Master of Love
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4.6 • 7 Ratings
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
A sexy historical romance featuring a genteel book dealer who is commissioned to organize an impressive personal library in the home of London’s most notoriously seductive lord.
Dominick Avery, Viscount Rexton, has a brilliant mind, yet is so intoxicatingly handsome no one ever takes him seriously as the philosopher he longs to be. He cultivates a wicked reputation as Lord Adonis, Master of Love, until his uncle sends him an irresistible bequest of books, on the condition he accept also the prim librarian who comes with them.
Miss Callista Higginbotham struggles to support her quirky household as a rare book dealer and librarian, while tottering on a dangerous edge of genteel poverty. But she quickly finds herself in greater danger yet, as her newfound desire flares for the infuriatingly flirtatious lord. Dominick wants nothing more than to unleash his luscious new librarian from her straight-laced propriety. He’s learned, however, never to trust desire—let alone the consuming passion that soon bedevils him.
Both must learn not to judge a book by its cover. But when Callista discovers a plot against Dominick’s life and risks all to save him, they both learn that love is the one lesson that cannot be learned from books.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
LaRoche's first romance takes a look at female hardship and flawed gender stereotypes in Victorian England. In 1847, unmarried librarian and rare book dealer Callista Higginbotham, smart and business-savvy, is hired to organize the massive library of Dominick Avery, the Viscount Rexton, a closeted reader and would-be scholar trapped in the guise of an "empty headed pretty boy." Callista, well-born and proper, is thrown off-balance by the handsome ladies' man and relentless flirt. Recently impoverished, Callista suffers additional misfortune when she falls victim to a vindictive landlord and two rude gentlemen who prey on her vulnerable status. Dominick, nicknamed "Master of Love" and "Lord Adonis", acts the part of a shallow rogue, yet he is frustrated by these labels that he hides behind, wishing only to be regarded as a serious philosopher. Objectified and increasingly feeling like a fraud, Dominick struggles with high society's rules and his increased longing for Callista, who is scorned by the upper class for being in "trade." Passions heat up, and like-minded book lovers Callista and Dominick fall in love. Though some of the steamier scenes push the boundaries of good taste, this historical romance provides a glimpse into a male-dominated society where, in later years, the status of women will be challenged.
