Judith’s review of The Sins of Viscount Sutherland by Samantha James

He is reckless, bold, dangerous . . .
Men envy him, women desire him . . .
And one woman wants her revenge.

Claire Ashcroft has good reason to despise Viscount Grayson Sutherland. A wildly unpredictable man with a frightening reputation, Sutherland is responsible for a death that deeply pains her. She’d kill him if she could. Instead, she’ll employ her feminine wiles to make him pay. And once he’s deeply, irreversibly in love with her, she’ll shatter his vulnerable heart.  Her scheme works perfectly . . . too perfectly.

Almost two years ago a Avon Books released this wonderful historical romance by an author that has won awards and has become a favorite of romance fiction fans far and wide.  Her books span eras all the way from early Medieval years to the Regency Period, and her characters are  so realistic that they jump right off the page at readers.

I received this ARC a long time ago and failed to read it as it was “buried” in a box under my bed.  Now that I have unearthed it and read and enjoyed it, I am pleased to put it forth as a book that needs to be noticed, read, and appreciated.

We have all fallen in love with “bad boy” rogues who take their aristocratic station lightly, who live with little if any sense of responsibility toward themselves or those who care about them.  Yet they all have ways of telegraphing the fact that underneath all that cynicism and I-don’t-give-a-damn attitude is a heart that is bruised, broken, or a spirit that is wounded almost beyond repair.  Readers know that there are myriads of romance stories that are predicated on the premise that the love of a good woman can redeem a very bad man.  That is partly true in this novel.  Yet I think there is more going on here.

Those of us who have been involved in the helping professions know that one of the important stages of grieving is anger–white hot rage often times.  There is also that further stage of depression and a deep sense of helplessness, of being impotent against the happenings that bring deep grief into a person’s life.  Both the main characters in this story are dealing with grief at one stage or another.  Neither has been successful in moving forward and the premise of this novel is built on that stuckness, that inability to let go of the past and move forward toward an acceptance of what has gone on before.  It is a deep wound that has brought them together–namely, the death of Claire’s brother at the hand of Viscount Sutherland.  The basic telling of that occurrence appears in the Prologue of this novel.  Yet Claire and her family don’t have the truth of it and that is the way the Viscount wants it.  So Claire and Grayson Sutherland meet and their bombastic on again/off again relationship begins.

I know that we don’t usually review books that have been released this long, but I can’t help but feel that this is a story that is worthy of exposure as a really fantastic read, one that historical romance fans will be glad to experience.  There’s a lot of hurt between these two people, so much so that their friends are often hamstrung to help them fix things.  Yet they are drawn back toward each other as if there is a hidden thread that binds them and they need to be together.  Yet being together often means more hurt.   There was a point in this story that I didn’t think these two were going to find a way back together.  But there is one thing about grief . . . it is a process, and as such it keeps on moving relentlessly forward unless the people involved absolutely refuse to allow it to do so.  Grief is such an overwhelming state of mind that it is often impossible to see the end from the beginning. So it was with these two people.  But perhaps the lesson to be learned here (and I think there are lessons in all good fiction) is that when we are least expecting it, the grieving process finally turns us loose.

If you haven’t read any of Ms James’ work, I hope you will do so soon.  And I hope that you will consider reading this novel.  It is truly a beautifully written piece of romancer fiction and the skill with which it is crafted stands out in the way the story unfolds and the characters are developed.  It’s one that really shouldn’t be missed.

I give it a rating of 4.25 out of 5.

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.

This book is available from Avon Romance.  You can buy it here or here in e-format.