Liam Devaliant, Lord Lockwood, had been kidnapped, just after he had got married. His bride was Scotish, strong willed and wealthy. He was dragged away, tortured, the cruelity, and so wanted revenge. He had been gone for almost four years, he and his friends had to clear up what had been done to them. He had to have proof. Lady Anna Wallace had been a bride for four years but he disappeared on their wedding night and had been gone for a long time.
You could see her anger, he had been in town for months and not bothered to let her know.
This was a mesmerizing tale of how cruel man can be to other men. The descriptions are neat and help you see the background of the story. The characters were varied and worked to protect each other. I think the author did an amazing job of trying to show her concept of this cruelity. I must admit I found this book interesting, action filled and unable to put it down.
I received this from Net Galley and chose to voluntarily review it.

This book was amazing. I have never read a book by Meredith Duran that I haven’t loved but this was the best one yet. My heart aches for Liam and Anna. Their journey was so sad and painful but so good. I can’t wait for the next book.

Whoa. That's one hell of an opening.

Damn. Anna is definitely not a simpering miss.

So he's turned to drugs then.

I knew it was better to be Scottish.

Are they truly married, without consummation?

This is like the Hunger Games of dating.

The flashbacks are a bit jarring. Though it's sad to hear how happy they were, and their expectations for their wedding night that never happened.

I wish he would tell her that he wasn't joking about being abducted and sent to Australia. Because it's getting annoying that she actually thinks it's a joke.

She got mad at him for getting money on their wedding day, when that was his whole reason for marriage? That was hypocritical of her; she got an island!

You better run, Stephen. This lady is a good match for her husband, and she knows it.

Times were so different. Now we know about PTSD, and that pregnant women shouldn't drink.

A lovely ending.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is such an emotional, heartbreaking Novel! My heart is still pounding! What would you do, if you had married for Convenience, on your honeymoon, your husband goes missing? Would you look for him, or think he had your money, and now, after a row, he was off to see the world? This is honestly, one of the best desperate books, that I have ever read! It is an absolute Must Read! It is number 2 on my list of top 25 for 2018!
I highly recommend! Thanks! Enjoy!
carolintallahassee 👒

I really enjoyed this book. I think it managed to cover a lot of content without being overwhelming. Anna was probably one of my top ten heroines, and I say this having read hundreds (no exaggeration) of historical romances. I also thought this book was an interesting and fresh take on PTSD.

This is Anna and Liam’s story. They were supposed to be a marriage of convenience. Liam disappeared on their wedding night. Anna thinks that he went on his merry way but he was kidnapped and put in a penal colony. He survives to come back to find the cousin who put him there. He brings back the men he served with. The story is very descriptive of the horrors he lived. They find their way to loving each other. Meredith Duran is a fabulous author.

I enjoyed reading this book, it was fun to get the story of a character that's been instrumental in the other books in the series. I thought it was interesting that the main villain wasn't quite as worried about his fate as characters in similar situations would have been. I felt like this has happened in other books to other characters, where members of the aristocracy cut off their funding, get them banned socially, etc. And his lack of concern over this makes me wonder if it's a commentary on the rising power of the non-aristocracy class. Anywho, it was an interesting story.

I felt that the ending was a little abrupt, but still enjoyed it.

I have not read any of the other books in this series, so I feel like I cannot give this a fair review. As a drop in, I did not enjoy it.

I enjoyed this book quite a lot - the characters were engaging and while there was some suspension of disbelief regarding the central premise of the work (kidnapped groom the day after the wedding etc., the fact that the wife didn't raise alarm) once you got past that it was a good read. The villain was a bit of an old fashioned mustache-twirler.