Here's a late news announcement...Speaking to Anna Campbell recently, I've found out that what I assumed was the last in the Dashing Widows series, is actually not. I am happy to say there will be more. Looks like I got what I wanted after all.
Helena can certainly hold a grudge.
Dash it!! Darn it!! DAMN!! I hate it when a series you love comes to an end. Finishing Winning Lord West meant that the Dashing Widows were all darn well HAPPY. How dare they? I wanted more.
Helena’s dead husband was a douchewaffle. He married Helena for her dowry and didn’t even wait until after the wedding trip to break his vows. Helena spent many years being faithful to a wastrel and a rake. It was not easy for Helena seeing people look at her with sympathy or contempt. When Crewe, the skuzzbucket, eventually dies in a hunting accident, Helena is relieved. Unfortunately, she is left with emotional scars, a need to keep men away and no desire to remarry.
Lord West is Helena’s brother, Silas', best friend and had been for many years. West and Helena had a very brief love affair…well, more of a kissing connection when Helena was sixteen and West eighteen. He knew he was too young to commit and so the “relationship” ended. One time on a visit with Silas, he brought a friend from Oxford for a visit. That friend was Crewe and West regrets the introduction as Helena blames him for her years in hell. Funny thing is, West realises that if he can’t manage to talk her into forgiving him, he may never find a happy and fulfilling marriage…especially seeing as he's convinced he loves her.
West returns from a diplomatic trip, but unfortunately, he is unwell. This doesn’t stop him from putting his plans in place to make Helena forgive him and hopefully marry him. Fighting a sickness that comes and goes makes his wooing a little hard to manage. Helena finally agrees to an affair but only if he stops going on about marrying her.
Winning Lord West was a very steamy read with a love story that spans decades. Helena found young love with West, then thought she found mature love in Crewe. Her years of marriage soon made her think that love was for fools…or anyone else besides herself. Crewe never satisfied her in the marriage bed and he made her think it was all her fault. West takes up the challenge of proving that Crewe was an idiot, and soon their heated encounters bring out feeling neither can deny.
The Dashing Widows has been a great series. The three widows all lead very different lives and had very different marriages. None of them were especially looking for love but ended up having it fall practically in their laps. Winning Lord West was not my favourite in the series, but I think that was because Helena comes across as a very brittle woman who uses sarcasm as a barrier to keep unwanted emotion away.
I’m hoping Anna Campbell is planning another series like this. I loved that they were short, affordable, interesting and steamy. I can read one of these novellas in a couple of hours and get the historical romance hit I love.
To buy Winning Lord West for $0.99 from Amazon - http://amzn.to/1NKZbqS
I’m an Aussie chick who loves to read and review romance, drink coffee, be a Style Setter and stalk David Gandy. To see more of my reviews, fashion, food and pervathons -