Forever a Lord

Forever a Lord by Delilah Marvelle
3.5/5 stars
Harlequin, 2012
345 pages
Adult Historical Romance

Source: Received an e-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the third book in The Rumor trilogy. I reviewed the first book Forever and a Day last year and found myself with mixed feelings. Consequently I skipped over the second book but was eager to pick up this third.

One of the most interesting parts of this book to me was the hero's involvement in boxing. And not boxing like we see now on TV but far more intense with basically no rules and no gloves to protect their hands. The hero, Lord Nathaniel James Atwood, has had an unconventional upbringing, having been kidnapped at age ten and held in New York when his lord father refused to pay the price to have him released. That leaves its marks and helps explain why he eschews the society into which he was born.

This lifestyle is also what brings him into the path of our heroine Lady Imogene who decides to invest in him with the hopes of a brighter future for herself and her brother. However in order to satisfy propriety, she marries Nathaniel so that she can more closely follow his career. Of course a love story follows.

I fear that my representation of the story may make it sound a bit on the crazy sound but in Marvelle's hands, it all flowed pretty smoothly especially the interesting boxing history as already mentioned. I was less enthralled with the characters. It's not that they were bad or bland; they just didn't spark for me as individuals although I certainly felt the passion between them. The way that each had to let go of their hang-ups in order to truly come together as a married couple was probably my second favorite part of the book.

Overall: Come for a gritty romance from Marvelle's skillful pen, stay for the neat historical facts about boxing.