to her very soul.  Margaret knows it won’t be easy to get him back on track, but her heart goes out to James in his state, no matter that he’s an arrogant arse when they first meet.

I was rooting for James and Margaret to find happiness together right away.  I was a little worried that James’ love for his dead wife would mean that Margaret would always come in second, but as details of his past marriage were revealed those worries flew out the window.  James is pretty much taken with Margaret from the get go. I loved that even in his miserable withdrawals James is immediately drawn to Margaret and her feisty ways.  She helps get James to wake up and realize that his problems are not the only ones existing in the world.  Margaret opens James up to see that he is not alone in his suffering, and helping others helps heal his own past pain. For the first time, thanks to Margaret, he’s hopeful about the future.  James can’t help but fall head over heels for this beautiful, headstrong, smart woman:

…nothing could compare with the terrifying way Margaret made him feel, as though he might conquer worlds but could lose it all at any moment. Never in his life had he felt more exposed yet at one with any human as he had last night.

Margaret has her own demons that make her afraid to let James in, but I loved that she opened up anyhow and dealt with her desires honestly and in an adult manner.  She was inexperienced but not embarrassed to admit it, and ask for what she wanted.  Something that James was oh-so-willing to accommodate.  Oh my!  In the end these two prove to be a perfect match of hearts, and I was thrilled at how things wrapped up. 

I was impressed with The Dark Affair. Maire Claremont’s beautiful writing and sweeping romance is sure to please any romance junkie! And check out her character picks for Lady Margaret and Viscount James Powers! Yum!!

4 Suns

Connect with Maire Claremont:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads

The lovely people at Signet Eclipse provided a paperback copy of The Dark Affair to giveaway to one lucky Waves of Fiction follower.  This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL!  Simply fill out the rafflecopter for a chance to win.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway