The Sins of Lord Lockwood
By Meredith Duran
Publisher: Pocket
Release Date: February 27, 2018
Reviewed by Janga
When her husband disappeared on their
wedding night, Anna Winterslow Wallace Devaliant, Countess of Forth and Countess
of Lockwood, concluded that he had left her. Because being left has been a
pattern in her life, Anna accepts that Liam is just another person she loved
who abandoned her. She retreats to her
home on the Isle of Rawsey, but when she learns indirectly that her husband has
returned, she goes to London, filled with anger over his abandonment, her
weakness in loving him, and his failure to inform her of his return. To make
matters worse, he has been in London for eight months, although she learned that
fact only when she read it in a newspaper. What she finds in London adds more
fuel to her anger.
For a variety of reasons, Liam is not
pleased that Anna is in London and planning to stay in their house. He knows
that the young man Anna married is dead, and he has no plans to tell her what
happened to him. He cannot bear the thought of her pity nor the memories her
presence evokes. There is also the problem of Lockwood’s fellow survivors, men
who have no family, no resources, and no place to go except the home he has
given them. Anna, ignorant of the true circumstances, sees them only as
incompetent staff who need to be replaced.
The first words Anna and Lockwood exchange
after their long separation are revealing.
He says, “You should not be here.”
She responds, “And you should be in
hell. . . . Alas, few of us end up where we belong.”
Anna refuses to leave until she achieves
her goal. As Countess of Forth, she holds a Scottish title that descends
through her, and she wants an heir. Anna feeds her anger with reminders of
Lockwood’s desertion, and he plays the role of the dissolute aristocrat, hiding
his broken self from Anna. When he does tell bits of his story, he does so in a
manner that convinces Anna he is lying. Although they share rare moments of
passion and of connection beyond the physical, for the most part, they hold to
their entrenched positions. But when Anna sees the brutal reality of Lockwood’s
experience, she becomes his defender and champion, as determined as he to see
the man behind his torment punished. But are the demons that haunt Lockwood too
powerful to allow him to give and receive love?
The Sins of Lord
Lockwood
is the sixth book in Duran’s Rules for the Reckless series. It is the darkest
and the strongest novel in an extraordinary series. Duran uses flashback
chapters to show Anna and Lockwood’s meeting and marriage. The contrast between
these younger, more innocent characters and the wounded survivors they have
become is stark, making the wrongs done to them more heinous. Anna is
independent, assertive, and frank. She demonstrates impressive strength while
remaining a woman of her time and circumstances. Her love for Rawsey and its
people is real, but, as she comes to realize, Rawsey has also served as refuge
where she could hide from her pain. Anna and Liam are both damaged people, but
his physical and psychic wounds are deeper and more pervasive than hers. Liam
has survived hell and has been irrevocably changed by it. The loyalty he
inspires in Julian and in his fellow prison camp survivors is a testament to
his courage and honor, but he is a man who faces life without joy or hope.
Anna’s presence forces him to realize that once his need for revenge is
satisfied, his life will be without purpose. The battle he and Anna fight
together to move him from mere physical survival to a rebirth as a full,
functioning self is fiercer than his struggle with his enemy.
There are so many exceptional things about
this novel that no one review could list them all. I loved the gender reversal
with Anna as the one demanding an heir. I loved the way Duran handles the love
scenes. They could serve as textbook studies on how to write a highly sensual
scene that also reveals character, exposes vulnerabilities, and moves the story
to the next level. And each one is distinct and exactly right for that moment
in the story. I love than even in a book that is almost unbearably dark, there
are flashes of light and laughter. And, as always, Duran’s prose is lucid and
powerful. Perhaps to a greater degree than any author I know, her prose
beautifully demonstrates the effect of simplicity and conciseness. Note the preponderance of single-syllable words
in Anna’s response to Liam’s shame over his scarred body and emotional punch of
“triumphant” in contrast.
“You tried to hide them? Why, you should walk naked in
the street to boast of what you survived. Other men would learn then what
it means to be a man – to survive all that, and to come home triumphant.”
And then she claims him: “You are mine
and I am keeping you.” Not a wasted syllable. That’s
good writing!
It is difficult for me to separate this
book from The Duke of Shadows where
Anna and Liam’s story begins and to which parts of this book run parallel. I
think The Sins of Lord Lockwood can
be read as a standalone, but I think the reading will be a richer experience
for those who have read The Duke of
Shadows, Duran’s debut novel.
If romance with angst is your preference,
you do not want to miss this book. I confess that I had to take a break a few
times when reading it became too difficult for me. I often choose the
light-hearted over the darker romances, but I never miss a Meredith Duran book.
This one required me to re-order my favorites by her, and it is a sure bet for
my Best of 2018 list. If you like historical romance with complex characters, a
compelling plot, and a total impact that leaves you questioning the claim that
there are no perfect books, I highly recommend The Sins of Lord Lockwood.
