Condemned & Admired
Condemned & Admired by Bree Wolf, The Earl’s Cunning Wife, Love’s Second Chance Series, Damsels and Knights
Violet Winters escapes with her mother from Viscount Silcox who is disappointed he has no heir. Antoine Durex, a French privateer, rescues them and marries her mother. He teaches Violet to sail the seas, and she loves her independence and new family, including her cousin, Henri.
Oliver Cornell, Earl of Cunningwood, is never good enough for his father, who wants him to marry and produce an heir. Oliver is bored and falls asleep on a ship sailing to the Mediterranean. When Antoine’s ship attacks the English ship, Violet and Oliver meet. He envies Violet’s freedom.
Most stories have the goal of a young woman marrying a duke or titled man and living happily ever after, but Wolf shows the aristocracy in a different light with strict rules and a tight rein on the heir to keep wealth and power in a family. Freedom is more important to these characters, but there is a price to pay for living a different life. Is it worth it?
Violet learns her stepsister is betrothed to the man her father had promised her hand in marriage when she was a child and wants to rescue her from a forced marriage to an old man. Others see this as a fortunate match. Everyone in the ton believes Violet and her mother drowned, and she plans to keep her true identity a secret and return to the sea and have a ship of her own someday.
Oliver and Violet are drawn to each other but are torn by their inner desires. Violet does not want to live in London as a lady and Oliver feels he must fulfill his duty as an heir. Juliet does not want to marry her betrothed, but she does not want to be shunned by society if she breaks it off. Oliver’s father is opposed to his sudden (fake) marriage because he thinks Violet is a commoner, and Violet’s father wants to know the fate of his first wife, which could affect his son’s legitimacy.
The story provides plenty of problems to be solved and excitement in a chase and confrontation scene at the end. Oliver and Violet must sort through their conflicting feelings and goals in order to find a way to have love and the life they have dreamed about.
This is a good example of adding layers to a story to keep the reader interested and wondering how the problems will be resolved. It also ties together all the characters, good and bad, in a final confrontation.
#Regency #romance #BreeWolf
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