Historical Romance Book Club discussion

Discussion thread for the November, 2019 BOTM. Please remember to use the spoiler tags when necessary! (Please see 'some html is ok' for instructions.)

Happy Reading!

The Highwayman


They’re rebels, scoundrels, and blackguards—dark, dashing men on the wrong side of the law. But for the women who love them, a hint of danger only makes the heart beat faster…

STEALING BEAUTY
Dorian Blackwell, the Blackheart of Ben More, is a ruthless villain. Scarred and hard-hearted, Dorian is one of London’s wealthiest, most influential men who will stop at nothing to wreak vengeance on those who’ve wronged him…and will fight to the death to seize what he wants. The lovely, still innocent widow Farah Leigh Mackenzie is no exception—and soon Dorian whisks the beautiful lass away to his sanctuary in the wild Highlands…

COURTING DESIRE
But Farah is no one’s puppet. She possesses a powerful secret—one that threatens her very life. When being held captive by Dorian proves to be the only way to keep Farah safe from those who would see her dead, Dorian makes Farah a scandalous proposition: marry him for protection in exchange for using her secret to help him exact revenge on his enemies. But what the Blackheart of Ben More never could have imagined is that Farah has terms of her own, igniting a tempestuous desire that consumes them both. Could it be that the woman he captured is the only one who can touch the black heart he’d long thought dead?

I'll be reading this one too--another 5* reread.

It was a 4 star read for me..I liked this book very much! But still, something was amiss and I can't put my finger on it. It was a remarkable story nonetheless. Happy November!

I loved this book enough to read the rest of the series published thus far but not ready for a re-read yet. Hope you all enjoy!

This is my first book by this author. Many of our members highly recommended this, so I bought a paperback. Excited!

What’s the November theme/trope?

Hi Andrea -- it's Tortured/Disabled hero.

Joanna Loves Reading wrote: "Hi Andrea -- it's Tortured/Disabled hero."

Thanks Joanna.

I hope y’all enjoy it. I was just a watering pot for the entire book when I read it the year it was published.

I can’t reread right now because I’m tied up with team bingo in another group, but I really like it.

Starting it this week--really looking forward to it!

I read this one a while back and just reread it last month. One of my absolute favorite books. It actually made me tee up and sniffle a few times. The series it begins is outstanding. It must be if I’ve reread it.

I started reading yesterday and I am now at Chapter Nine. It is difficult to put it down. The first meeting of MCs as children is lovely and I instantly loved Farah. The narration is interesting and it is an emotional read.

One of my favorites reads, keeper. I’ve re-read this a couple times, so I want be reading it this month. I highly recommend, some of you might need a tissue handy. It can get emotional. #loveit

I agree with Andrea and Linda. It is getting more emotional with each page. Too many inner demons to kill in Dorian's case.

Darbella wrote: "Although this author writes well- I am not a fan of the books that I have read by her so far. This one would be a reread and I have decided to just pass because I do not want to reread all the viol..."

It was a bit too violent for me as well. I may reread because I did see audio available, but I don’t know.

There are a lot of F words, violence, and odd sex scenes in Kerrigan Byrne's writing. However, for me, there were tears; and it worked. You probably do have to be in the right mood though.

Mariana wrote: "There are a lot of F words, violence, and odd sex scenes in Kerrigan Byrne's writing. However, for me, there were tears; and it worked. You probably do have to be in the right mood..."

I must be in that mood then, because I loved it despite the Bodice-ripper style sex scenes.

I completed it and Dorian is the most tortured hero I have read so far. The last few chapters are quite emotional. The epilogue is as lovely as the prologue.

Yes, I did really enjoy it too!

I'll probably start this one tomorrow

I agree with Darbella about this book. I’ve read it just last month so I’m not going to reread it. It is definitely different kind of romance, darker, grimier and the hero is very tortured.

Joanna Loves Reading wrote: "Darbella wrote: "Although this author writes well- I am not a fan of the books that I have read by her so far. This one would be a reread and I have decided to just pass because I do not want to re..."

I really like Derek Perkins if it helps

Sam (AMNReader) wrote: "Joanna Loves Reading wrote: "Darbella wrote: "Although this author writes well- I am not a fan of the books that I have read by her so far. This one would be a reread and I have decided to just pas..."

Yes, it does! I hadn’t checked who the narrator was which was going to be a deciding factor.

I've started my listen of this selected read and so far, I agree that it does have a little dark edge to it with regards to the romance. The hero is tortured however with Derek Perkins as the narrator, it makes it all worth the listen as I do like him as a narrator.

