Review: A Notorious Countess Confesses by Julie Anne Long

Posted October 25, 2012 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Publisher: Avon, Harper Collins

She rose to spectacular heights…

From Covent Garden to courtesan to countess, beautiful, fearless, shamelessly ambitious Evie Duggan has riveted London in every role she plays. But the ton never could forgive her scandalous—if shockingly short—marriage, and when her star plummets amid gleefully vicious gossip, the countess escapes to the only legacy left to her: a manor house in Pennyroyal Green.

He never expected to fall so hard…

He has the face of a fallen angel and a smolder the devil would envy, but Vicar Adam Sylvaine walks a precarious line: resisting temptation…and the wild Eversea blood in his veins. Adam’s strength is tested when scandal, aka the countess, moves to Sussex. But when a woman who fiercely guards her heart and a man entrusted with the souls of an entire town surrender to a forbidden desire, will the sweetest sin lead them to Heaven…or make outcasts of them forever?

Evie Duggan went from an Ireland shack and taking care of her many siblings to being a stage actress to courtesan to an Earl’s wife. Now she’s a widow and has moved to Pennyroyal Green because it was the only property of her late husband’s that wasn’t entailed. She wants a new life but isn’t sure what to expect in this town. She enlists the help of the gorgeous local vicar, Adam Sylvaine, and asks him to help her get introduced to the local women’s society.

Adam is a Godly man but he’s not dead. He sees Evie and knows that she’s incredibly beautiful but he also knows that he can do nothing about it. Unfortunately for him the two of them get closer and closer until he just can’t stop himself from giving her a small kiss. But where can the two of them go? He a vicar and she an ex-courtesan that the town has shunned – odds are not in their favor, that’s for sure.

Oh Adam, you gorgeous man of the cloth! I loved this guy. I mean I liked him when he showed up in previous books but I didn’t really get to know him until this story and it was so, so good. His longing for Evie and the aching tenderness he felt for her just about did me in. I loved it! He took the time to see who she really was and not what everyone else saw on the surface. Now he did act like a horses ass a time or two because of doubts having to do with her past reputation but hey, he’s a man, right? I forgave him his faults.

Evie had made every decision in her life based on what it would do to help her family. She didn’t think of herself but wanted to take the best care of her siblings and their children that she could. (I’m not sure what happened to all her siblings as we really only hear about Cora and Seamus). Anyway, meeting and falling for the local vicar is not something Evie planned on doing. She thought she could manipulate him and then become a part of the community but Adam was made of sterner stuff than Evie thought and she starts to see a man she can truly admire. I loved reading how each of them kind of pulled the blinders off their eyes when it came to the other and it was oh so good. And I discovered you can do a hell of a lot on a settee! lol

This story made my heart ache for Evie and for Adam. It made me smile for them and of course other people in their community that they’d helped. The book riled such emotion in me and I have to say I loved it. Such a good book.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Julie Anne Long


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