#farah writes superb characters

[anotherfanaccount]

Ram's whole attitude changing when he saves Chandni. Like he's still a simp for her but also a soldier first. Chandni overwhelmed and speechless but getting back her groove soon after.

Their whole dynamic was so fun. So good I don't even notice they didn't get much screen time together.

[necesreviews]

A Dark and Stormy Knight Book Review

A Dark and Stormy Knight by Kerrigan Byrne

This is the latest book in the Victorian Rebels series by Kerrigan Byrne, a series which I absolutely love. With that said, I went in with some high hopes and high expectations and was unfortunately a little let down at the end. The writing was superb as always and the H was just how I like them...but there was just something missing. It was like a chunk of the entire plot was just not there.

The way the book opens up is typical enough...our h, Pru, is engaged to an earl and fancies herself in a love match. However, on an outing with her sister and best friend, she overhears them speaking about the various affairs and bastards he has and openly discusses leaving Pru in the dark as he needs her dowry to finance his life and illegitimate children. Understandably, Pru is devastated and after her family refuses to break the engagement she decides to take things into her own hands. Now this is where shit gets weird. My good sis Pru decides to go to a reverse brothel, where women pay to have sex with men, to lose her virginity before she’s tied to her fiancee for life. I just cannot! This was so far fetched and extreme that I couldn’t even attempt to grasp what was going on. 

The H of this book is our old friend Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Sir Carlton Morley. Morley has been around since book one as the other man/antagonist in The Highwayman, so it was nice to see him finally get his own book. The beginning of the book tells us about his childhood being a street thief with his brother in arms Dorian Blackwell (who eventually became the pirate the Rook) and sister. He witnesses his sisters dead body being pulled out the Thames and as usual his entire life changes from there. He is the Chief Inspector by day the the Knight of Shadows vigilante by night. During his vigilante escapades, he stumbles across the reverse brothel Pru is in. One thing leads to another and they sleep together and he leaves without telling Pru his name. Harsh.

Fast forward three months and not only is Pru pregnant with his child on her wedding day but she is discovered over her dead fiancee’s body, in the church, with a bloody (literally) knife in her hand. Morley who is attending the wedding, not knowing it is hers, is called onto the scene and see’s that the girl he has been thinking nonstop about for months is the suspect. He arrests her and for some reason marries her the next day. He is determined to protect his child, lest it turn out like his twin sister.

This is where I started getting annoyed with he book. It was just entirely inconceivable that he could marry her and just by sending away the dead fiancee’s brother and Pru’s sister, who is married to him, that there was absolutely no one in London who knew how she looked or would be able to recognise her. She was engaged to an earl! I found this so hard to believe. What was believable was Carlton’s coldness and aloofness at first, as we still do not know who murdered her fiancee, but it switches so suddenly I felt like there was no buildup. She just shows up at his office one day, they have sex in the basement and boom now they are the most lovey couple who go on dinner dates every night. It just made no sense and I really didn't like how it changed so suddenly. There was no realistic build up or climax to the change in their relationship. 

Other things I did not like was how they barely focused on Pru’s family, or her friend that betrayed her who was literally never mentioned again. I also didn’t like how there was next to nothing in terms of investigation scenes, interrogating, attempts at finding out who did this. It was just always passively mentioned by Carlton when Pru asked. There are a couple scenes with Carlton out as the Knight of Shadows, but they are usually short or cut at the end right before he beats someone up. I would have really liked to see these investigative scenes in the book to offset the unrealistic melodrama that was Pru and Carlton. I admit, I really liked some of their dinner scenes and touching moments of thoughtfulness by Carlton, but sometimes you need a little offsetting of that. There was an entire subplot of Pru’s father being involved in cocaine smuggling for crying out loud! There’s so much more that could have been done with that.

In the end, it was Pru’s brother in law who was responsible for the death and for framing Pru. It is also revealed that he is a sadistic person who beats Pru’s sister because she is not faithful to him and takes lovers. Shockingly, he reveals that Pru’s own sister had sex with her fiancee! I can’t make this shit up! The whole climax scene was super over the top but in the end the antagonist died so that is all that matters. Pru’s father was also guilty of being involved in the importation of cocaine but they did not really go into how that played out. In the end, all is well. 

All in all, I felt there was a lot lacking in this story. I LOVED Pru and Carlton as individual characters, but the story they were put in is what bogged this book down. There was just too many skipped over events, skimmed over investigating, and I am extremely sad I hardly saw any of the previous heroines in this book. Only Farah was present. I am praying the next book is a huge improvement as its H and h are two that I am SUPER excited to see get their own story. Well, here’s good luck to the next one!

Rating: 3/5