⇒ Download Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman London Greatest Lovers Lorraine Heath 9780061922954 Books

Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman London Greatest Lovers Lorraine Heath 9780061922954 Books

Download As PDF : Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman London Greatest Lovers Lorraine Heath 9780061922954 Books

Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman London Greatest Lovers Lorraine Heath 9780061922954 Books

The first book I read by Lorraine Heath was "Passions of a Wicked Earl", the first of this series. Glad I decided to start reading her work! We were introduced to Stephen in the previous book, and he was quite a scoundrel. He joined the army to redeem himself, where he was gravely injured, resulting in a loss of memory. Mercy appears, thinking that Stephen has died...well, surprise! Things heat up between the two as Stephen struggles to recover and Mercy struggles to keep a monumental secret. The blossoming romance was quite touching, and I admit parts of this book had me bawling. I just adored Stephen - I can see why Mercy did!


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Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman London Greatest Lovers Lorraine Heath 9780061922954 Books Reviews

Another beautifully written and poignant novel by Lorraine Heath. Not a light and fluffy novel but one with deep emotion and heartbreak. The characters are flawed and real and I fell in love with them. The plot kept me riveted and is not predictable in the way most historical romances can be. There are twists and turns and ups and downs. The passion is off the charts steamy.
I've just finished the book and I quite simply adored it. Though it deals with many difficult, horrific, and violent issues, it is at its core a truly gentle and warm love story. It is a delight to be savored and will definitely be added to my all-time favorites list.

In some ways, it reminded me of another one of my favorites by this author, Surrender to the Devil; there are very significant differences in terms of plot and background story, but I saw similarities between both sets of main characters. Anyway, hats off again to Ms. Heath!

This is Book 2 in the London's Greatest Lover series and though I didn't read Book 1 (story didn't appeal to me), I didn't find it necessary and was not at all lost when it came to this one (though I would recommend reading the summary of the first book).

One of the things I loved most about PLEASURES OF A NOTORIOUS GENTLEMAN was that I found it to be very refreshing for the genre in many ways

(1)
THE HEROINE --- Both the hero and the heroine had large and serious personal struggles and obstacles to overcome. So many times, the heroine is basically picture-perfect (in terms of personality, though not always physically), and it's the hero who has a few flaws that we love him for nonetheless (or because of). Here, Mercy was unbelievably real. She faces some extremely difficult situations and choices and in some instances, one wonders whether what she did was right - even though the other options don't really seem to be options at all. At her core she is a truly good person, but who has made mistakes and ends up suffering for them. She is definitely one of my all-time favorite heroines - strong, courageous, generous, compassionate, intelligent, etc. (And I loved that she was not the usual beauty, hadn't been able to find a suitor, etc. - the wallflower-ish heroines are admittedly my preferred type).
*Note There was one decision Mercy makes towards the end, when cornered, that was a little too much for me and that I SO wish Ms. Heath had not written in. Was too annoying to not mention, though to write more would be a spoiler.

THE HERO --- Stephen was also definitely flawed. For most of his life he was quite a wastrel - and not in the oh-so-seductive-and-we-love-him-anyway manner. He really didn't do much with his life except for spend his time trying to perfect his expertise in the sack. It's often said that when we are severely tested is when our true colors show, and that is the case for Stephen. When he is faced with being a hero or a coward, he ends up being very brave and selfless during his time in the military. We don't have much flashback to his time then, but it seemed that he remained himself - still fun-loving - but became a stronger and better person, which made it all very plausible. The mental torture he goes through after, of being unable to remember any of his time at war and feeling as though he is a stranger to himself, was very well-written and Ms. Heath succeeded extremely well in making this flawed man come to life and be a hero that any reader can easily fall in love with.

(2) THE UNDERLYING STORY --- The struggles that the hero and heroine face were realistic. The conditions were definitely not usual and neither was what happened or how they came to be reunited, but so many times in HRs it's so obvious that the secondary plot - whether it be a mystery or whatever - is really only there for the sole purpose of bringing the two main characters together. Here, the underlying story is absolutely integral to who Mercy and Stephen are and have become as people and it really defines and sets-up the future of their relationship.

