A stolen kiss, a family secret, and a second chance at love in Victorian London.
Jillian was always the wild thing.
The daughter of the notorious Bad Baron Beckforth, a girl with racing thoughts and a heart too big for her father’s cruelty and crumbling estate. Her only sanctuary was her childhood best friend, John Longley, the future Marquess of Camborne.
But when a May Day kiss under the fireworks turns into a nightmare of murder and accusation, Jillian’s world shatters. Her brother is branded a killer, and Jillian is forced to flee into a marriage of convenience in a distant land, led to believe that a man of John’s station would only ever have her as a mistress.
Years later, Jillian returns as a widow, hardened by loss and convinced she is an albatross who brings only sorrow to those she loves. John, now a powerful shipping magnate, has never stopped looking for her. Driven by a promise to clear her brother’s name, he finds that the girl he loved is now a woman shrouded in mystery.
From the treacherous ballrooms of the ton to the bustling docks of Gibraltar and a mysterious volcanic island, they embark on a perilous journey to uncover the truth. But as the shadows of the past threaten to sink them both, Jillian must is she destined to bring only ruin, or is John the stopping place her heart has always craved?
It took me a bit to get into this story. I did end up enjoying it, but it didn't really take off for me until she returned a few years into the story. Up until that point, Jillian and John (Jack) were a story that was more told than shown, so the connection between the characters took a bit for me to feel.
By the end of the story, I was invested in not only them as a couple, but the people they met along the way and the people who became a part of their story. I was happy for the resolution of one of the plot points, and I am definitely interested to read what is clearly going to be the next book (or at least I think it should be the next book) about a couple of characters you meet in this one.
This one was more of a journey than I expected it to be, literally and figuratively, but I ended up really enjoying that part of it as well. And, while not actually anything to do with the story specifically, the cover for this one definitely drew me in.