Need to finish the Christmas book I'm on then I'm on to this one. :)

Joanna Loves Reading wrote: "Sam (AMNReader) wrote: "Joanna Loves Reading wrote: "Darbella wrote: "Although this author writes well- I am not a fan of the books that I have read by her so far. This one would be a reread and I ..."

I've only listened to Byrne if it helps! Hope you enjoy

Okay, first for the shallow, probably irrelevant, part: I love the yellow (well, golden) cover. I've not seen any just out-and-out yellow covers in HR before and I like it. Also, I really like this author's first name. For those 2 reasons alone, I would have wanted to read this book!

I've made it thru Chapt 7 and it's kind of up and down for me.

Chapt 1 didn't work for me. Of course, the author did a good job of setting up the backstory and I thought also a good job of creating the dark, hostile, dangerous environment Dougan & Farah lived in. But a lot of the time I had a hard time believing I was reading abt 2 kids, especially Farah. She just came off a bit too precocious for me and that kept taking me out of the story.

This is my all time favorite book. How delighted I am to see this book has been selected as the book of the month.

It was gripping from beginning to end and yet so very poignant. There are several scenes where I was moved to tears. When a book grabs me in the feels, I am its most humble and devoted servant. This book does that for me.

Farah (Fairy) is a strong heroine. She fights back against adversity and is a perfect match for the Blackheart of Ben More. The cast of supporting characters is outstanding. They develop as the series progresses and each book in the series leaves one longing for the next.

I can’t say enough about the hero of this book. I can certainly not say much about him without giving away whole plot lines for future books, so I will simply say that I love him beyond words and if I could bring one hero to real life, it would be him. He is loyal, stalwart, kind and damaged. His heroine is the same. Together they make magic!

Kerrigan Byrne cannot write fast enough for my voracious appetite for her words.

Just finished. On reflection, that was quite the emotional roller coaster! I think I’ll have to check out more in the series.

I’m not going to lie, I struggled to get going at the start. I agree with Cath that the Prologue didn’t really work for me either because I kept thinking the thoughts and actions didn’t fit with ten year olds.

I also found Farah’s character right through the book was a bit too modern, which was a shame. But after the initial plot set up, I thoroughly enjoyed the story, with its emotionally charged highs and crushing lows, and the darkly primal and tortured hero. The Epilogue wrapped up the story nicely.

This was an awesome choice for our topic this month, and it’s introduced me to another author I’d like to continue reading.

So this has been on my too read list for a long time and it was a new to me author. I’m so happy I read this book.
It so good!
It’s darker than a lot of mainstream historical romances but I didn’t find it overly dark.
I truly enjoyed the characters and felt a deep connection to them. Even many of the side characters. It was heartbreaking at time but throughly enjoyable with a heroine who is strong and not afraid to fight or love.
The sexy scenes were very steamy too, which is always a plus in my book.

Has anyone started the second one yet? I’ve got another series I need to finish before I fully dive into this one but book #2 is sitting on my shelf just waiting for me. :)

I'm glad this book was a BOTM pick b/c it's one that was definitely on my to-read list. Unfortunately it just didn't turn out to be my cup of tea. I hate giving up on a book, but everything about the bathtub scene in Chapt 8 annoyed me so much, I just couldn't keep up the struggle I had been having with some other parts of the book.

From what I did read though, I could see lots of good things the author does. I enjoyed the subtle hints of humor in Farrah's interactions with Dorian and Frank Walters. I think many of the simple scenes between Farah and other characters were well-done - the dialogue and the descriptions of how the characters moved around each other in the room and physically interacted flowed well, and made those scenes effortless to read. Also I felt that, throughout the chapters I read, the author kept me intrigued by various mysteries and questions I had, and I genuinely wanted to know the answers (which is not the case for me with many HRs that include an element of mystery...).

Finally, I've not read many HRs from this period in England (1870s), so it was interesting to think about how much more "modern" that time period was than I had thought - in terms of the fact that Farrah had employment that was not that of housemaid or nanny. Kind of fun to read about a career gal for a change.

Though I did give up on this one, I'll certainly try another by this author.

I really enjoyed reading the comments on this thread! It is clearly a polarizing novel. I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected to, and have tried to put my thoughts together in a (spoiler-filled) review. Although Dorian and Farah didn't turn out to be my cup of tea, I really enjoyed many parts of their story and I especially enjoyed trying to figure out why it didn't always work for me. Looking forward to next month's read!