Till Dawn with the Devil

Till Dawn with the Devil by Alexandra Hawkins 925

Lady Sophia's brothers are reluctant to bring their sister out into society, both because they fear for her safety and because they see as little more than a nuisance. A blow suffered to her head as a child has left her with poor eyesight and she relies on her friends to escort her around town. At her first ball she is confronted by Gabriel Houseley, the Earl of Raincourt who is attracted to her and furious that she is flirting with Mr. Enright. Reign is haunted by rumors that he murdered his first wife, Beatrice, whose death was ruled an accident and after that disastrous marriage he has promised never to fall in love or marry every again. After an evening spent in Sophia's company is coming to enjoy her and she likes that he does not treat her like a child because of her eyesight. However he is horrified to learn about her family as the Raincourt and Ravenshaw families are enemies every since his father murdered hers.

When Sophia's brother gets in too deep at the gambling table he makes an arrangement for her to marry to get him out of debt. Reign has always disliked Sophia's brothers for being bullies and reminding him of his father but this is taking it one step too far. With the help of his friends, the Lord of Vice, he rescues Sophia and marries her within a day so that her brother an have no hold over her. He tries to maintain distance between them but it is difficult the more he spends time with her, especially the more time he spends in bed with her. When her brothers threaten to take her away he goes to confront them but at the same time someone that they had both thought long dead resurfaces and threatens their happiness. Reign has to rush to rescue the woman he has come to love and finally put their families' tragic pasts to rest.

First I would have to say that I really liked having a heroine with an exceptionality and it took a lot of courage for a writer to create a heroine who had bad eyesight. A lot of times in romances in taken up with descriptions of clothing and decorations and because of her eyesight Hawkins had to work extra hard to give the reader enough descriptions to feel what was going on but still maintain a taste of what it would be like to have poor eyesight. Sometimes it got confusing about how much she could see as she could read somewhat and she was certainly able to see his body, but other times everything was blurry. Really other than that she did not have much going for her as she was a little bland and did not seem to do much. I really liked Reign as the dark and very passionate alpha hero, who was wrestling with his new feelings and his very violent past.

Their relationship progressed a little fast but in such a short book (305 pages and fairly large type) I guess it had to. I felt like the met, were interested in each other, got married, and after a brief time together a family crisis brings forth lots of loving feelings. Just a little too rushed for me and I wish they had spend more time together doing romantic things and just having fun. Their was some decent sex between them, nothing special but it was interesting enough and there was a decent amount for such a short book.Their family connection really added something to the book as it was intriguing and led to some great tension between them. It also lead to a great little twist at the end that I would never have guessed. There was of course a lot of action involving the other Lords of Vice, from past novels to other members and she has her work cut out for her making these guys into romance novels heroes.

Rating: A decent book with a great hero and a new type of heroine, but the romance was a little lacking. I will definitely be waiting for the next addition in the series.