Heartless Lord Harry

instead, this is a serious story about some serious issues: the ephemeral value of good looks, the effects of battle, loss of self-worth and the value of deep friendship.One reviewer has criticised this book for not making it plain who was the hero and the heroine. I don't think the author intended to have just one for this is the story of two sisters, raised in slighty unusual circumstances who fall in love (with reservations!) with two friends who are as close as brothers and who are themselves very unlike each other. We have two heroines and two heros - and, why not?Harry, Marquess of Sidmouth, against the wishes of his family took a commission and fought in Wellington's Spanish campaign. As a young and impressionable man, he witnessed the terrible atrocities that followed the successful siege at Badajoz. What happened to him caused him to lose some of his faith in humanity and most certainly the the value of love and the sexual expression of love. He needs healing but is unaware of this.His friend James, Lord Clitheroe, had always done what his somewhat stuffy and proud family demanded but, by the time we meet him, he is having doubts about the merit of letting others run his life.Kate Richmond, always the sensible one in a family of eccentrics, and Lynette, beautiful but scholarly, meet these two men and despite a few false starts, each ends with the right man. Farrell brings in a May Day celebration in Cornwall as a plot device to allow everyone to shed some of their inhibitions and pre-conceived notions. Although not an ideal device, it does get the point across and is the turning point for all concerned.Farrell does not write amusing, frothy stories about mindless love. She makes you think and she lets her characters act out the story in a way that fits their timeframe. Cheers for this. In this story, one of our heroines experienced molestation as a child and the sexual implictions of this are part of the focus of the story. Although not my favourite of her novels, nonetheless, I recommend this to those of you who like a good story with excellent characters who grow and learn about themselves in a credible way.

Farrell's Heartless Lord Harry is an entertaining and interesting outing in the Regency genre. There is unusual depth, and a darkness, about the characters of Harry Lifton and Lynette Richmond that is typically missing in these light-hearted novels. Ms. Farrell writes a solid plot, but I was somewhat disappointed with the ending, which did not seem entirely motivated by what we come to learn about the characters.