Booklog 10/2023: Lily Harlem: Lyon at the Altar – The Lyons’ Den Connected World

[jacey]

I can't tell a lie, I nearly stopped reading after just a few chapters, but I kept hoping it would get better. By the time I realised it wasn't going to, I was already over halfway through. Regency Romances are my guilty pleasure. They are often formulaic, I know that, so why did this one not work for me? I couldn't find any sympathy for the characters. Anna Toussaint, in the beginning, is too naive to be allowed to live. She gets swept off her feet by Frank, the viscount’s young heir whom her mother is tutoring in French. They are both little more than children, but when they get caught in a compromising position (her hand down his trousers) Anna and her mother are promptly dismissed. Some years later, Anna’s mother having died, Anna is under the protection of The Black Widow at the Lyon’s Den and finds herself married off to a masked stranger. Yes, you’re ahead of me. Frank is the stranger, now the viscount, the one who shamed her and then let his mother dismiss her. She bears a grudge, but you can see where this is going. There are obstacles to overcome, but mostly it’s all too easy. The characters don’t show much initiative and I couldn’t bring myself to care. Your mileage may vary.