ARC Reviews

06/07/2017

The Tainted Love Of A Captain, by Jane Lark. Historical Romance ARC Review & Giveaway


Historical Fiction
Date Published: 12th May 2017
Publisher: HarperImpulse


A sensual, heartbreaking, romance
The sounds and scents of the Crimean War are strangling Harry Marlow, shutting him off and silently smothering his soul. But he is a soldier and that is his life, and he can see nothing else besides that. So why should he care when a woman watches him? His life is not one to share with a woman, other than for a few moments in his bed.

When a woman is already drowning so deeply in sin she is without any fear of judgement - what can it matter if she chooses to begin a new affair? It is like escape to choose her own man and Captain Marlow is the perfect candidate for a dalliance. All she has to do is obtain an introduction...

๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ


Captain Harry Marlow has come back from the war a changed man.  No longer the happy go lucky black sheep of his family, but a haunted man suffering the nightmares that war will bring.  A walk on the beach with his pup is the best part of his day.  
Charlotte Cotton can not help but be fascinated by the beautiful soldier as he plays on the beach with his dog.  Her life is not a happy one. 
This is a beautiful story but sometimes hard to read as it deals with a very difficult trauma that can face many people even today.  The mental trauma is often worse than the physical and harder to put behind us.  
A lovely gentle romance with an incredible hero and heroine.  You may have met some of the secondary characters in previous stories but this is definitely a stand alone book.  Don't expect fireworks and lots of action, just a beautiful story wonderfully written. 



‘Hello!’ he called from a few feet away.
The pace of her heart beat lifted in a fluttering sensation.
Since they had been talking each day, her heart felt as though it had grown the wings of a butterfly. ‘Hello.’
‘How are you?’ he asked as he joined her.
Charlie glanced back along the path at the maid who’d walked with her. She had left Tilly a few feet away to mind her own business and Tilly had not come nearer to listen, which was what Charlie feared. But if anything had been said to Mark about her liaisons with Harry, which it probably had, he had not complained to her about it.
She looked at Harry, again, turning her back on Tilly. ‘I am well. How was your game last evening?’
‘Must you ask?’ He threw the stick out into the sea. ‘Do you not know?’
‘No.’
‘Then do not ask.’
She laughed as Ash returned with the stick.
Harry looked at her after he’d thrown the stick again. ‘I have a question to ask you, though.’
‘Then you must ask it.’ She was very forward with Harry. She kept surprising herself. But it was the atmosphere he exuded. He always spoke so liberally it made her more confident to reply. But she had been forward with him from the beginning because she had been desperate to know this man with his dog. So desperate she had dared to write. But she had told herself that a woman of her status need not worry over what was right or wrong or fear the judgement of others. She had transcended those things. It was the one benefit of her statusshe might do as she wished and she had wished to meet Ash and speak to Harry. That was not a crime.
Her chin lifted and her back straightened in denial of the accusation of forwardness that continued charging at her in her head.
Harry turned and faced her fully as Ash ran into the shallow, frothing ripples, chasing the stick as the tide pulled it out on a retreating wave. ‘If I hired a room in an inn, would you come there with me?’
‘Now?’ To… Oh… She had not thought about where this might lead. She had thought of nothing other than that she admired him and she had wanted to know him. But. ‘My maid is with me.’ Her heart had jolted suddenly into a sharp pace.
Tomorrow. Would you meet me there?’
Her heart was pounding as hard as her father had used to pound a hammer on a straight bar of iron to twist and curve it to make a horse’s shoe. She had not imagined, and yet she had in daydreams sometimes thought about what it would be like to kiss Harry.
But to make this a sin…
Ash shook the sea water off her coat, spraying them both. Then Harry took the stick from Ash’s mouth, lifted it and held it out of Ash’s reach. The dog barked and leapt around, waiting for it to be thrown again, then it was and Ash went racing after it.
Harry looked at her. ‘Will you?’
‘Yes.’ She spoke without thought. She spoke from longing. Yes, she would like to be with a man like Harry. If she must share a bed with a man, then why could it not be with a man like Harry? She was being forced into sin anyway.  








Jane began her first historical novel at sixteen, but a life full of adversity derailed her as she lives with the restrictions of Ankylosing Spondylitis. When she finally completed a novel it was because she was determined not to reach forty still saying, I want to write. 
Now Jane has been shortlisted for three reader awards, and become a bestselling author in the UK and the USA.






Contact Information
Twitter: @JaneLark




3 comments:

  1. Anonymous6/7/17

    Thank you for posting

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi thank you for taking part in the tour and what a beautifully written review! Thank you. Much appreciated.

    Best wishes,

    Jane

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was my pleasure. Thank you for the ARC.

      Delete

I hope you all enjoy the books I post about here.