Obsession Wears Opals (Jaded Gentleman Novels) (Jaded Gentlemen, #5)

by Renee Bernard

[EBookObsessed]

Lady Isabel Netherton thought her life was perfect. She was the daughter of a Marquis, had a spectacular debut, beautiful clothes, the right friends, and a handsome new husband. On her wedding night, her perfect world fell apart. Her new husband was an abusive sadist who got great pleasure in hurting her. When an opportunity came to escape, she took it and ran with no money or clothing. Just her beloved horse, Samson. They rode until Samsom went lame and Isabel collapsed into the gardens of Darius Thorne.

Darius was well acquainted with the signs of abuse. His father was a vicious man who also took pleasure from beating his wife and children which is why Darius has vowed never to take a wife himself. He never wanted to harm another person. So he focused his life on his studies and on his education to better himself from just a dockworker’s son.

Darius have vowed to keep Isabel safe while she recovers from her injuries, both physical and mental. Even though the laws would indicate that Isabel is the property of her abusive husband and must return to him, Darius is determined to use his gift of puzzle solving to figure out how to save Isabel from the clutches of her husband.

THOUGHTS:

What a delightful story! I loved these characters. The shy, bespectacled professor was the perfect match for the abused and frightened, Isabel. Darius is thoughtful and intelligent. He makes Isabel feel safe and gives her time to heal physically. His kindness goes a long way to helping her heal mentally.

Although she starts to feel empowered under the tutelage of Darius and she wants to stop hiding and living in fear, she doesn’t do stupid heroine things like throw herself into danger or sacrifice herself for the better good. She uses her intelligence and allows Darius to help her. Isabel in turn saves Darius when his plans to remove Isabel from her husband, leads Darius searching the darkest underworld of London. Darius becomes depressed from the ugliness he is finding and it is now Isabel’s turn to show Darius kindness and bring him joy to turn away the darkness.

This is Book 5 of a series and there was only basic information about Darius and his friends, now called The Jaded, who were held captive in India for about two years, and I am guessing they fell into a fortune in gems when they got free. I am sure this is all explained either in the first book or over the course of the prior four books. I know that they are being threatened by The Jackal to return a sacred item and they don’t know what he is looking for and now there is another faction that says they must not turn over the sacred item to The Jackel. So, once they figure out what he is looking for, it will be the proverbial rock and hard place of what to do next. This seems to be more of a premise to the other stories, but all this background wasn’t important to Darius and Isabel’s story.

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