The Sins of Lord Easterbrook (Rothwell)

I loved this book. I was intrigued by Easterbrook in the previous books. MH penned him as arrogant, imperial, sometimes comical, and he also seemed lonely and tortured. To me he was very well written in the first three books. I almost didn't care what this plot would be about as long as Easterbrook remained true to character. And, MH delivered! His voice and actions were all Easterbrook. I laughed sometimes and sometimes felt sad for him. Overcoming the seemingly insurmountable obstacles in their path, I thought created a deeply moving love story. I also think MH did an excellent job throughout the series tying all the pieces together.

STOP, CAUTION, Do not read this book until you have first read all the books in this series. They are in order of publication: Rules of Seduction, Lessons of Desire and Secrets of Surrender. While each of these books is a stand alone story,they are a prequisite to understanding and appreciating the hero in this story--Christian Rothwell, Marquess of Easterbrook. While the storylines are not universally appealing in all of these novels, this series stands out as one of the most memorable of any series in this genre easily rivaling the Bedwyns by Mary Balogh,the Mallorens by Jo Beverley and the recent Carsingtons by Loretta Chase. Christian Rothwell easily is one of the most complex and like him or hate him, memorable characters you will ever meet in a historical romance. Yes I will say it-- he is likeable - despite his many flaws that other reviewers have elaborated upon. He is bossy, arrogant and often rude to others, but there is a humanism about him that can only be observed if you look at him and his actions over the time span of the entire series. Who came to the aide of Hayden and Alexia when they became embroiled in scandal, who stood by his youngest brother Elliott when he became involved with and eventually married a woman polite society largely scorned because of her promiscuity and her innate rebuke of the institution of marriage. Who came to the rescue of Hayden's wife's cousin Roslyn when she was involved in a huge sex scandal. The answer to all these questions is of course Christian Rothwell. No, this character is not unlikeable, he just has to be understood in the context of the time period and the breadth of his actions over a long period of time. While Hunter does not pull huge amounts of period detail into this story as in some of her others,it is because this is a purely character driven story and what a wonderful love story she has written. This complex hero finally finds or finds again the one mature woman, Leona Montgomery, who is willing to take the time and has the intelligence to see through his arrogant facade. Can any reader doubt his humanism when he holds the first of the next generation of Rothwells (Hayden's Daughter)in his arms. So poignant and tender in places, this is a story of two people who fall in love but are willing to never marry if it would not be in the others best interest. Lest we forget, true love is unselfish and we see a perfect example of that in these characters especially in Christian. Hunter brings the reader into their emotions as they find not only true physical intimacy, but the deeper intimacy of coming to understand the many layers of each others character. This is a throughly satisfying love story, but to be appreciated it must be read slowly and carefully or you will miss the many subtle reminders of this couple's developing love for each other and Christians acknowledgement that he could only ever be his one true self and really live when he is with Leona. For Leona she says it all in

I was fascinated with Lord Easterbrook when he first appeared in "Rules of Seduction." He was remote, uncivilized, and honestly, a little weird. But so commanding and masculine! Now we know all the nuances of his quirks, and why he gravitates toward Leona. I found Hunter's revelations about the Opium trade and British-Chinese dealings very well researched. Connecting to the characters humanized the whole situation. As always, Hunter weaves a story both historical and romantic, full of mystery and criminals who don't quite get away. The only sure thing is that someone will have a HEA, and it won't be the bad guys.

We finally get to read the Marquess of Easterbrook's story! His character has fascinated me through all the other books and I couldn't wait to see what made this guy tick. And unlike most of the other reviewers, this totally worked for me. Christian is sort of a larger than life character so I expected him to dominate the story. In fact I wanted him too. I really liked him and once you find out what his problem is you can understand him better and you see why he acts the way he does. His refrain of "I am Easterbrook" tells us a lot about him just in the one sentence. You get a sense of how he was probably raised, how people look at him know, the power he has in this time and place. It even tells us why he wanted to be 'Edmund' for a while. I found it refreshing that he openly pursues Leona the moment he knows she's in London. No tiptoeing around here. And it suits my taste perfectly that she (who has been raised in a different world) is not so stubborn or hardheaded or bound by rules of society that she can't fall for his seduction every time. When the circumstances are right I actually like that in a woman. *g* They had been in love with each other years earlier and even if neither of them say it for a while it's obvious they still love one another. If they'd just met it would have gone too fast of course, but that's not the case. I'm not a huge fan of romances that try to educate us on society's ills, but I still liked this book even with it's opium trade theme. Perhaps that was because it was handled in a more practical approach and didn't seem all that preachy. Whatever the reason it seemed more like it added to the story than detracted from it so I had no problem. I didn't much care for her attempt to show us a few of the other characters points of view. It was a bit disconcerting and there was no real reason for it, but she didn't use it too much and stopped before it became too much of an annoyance so I don't see it as a real problem. However, I loved the epilogue where we got to see all our guys and their wives and offspring and learn how everyone is doing. I'm not sure if it's all over now or not, but this was a great series and I thought this book put a nice flourish on the bouquet.

The Marquis of Easterbrook Christian has traveled the globe to learn how to cope with his inner secrets. In Macao, China pretending to be a commoner, Christian meets Leona Montgomery, the daughter of a trading house tycoon. Their attraction frightens both of them, but a young Leona flees from him fearing her feelings. He is heartbroken as she is the only person he ever met who keeps his demons at bay. Seven years after they first met, Leona is in England seeking answers to her family's devastated business now run by her brother while also seeking needed capital investment. Her late father blamed the government sponsored Opium for Tea triangular colonialism trade anchored by the English opium monopoly for destroying his firm. Christian has waited for her all these years. Though he will help her on her quest, this time he will not allow her to run from love. This mid nineteenth century romance is fast-paced and filled with action as love and intrigue make for an excellent historical. The relationship between the lead couple is worth the cost of this fine early Victorian, but it is the insight into the octopus tentacles of the Opium Trade for tea that brings depth to this passionate tale. Harriet Klausner