Lord of Temptation: A Regency Romance

Three and a half stars. Lord Hawkridge is penniless, desperately trying to rectifying the profligate spending of his predecessors. He is building a dock and needs capital to fund the latest stage whilst trying to pay off some of the estate's creditors. When he goes to his illegitimate older brother's home for dinner he is astonished to run into Faith Digby, the commoner he fell in love with over a decade ago. When Faith and Hawk fell in love he didn't realise the extent of the marquessate's financial difficulties, he was about to propose marriage when his guardian made the situation clear - marry an heiress or live in abject poverty. Since then Hawk has been searching for an heiress to marry without finding anyone who compares to Faith. When he sees her again he knows he is as much in love with her as ever before. Faith was devastated when Hawk made love to her and then sent her a letter the following day breaking off their relationship. Now over a decade later she can't believe she still has feelings for the man who broke her heart. Hawk is torn, he is still in no position to marry or start a family, much as that is his dream, but his love for Faith is strong. When he finds out Faith is an heiress are all his problems solved? Or does this just make things more complicated? Can two former lovers turn a marriage of convenience into a love match? Hawkridge is quite selfish to begin with, all his thoughts are of the marquessate, his mother and the docks. He has no time or compassion for anyone else. When he discovers Faith is an heiress he thinks more about her dowry than anything else. I truly disliked him and was just waiting for his comeuppance (I may have cheered). When he blackmails Faith into marrying him with no care for the woman he (allegedly) loves I was incensed. So it is a tribute to Erica Ridley that by the end of the book I was a little bit in love with Hawk myself. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I am voluntarily submitting my honest review after receiving an ARC of this ebook via NetGalley. This is the fourth installment of the Rogues to Riches series. It functions well as a standalone novel, but having read some of the previous books in the series, I will say that the book is certainly enriched by having knowledge of the history of the peripheral characters in the story that the previous installments provides. (Simon and Dahlia's story in Lord of Night pertains most specifically to the events in Lord of Temptation, but again, it is not absolutely critical to following the plot.) While I enjoyed this book, it is not my favorite Erica Ridley novel. Like many of the other reviewers, I too could not overcome my dislike of Lord Hawkridge and found Faith's attitude toward him perplexing. SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!! While wrongs were perpetuated on both sides, his continued arrogant browbeating and demanding behavior a decade later would be hard to move past and forgive. His forcing her into marriage, especially at a time when it looked like all he cared about was her dowry, and then expecting love to ever bloom between them is simply preposterous. Times and attitudes were different then, however, appalling selfishness is appalling selfishness, no matter the milieu. Despite my disgust at Hawk's treatment of Faith, I still recommend Erica Ridley's novels for anyone who enjoys Regency romance that don't follow the typical formulaic patterns. They are witty, unexpected and well-written, fun reads that fans of historical fiction are sure to like.

Just like Mona stated that the contents inside of the book was that of Lord of night to where I even discussed it with Google play books where I actually pre-ordered this book because I have the rest of this series and even then whole dukes of war. So I am very dissatisfied with this and disappointed.