Welcome to Sugarbeat’s Books – The Home of the Romance Novel!
Today is Series Sunday again and we started last week with the first book of Anne Stuart’s House of Rohan series. Today is book 2 – Reckless. I hope you are enjoying this series as much as I have been.
Reckless by Anne Stuart The House of Rohan Trilogy book 2
ISBN: 978-0-7783-2849-0
Release: Sept 2010
Source: I purchased this book to read and review
Adrian Alistair Rohan lost his faith, and now, a dedicated member of the depraved Heavenly Host, he loses himself in his only pleasure: the seduction and debauchery of ?beautiful women. Rich, charming and devastatingly skilled in the arts of love, he never fails in his conquests…until Charlotte Spenser.
Charlotte is facing a desolate, passionless future, none of which matters to Adrian, who imagines her a toy until better prey arrives. But beneath her drab exterior, Charlotte is a woman as enchanting as she is brilliant and, lured into Adrian’s world, soon she becomes the seducer, and he the seduced.…
Reckless is the second book in the House of Rohan Trilogy. I was waiting in great anticipation for this one to arrive in the mail! I guess I enjoyed the first book so much that I didn’t even bother to read the blurb on the back, I just made the assumption that book 2 would talk about the life (and potential love) of someone else who was a member of the Heavenly Host or some other character from book 1. I found myself a stretch of time, my comfy chair and settled in to read. I spent the first few chapters trying to place Adrian from the cast of characters from the first book. Either I read too much or my memory is going 🙂
It seems that Book 2 of The House of Rohan is the next generation of characters – so we go ahead a couple of decades in time. Adrian in the son of the hero, Lord Haverstock, from the first book and the woman he married (not to give away details). The character in common from book one is Etienne de Giverney – the cousin of Lord Haverstock who felt he was duped out of a title by Haverstock. He becomes the villain of this book.
In Reckless, we are focused on Adrian Rohan, a dissolute young man, not unlike his father was in the first book. Adrian seems to be the companion of Etienne in all things outrageous, and seems to take great pleasure in offending his parents with his behaviour. The shoe doesn’t fall far, I think. Adrian becomes focused on Charlotte Spenser. Charlotte is the poor relation of Lina, the widow Lady Whitmore and serves as her companion. Lady Whitmore was married to a brutal older man, and has no intentions of ever marrying again, but spends her time in outrageous pleasures, such as the activities of the Heavenly Host. The Heavenly Host are a group of people that get together for carnal house parties. There is exclusive membership and rituals associated with the group, but ultimately, it is a group where anything goes. This is the group that Adrian’s father formed in the first book, but he has since disassciated himself from. The head of the Heavenly Host is now Montague, a friend of both Adrian and Lady Whitmore.
Charlotte has decided that she is going to be a spinster, but she wants to be educated in carnal relations. Lina has offered to bring Charlotte to a Heavenly Host party where she can be an observer. She dresses up in a monk’s costume and heads out to observe. At this point the action starts between Adrian and Charlotte.
It seems like a long an convoluted introduction to this book! Reckless, like Ruthless is a complicated book. Both of these stories are dark, seemingly filled with despair, but both are outstanding books!
Anne Stuart does an outstanding job of weaving together outstanding characters that she creates with the intrigue aspect of the story. Reading one of her books is almost like running down a long and dark tunnel bouncing from one tension filled moment to another, from one incredibly sensual encounter to another, finally bursting out into the light at the end. Time passes and still the reader is engrossed with the story being told.
Anne Stuart novels are not to missed. I’ve now read two of this trilogy and the third is waiting for me on my TBR pile. I can’t wait!
Amazon purchase link for Reckless (The House of Rohan)