Review - - In Want of a Viscount

In Want of a Viscount

by Lorraine Heath

The Chessmen: Masters of Seduction - Book 3

Publisher: Avon

Release Date: February 20, 2024

Reviewed by PJ

American Leonora Garrison has come to England in desperate search of investors to keep her family business afloat but instead finds surprising pleasure when she visits an exclusive ladies’ club and dares to kiss a stranger, who leaves her yearning for more.

With a libertine for a father, Viscount Wyeth, more commonly known as Rook, vowed to live his life above reproach, with nary a hint of disgrace. Until one night, he takes a mysterious beauty into his arms, a lady who tempts him to cast his sterling reputation aside in favor of more wicked pursuits.

When fate reunites the couple, they are torn between desire and duty. Leonora may want the viscount, but she needs a stakeholder not a lover. When caught in a compromising situation that places everything they hold dear at risk, they must determine how best to win. However, in this scandalous game, nothing except love takes all.

PJ's Thoughts:

You know those authors who never let you down? The ones who give you yearning, angst, sensual romance, and hard-won happy endings time and again? That's Lorraine Heath and she does it once more with her newest Chessman novel: In Want of a Viscount. 

Even though I've loved all three books in the series, this one is my favorite. It's charming, witty and emotional, with plenty of steam but also soft moments that are endearing and lovely. It really was such a joy to read. 

Rook is kept from embracing - or revealing - his true self due to his father's many...many...scandals (what a horrible man). While he has good friends and is well respected, he's also closed himself off emotionally and has no plans to marry or ever be vulnerable to the whims of love (so delicious to see this type of hero slowly realize he can't live without that one woman who holds his heart). Leonora is unlike anyone he's ever met. She's bright, focused, curious, loyal, caring, remarkably skilled at all things mechanical, and driven to make her family's business a success. All characteristics that have made her an oddity within both society and her own family (don't get me started on them) but make her unique and special to Rook. Together, these two just may be the one and only key that unlocks the other's heart and opens the door to an enduring love and life together. Watching them slowly make that journey, with its unexpected pitfalls, sizzling encounters, and quiet, heartfelt moments, was pure pleasure. I adored them.

This book is set within the same Heath world as her Sins of All Seasons and Once Upon a Dukedom series with many characters from both series making appearances. It's always fun to catch up with favorites from earlier books, like the other Chessmen and their wives as well as the Trewloves. Aiden Trewlove (The Duchess in His Bed) and Finn Trewlove (The Scoundrel in Her Bed) are Rook's illegitimate brothers with Aiden in particular having an important role in Rook's story. Readers new to Heath, however, should be aware that this book can absolutely be enjoyed on its own without having read the others. Though they really should. Read the others, that is. So many great stories.  

If you enjoy epilogues, the one at the end of In Want of a Viscount is *chef's kiss* with interactions that left me laughing, sighing, and mopping up a few tears. That seems to be the case with many of Lorraine Heath's epilogues. She has a knack for wrapping up a wonderful story with an even better "guess what happened next."