(3) (Basically) VILLAIN-FREE --- Although you do have someone who causes difficulties towards the end, there was no villain of the book, which was *such* a welcome change in this reader's opinion. That Ms. Heath was able to make the romance compelling, enjoyable, and engaging nonetheless shows how talented she is. This is not an action book, but is instead almost solely focused on the development of the main characters and of their relationship.

(4) SECONDARY CHARACTERS --- The other characters were fantastic and very three-dimensional. Especially Ainsley, the duchess (Stephen's mother), Leo (her lover), and Lynnford (Stephen and his brothers' father-figure growing up). Even Mercy's father, who in many ways is extremely unlikable, was not only portrayed as the big-bad-mean-father figure.

(5) AGE --- Stephen is only 25 years old, which is really quite young for most romance heroes. Usually the heroine is in her early to mid-twenties and the hero is 30+. I normally prefer that to be the case, but in this instance, I felt that his age made the change Stephen had undergone/was undergoing all the more believable and it also made his past behavior easier to let go of. I don't think we ever know Mercy's exact age, which always drives me nuts, but I was extremely surprised by how young Ainsley, Stephen's younger brother, is - only 23!!! The way he's written, one thinks he's in his 30s.

BOTTOM LINE
Buy the book immediately and enjoy! It was such a pleasure and I hope that you love it as much as I do. I am greatly looking forward to Ainsley's story, but it will be very difficult for it to surpass Stephen's.
This book turned out to be much deeper and much more moving than I expected. Both Stephen and Mercy have been deeply affected by their experiences in the Crimean War -- Mercy as a nurse and Stephen as a cavalry officer. When they meet again in England, Stephen has no memory of Mercy (or of anything that happened to him during the war), and Mercy has an infant who she claims is Stephen's son, the result of just one night of passion.

Mercy and Stephen do not immediately fall in love. Indeed, they aren't even very comfortable around one another at first. Stephen has no interest in being tied down, especially given his precarious mental state, and he doesn't know if he can bring himself marry her. Mercy doesn't truly expect marriage, and even if they did wed, she knows he will not be faithful. His pre-war reputation as one of London's greatest ladies' men is well known to her.

Nothing comes easily to this couple, and that's one of the things that makes their story so enjoyable and touching. As in the other two books of this series (about Stephen's brothers), Stephen's family members play important roles, and their duchess mother sometimes steals the show. I wish Heath had given her a book of her own.

I read these books out of order; each works well as a stand alone. But why not read the entire series? The versions are priced at only $2.99. A real bargain for such an outstanding author's work.
This is a pretty good book. Mostly I purchased it because I like Lorraine Heath, the book was cheap and offered Whispersync. The heroine shows up at the hero's family estate with his baby in her arms, under the assumption he was killed in battle. She is shocked to find him alive, but with no memory of the two years he fought in the war, or of her. She loves him, he's attracted to her and they get married. The reader finds out within the first few chapters how she came to have the baby. The story is mostly about them falling in love, his frustrations about not remembering a huge chunk of his life, and the inevitable conflict that arises over the baby's parentage.

The plot is far fetched, but Heath does an excellent job of selling it and I was willing to buy as I had a good idea what I was getting into when I bought the book. I don't mind amnesia tropes, as long as they make sense. The only issue I had with the book is that the hero's background as an experienced lover is overplayed. I got tired of reading about him congratulating himself on how great he is in bed. That is the theme of this series, but it was oversold and didn't make me want to rush out and buy the other books in this series. Overall I liked the book, but I probably wouln't read it again.
The first book I read by Lorraine Heath was "Passions of a Wicked Earl", the first of this series. Glad I decided to start reading her work! We were introduced to Stephen in the previous book, and he was quite a scoundrel. He joined the army to redeem himself, where he was gravely injured, resulting in a loss of memory. Mercy appears, thinking that Stephen has died...well, surprise! Things heat up between the two as Stephen struggles to recover and Mercy struggles to keep a monumental secret. The blossoming romance was quite touching, and I admit parts of this book had me bawling. I just adored Stephen - I can see why Mercy did!