Throwback Thursday Review: Worth Any Price by Lisa Kleypas

Reviewer: Holly
Worth Any Price by Lisa Kleypas
Series: Bow Street Runners #3
Also in this series: Worth Any Price
Publisher: Harper Collins, Avon
Publication Date: May 26, 2015
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Point-of-View: Alternating Third
Genres: Historical Romance
Pages: 388
Add It: Goodreads
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Series Rating:

Nick Gentry is reputed to be the most skillful lover in all England. Known for solving delicate situations, he is hired to seek out Miss Charlotte Howard. He believes his mission will be easily accomplished - but that was before he met the lady in question.

For instead of a willful female, he discovers one in desperate circumstances, hiding from a man who could destroy her very soul. So Nick shockingly offers her a very different kind of proposition - one he has never offered before.

He asks her to be his bride.

And he knows that this will be much more than a union in name only. For he senses what Charlotte does not yet know - that her appetite for sensuality matches his own. But what Nick learns surprises him. For while London's most notorious lover might claim Charlotte's body, he quickly discovers it will take much more than passion to win her love

This is another novel I recently re-read. It was just as wonderful this time around. I adore Nick and Lottie.

This review was originally posted on June 24, 2009.

Worth Any Price is the 3rd book in Lisa Kleypas’ Bow Street Runners series. I read this book before I read any of the others (naturally) and Nick immediately grabbed me. Right from the beginning I adored him, and that hasn’t changed in all my years of reading romance. I recently re-read this book because of a discussion on Good Reads and I was just as impressed with it this time around.

Lottie Howard has escaped a fate worse than death: Being married to Lord Radnor, a peer of the realm who thinks he’s purchased her and now owns her lock, stock and barrel. Even though it puts her family in a bad position she knows her life will be over if she goes forward with the marriage. She finds a position as a lady’s companion to Lord Westcliff’s mother.

Which is where Nick Gentry finds her. Nick is a bow street runner who takes private commissions on occasion to supplement his income. He was hired by Lord Radnor to find Lottie and bring her back. Radnor has hired several others before Nick to find her with no luck, but Nick is the best of the best and it isn’t long before he locates Charlotte. The problem is that he seems to be completely taken with her himself.

Although he has every intention of taking her to Radnor, he surprises everyone, himself included, by offering for her instead. Although Lottie would prefer to remain single and independent, she knows she needs the protection of marriage if she’s to avoid marriage with Radnor. And if anyone is strong enough to keep her safe from Radnor, it’s Nick Gentry.

They enter into a marriage of convenience, but both are surprised by the depth of passion they feel for each other. Despite their steamy, passionate nights, however, they each hold part of themselves back.

I think the thing I love most about this book is what a unique and unconventional hero Nick is. He’s only had one lover prior to Lottie (though admittedly the madame of a brothel is probably like the equivalent of like sleeping with all of London) and he is very content with his lot in life. He thrives on the rush of being a Bow Street Runner and isn’t just playacting when it comes to his past. He’s very scarred from things that happened in his youth. The only person he really allows himself to be close to is his young niece, and to some extend his sister (who’s story is told in the previous book, Lady Sophia’s Lover).

In this case it’s Lottie who is the strong one. She’s the more balanced of the two, despite her childhood under Radnor’s thumb, and she’s the one who steadies Nick, though he doesn’t realize it. I love that they were able to lean on each other – Lottie on Nick for protection and Nick on Lottie for emotional support.

Plus, the sex is totally hot. Tantric Love-making takes on a whole new meaning with Nick Gentry.

There are issues with it. I hate it ends as abruptly as it does, without giving us more of the story with Charlotte and her family. Particularly her younger sister. I think I really wanted to see her family brought low after they way they treated her, and I never got that. The problems are few and the rest of the story really makes up for them, in my opinion.

Overall this is an emotionally appealing novel about love, redemption and the strange connections formed between two polar opposites. I was sucked in from page one the first time I read this years and years ago, and that didn’t change upon this re-read.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Bow Street Runners

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