Landon returns after being shipwrecked and injured to take revenge on his cousin Willard who has plotted Landon’s death in order to steal the title of Marquess and plunder his wealth.
Landon’s revenge includes stealing his cousin’s fiancé Phoebe and preventing him from accessing her dowry.
Relationships become complicated as Landon begins to have feelings for Phoebe.
Is revenge worth the pain and hurt feelings or does love and affection heal the heart?
Good character development with insightful dialogue.

Tina Gabrielle is a new author for me and overall I enjoyed this book. It had a great storyline with a few intersecting arcs, but the end felt rushed and left a few questions unanswered.

Phoebe Dawson is the daughter of a very successful coal nob. Her father wants connections to the peerage while the mother wants her daughter to marry a title so she can be seen as peerage herself. They settle on a Baron in need of funds, Lord Willard. Willard is an evil villain and I spent most of this book anxious for his comeuppance. Willard's cousin, Robert Kirkian, Marquess of Landon, was presumably lost at sea and is back from the dead set on revenge. Each have their own demons to face and trust issues to resolve, but when they finally do they get their well deserved ending.

Beatrice and Aram are two important side characters that add to the story and need a book all on their own for their own happily ever after.

I would have given 5 stars if not for the ending being rushed. The book was long, but one more chapter to tie everything up would have been perfect. I'll find the first two in this series and read them as well.

I couldn't put it down. I was enthralled with the story. The characters were well-written. The story was good! It kept me interested from the beginning till the very end of this intriuging story.

Upfront, this was an ARC I received and not my usual genre. With that in mind, I will share my top likes and dislikes without any spoilers *fingers crossed*

Likes-
I love the storyline. The Lord coming back was intriguing and I do love all of the various relationships throughout the book. While the primary six characters were great, the author did develop some of the secondary characters enough to give some depth to the story.
I loved the main female character. She had layers to her and loved her passion and drive. She was relatable and human.
I despised one of the main male characters. Actually more than one at some points. But this was intentional by the author and she did a good job making the reader feel this way.

Dislikes
The language and verbiage used made the time period feel less authentic. This book was set in London in 1827 and the dialogue between the characters felt too modern for me to believe it was that time period.
The last fourth of the book felt rushed. The author did a good job with building the characters and their backgrounds/relationships as well as the story. But as the end drew near it felt like she rushed it to tidy everything up. The main female character was portrayed and brave, headstrong, and willing to follow her beliefs. The end had her changing too easily and did not feel as real as earlier.
Little in depth development of the main male character. Yes there is talk of him as a young man, but only hints of himself as an adult and why he felt a certain way about himself. Would have added a great deal to have more depth to him.
It was a fast (2 day) read and it was fun. I was hooked and kept going back to see what would happen and how a certain character would handle a situation. This is the first book I have read by this author. I would read another by her and do recommend the book.

Ugh I’m kind of disappointed with this one! There was a betrayal of course but no confrontation. And the grovel/act of service just was not enough. Phoebe forgave him too quickly. I needed a lot more from Landon, as I just didn’t believe he actually loved her.