Casee‘s review of Shameless (Banning Sisters Trilogy, Book 3) by Karen Robards.
In Regency England, a beautiful young woman finds her life thrown into turmoil by the arrival of a handsome scoundrel. Lady Elizabeth, the youngest and most headstrong of the three Banning sisters, has been engaged three times, and has most scandalously broken off all three engagements. Her fear of becoming any man’s property has kept her from marriage and earned her a reputation in the ton as a heartbreaking flirt.
Neil Severin is a wicked rogue, black of heart and black of reputation. A man of no morals, devoid of compassion, he is a government sanctioned assassin. And his newest target is a man Beth holds dear. When the flame-haired beauty thwarts his plan, Neil exacts his own brand of spicy revenge.
Beth despises him. Neil doesn’t care. But circumstances most unexpectedly throw them together, and with Beth’s life in danger, Neil finds himself in the unexpected role of hero, racing to save her before it’s too late.
What he never expects is the twist fate hands him: instead of his saving her, Beth winds up saving him. When the ruthless organization he works for turns its agents loose on him, only Beth stands between him and a death he thought he didn’t fear.
Shameless has been eight years in the making. I only remember this series is the vaguest sense. I remember that there were three sisters. The third and youngest sister didn’t seem mature enough to have her own book when the series came out. In that way, the eight years may have been a good thing.
Beth Banning has always been an interesting character. That’s just about all I remember about her. As I continued to read the book, I had vague recollections of her sisters and her aunt, but other than that it was just like any historical. The book starts off with Beth telling her fifth (or fourth or third) fiancé that she has decided that they won’t suit. The man doesn’t take the news well and decides that he’ll make her marry him by ruining her. Read: Raping her. Now Beth is in a conundrum. If she screams for help (he is very determined in his “task”) then it will bring everyone that is attending her sister’s ball running into what is essentially her ruin. It’s not really herself she cares about, but her sisters. Her family has had about all the controversy it can take and Beth knows that the Banning’s can’t weather another scandalous storm.
That was probably my biggest issue with Beth. Seriously, you’re going to let yourself be viciously (and it would have been vicious) raped to save your family the scandal? What about the heartache they would feel knowing that you kept quiet for them? Honestly. Beth’s reaction to the situation went beyond brave straight into stupid.
Beth successfully extracts herself from the situation and finds a stranger standing behind a curtain (that covers a window he obviously came through) that was watching the whole time. Beth turns this to her advantage, asking him for help in exchange for not telling her brother-in-law that he has a housebreaker. Little does she know that the housebreaker is a trained assassin and that he’s come to kill her brother-in-law.
Neil Severin planned to get in and out. Beth was a distraction that he could ill afford. Neil isn’t used to feeling any sort of amusement or, well, really anything, but Beth brings something out in him. While contemplating how he can quickly break her neck, Beth is instructing him how to remove the body of her would-be rapist.
Eventually they part ways with Beth none the wiser. Neil didn’t get what he came for, but now that he knows who Beth is his plan is to kidnap her and tell Richmond (the brother-in-law) his demands. Something along the lines of call off your dogs and I’ll give you your sister back. His plan is thwarted when someone kidnaps Beth before he gets the chance to act.
Neil eventually catches up to Beth in Scotland where she is going to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. When he goes into save her, he finds that she’s already saved herself along with a handful of women that were with her. Neil wants to take Beth and complete his plan, but Beth refuses to leave the women stranded. Thus begins a journey that Neil never thought he would take.
I loved Neil. He seemed like a child that was just discovering life. I loved how Beth brought color and feeling back into his life. Neil is the only one that seems to know Beth for who she truly is. He figures out rather quickly why she has thrown over so many men. Part of him wants to turn her away from him, but the selfish part of him insists that she is his.
Beth is so scared of being a man’s chattal and Neil is the perfect contrast to that. Beth finally realizes that Neil would never want her to be anyone but the person she is.
4 out of 5.
This book is available from Pocket. You can buy it here.
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