Lords of Desire

The previous post gave a very good summary so I won't repeat here. I would recommend this anthology. Many of these stories made me cry, they hit on real themes and emotions I have not read in a romance story in a long while. The second story "The Naked Laird" especially hit close to my heart. It's about a married couple who became estranged after suffering the loss of a baby (miscarriage) and the rekindling of their love after forgiveness. Very touching, I cried very much. The first story "Smuggler's Lair" also hit me hard, so much love that can even conquer death... Read this anthology with a box of tissues.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, the search for an excellent historical romance read for the occasion has been released with novellas written by four talented authors in the Victorian, Georgian, Edwardian and Regency eras. Virginia Henley's "Smuggler's Lair" is a Georgian/Victorian Time-Travel tale where the beautiful violet eyed Victoria Caswell meets the dark handsome new resident of Bodiam Castle, Sir Peregrine Palmer Fuller. Victoria is confused over her emotional draw to the Castle, while Sir Peregrine struggles with trying to understand his love at first site for the lovely Victoria. It is when the Caswell family is invited to dinner at the castle that Victoria suddenly disappears for a month, only to be drawn back in time, meeting one of Sir Peregrine's ancestors, the infamous smuggler Lord Falcon Hawkhurst. Victoria and Falcon fall deeply and sensuously in love. When Falcon is mortally wounded in a smuggler raid and dies, Victoria feels her life is over, only to return to the present and realize that Sir Peregrine is actually her lost Falcon. Will Sir Peregrine come to realize he is the reincarnated Falcon in time to be reunited with his true mate, Victoria? Fans of Sally MacKenzie's "Naked Series" will love this new Regency short story "The Naked Lair." The decade long estranged Lord and Lady Kilgorn are accidentally placed in the same bedroom during a house party. Eleanor (Nell) and Ian married young and were madly in love, only to become estranged after a misunderstanding after the early loss of their first child. Even though ten years is a long time, can they reach across the decade and find their love again? Or better yet, can they come to realize, with a little help from some friends, that they have never stopped loving each other? This sad story will grip your heart, but also delight the reader, as only Sally MacKenzie with her talent can do. It is a great prequel to her next in the "Naked Series," "The Naked Baron." In the straight-laced Victorian era is a wife supposed to enjoy and desire the full sensual pleasures of the marriage bed? Victoria Dahl entertainingly addresses the strong desire and passion of a newly wedded young couple in "Lessons in Pleasure." This delightful story shows the struggles of Sarah and James Hood as they discover their passionate natures during a time of sexual confusion and repression in the Victorian era. Sarah reads and worries too much that she may be a nymphomaniac and James wonders about his feelings and the possibility that his passionate acts are being forced too soon on his young wife. Will Sarah and James discover that intense desire and passion is not something to be denied, but rejoiced over when true love is the basis of this sensuality? Kristi Astor contributes another highly entertaining Victorian era romance in "Swept Away." This story emphasizes the class differences during the Victorian era where the aristocracy is being invaded by the industrialist class. The handsome mill owner