Ruthless

Anne Stuart.  Those two names side by side and I automatically think of sex, violence, control, desire, ruthlessness, and commitment.  This book had all of those things. A very bad boy "Hero" who we see playing with and sleeping with other women while the heroine is in the very same house he is. He also kills in cold blood, is known as the King of Hell, and the master of an elite group of perverts known as The Heavenly Hosts. He is beautiful, cunning, rich, suave, and dangerous. He is no match for Elinor, the eldest sister, on her way to spinster hood with no qualms about that all. She is poor, tall, too thin, has a nose that is most prominent, carries the weight of her families survival on her shoulders as well as her own emotional baggage. A perfect Match!  Anne Stuart writes strong characters and the Hero almost always tends to ride the line of "is he a good guy or a bad guy"? It is, in the end, the Hero's commitment and yes, love, of the heroine that tips the scale to the side of good, but just barely. You really must read her Ice Series (first book is Black Ice)  if you are looking for some seriously intense alpha heroes.


Amazon Publishers Weekly: In 1760s Paris, penniless British noblewoman Elinor Harriman is struggling to support her family when her ill mother runs away to an orgy held by Viscount Rohan, a mysterious libertine known as the King of Hell. This sets in motion a chain of events that draws Elinor and Rohan into a fierce contest of wills and desires. Stuart's writing is crisp and quick, and her characters are finely and memorably drawn, but Rohan's often violent and predatory treatment of Elinor goes well beyond what most readers will find acceptable in an ostensible hero, especially given Elinor's traumatic childhood.