Genre: Historical, Regency Romance
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay
Reviewer: Linda, Paranormal Romance Guild
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About The Book
A proper gentleman. A stoic soldier. Their passion ignites a defiant love…
Lord Patrick Upshur seemingly hasn’t a care in the world. He’s a younger son of a wealthy lord in the Realm and his only responsibilities include behaving in a manner his father sees fit and possibly getting married someday. No one, not even Patrick’s closest sibling, knows that he’s hiding a painful secret – one that could disgrace him and the Upshur family forever.
Commandant Iseul of the White Riders understands he should concentrate on only three things – commanding his men in the barracks, serving the sovereign, and protecting the Realm. He’s only given in to his deepest desires once and he’s vowed to never do it again.
Both are resigned to their fates as the annual summer Solstice festival arrives.
After a chance encounter in a secluded courtyard in a tavern, it’s love at first sight.
Enamored, the two vow to meet again, despite the edicts of the Realm forbidding any relationship between them.
As their passion blossoms into something deeper, they plot to run away together but are thwarted by tragedy.
Can their love survive in a world that forces them to conceal their feelings?
This steamy romance with a guaranteed happily-ever-after is part of The Serrulata Saga but can be read as a standalone.
The Review
Patrick Upshur is the son of a lesser Lord. He survived the Weakening Fever, but was left with legs that no longer worked right. It’s the summer solstice, which is Patrick’s favorite time of the year, where he can wear a mask, and where peasants and the gentry mingle together.
With his older brother Silas, Patrick decides to walk out into the garden of the tavern, where he finds himself with a White Rider – elite soldiers. They are both what is referred to as backwards, not gay, and they give into their desires. When they are done, the White Rider, Iseul, walks away, but their time together bonds them.
Iseul was given to the White Riders when he was eleven, and his life has been about duty and protecting the Realm. He gave into his desires once before Patrick, but now Patrick consumes much of his time. Ordered to attend a Ball for the celebration of Lord Upshur’s oldest son’s engagement, Iseul and Patrick find themselves face to face again, and decide to find a way to be together more often.
Patrick is very close to his older brother Silas, and wants to reveal to him that he is backward, but fear of being hated keeps him quiet. He does use Silas as a means to meeting Iseul, by lying about his desire to be with a peasant girl and saying he needs a place to be with her. It works, and the love between the two men grows.
Patrick is disabled, needing a cane or chair to move around, and because of that his father, a tyrannical man, belittles him every chance he gets. The time that Patrick and Iseul spend together is beautiful – all they want is to be able to love each other freely.
They decide to run away together. Everything is planned out, but then the unexpected happens, leaving the two men separated and death making a visit to the Upshur home.
This book is full of secrets, lies, verbal abuse, and surprises. A story about men wanting to love and the rules forbidding it.
Four stars.
The Reviewer
I am an avid reader the mother of 3 sons and grandmother to seven grandchildren. Since retiring I have been doing more reading while volunteering as a CASA worker. CASA is an organization that works with the family court system to ensure that children are in the best living situation. There are way too many children that get overlooked in the foster care system and I visit homes and make visits to the parents. I was born and raised in New York and my husband of 50 years and I live in Upstate New York.
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