Heart's Delight by Cheryl Holt
Also by this author: Heart's Desire
Published by Independently Published on May 26, 2015
Genres: Historical, Regency, Romance
Pages: 310
Format: eBook
ISBN: 1508740046
ASIN: B00YDI7ITG
Goodreads

Three little lost lords, cast to the winds of fate…

So begins CHERYL HOLT’S breathtaking new trilogy, The Lost Lords of Radcliffe…

MICHAEL SCOTT grew up an orphan on the streets of London. He has no memories of his past, but he’s haunted by terrible dreams and always feels as if he lost something vital and precious along the way. Through cunning and determination, he’s become rich, prosperous, and dangerous. As a brigand and criminal, he knows how to fight and survive any battle. But when he had such a rough beginning as a child, how has he managed to thrive so spectacularly? How can he ever learn the truth?

MAGDALENA WELLS runs a charity mission in London’s worst slums. Although she’s heard many vicious rumors about treacherous, deceitful Michael Scott, when she meets him, she can’t help but fall under his spell. He is the most extraordinary person she’s ever encountered. If ancestry makes the man, how is she to account for his remarkable traits? His drive and accomplishments have propelled him to the highest levels of London society—which is exactly where he seems to belong. How can a ruffian be so brilliant and successful? What is his true history? Can Magdalena help to reveal the secrets he’s always been dying to discover?

Join CHERYL HOLT as she once again weaves a beloved tale of family, loyalty, love, and loss. As the truth about the “lost” lords is gradually revealed, readers will be cheering…

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~Karen’s Review~

The title of Heart’s Delight (The Lost Lords of Radcliffe) by Cheryl Holt could have been Bastard Ruins Missionary.  When I was through with this Dickenesque historical romance I was still pissed at the ‘hero’ of the story. The book revolves around Micheal Scott, gambler, thief, and smuggler; and owner of a charity mission Magdalena Wells. She is inherited the mission which was more about feeding the poor than bible thumping.  Scott is a nineteenth century crime lord, who just so happens to be one of the lost Lords of Radcliffe, which is established in the prologue so I am not spoiling the book for anyone.  Maggie (Magdalena) comes from a rich non titled family, but she left that all behind at seventeen to do charity work in London. The two characters Micheal and Maggie meet and clash; and their verbal banter is priceless, if this book was about two twentieth century or twenty-first century people.  This book is supposed to be a historical romance, but nothing is historical about the book except that the characters are plop down into Regency England.  I only establish the book as regency because in book two of the series, the Prince Regent is mentioned. I never read historical romances as historical treatise, but the author didn’t even try to establish the book as a historical romance, not the attitude or the social mores of the time.  Micheal treats the heroine Maggie horridly, and because of this it ruined the book for me; as his apology and contrition were not enough for me. In fact a knife under the ribs is what Micheal deserved not a happily ever after.  Let me amend that, castration with a dull knife; no make that a dull rusty knife is what he deserved; then the knife between the ribs.  The callous way he treated Maggie was unconscionable and unforgivable. Instead of an alpha male, Micheal came off as a jackass, who was vain and horrid.  Everyone in this book treated Maggie as a throw away object, her sisters, father (in muses of past events), brother in law, and the man she falls in love with.  The only person who was nice was her friend from boarding school.

Also I was confused by the timeline of the characters.  If Micheal is thirty, it would have made his sister Annie/Evangeline twenty nine, but she is supposedly a contemporary and school mate of Maggie, who is twenty five. I found it hard that a seven year old Maggie would be close friends with a girl four years her senior. Supposedly she help provide for the orphaned Evangeline, by buying providing material objects for her.  The ages of the characters just did not ring true, as established in the prologue.  Especially when it is revealed in Heart’s Desire Book two that Annie/Evageline is twenty five. So the male heirs are in their mid twenties, and not thirty and thirty one. ARGH!

As I stated previously, the treatment of Maggie by Micheal ruined it for me.  I understood why Micheal did the things he did, but to be so cruel to Maggie, left a bad taste in my mouth.  It is precisely for this reason the book is getting three stars. As Micheal knew from the very start of the book the anguish and heartbreak Maggie had suffered as a young woman, and for him to heave more onto her was unforgivable and dastardly.

Holt did pull me into the story, and the machinations of all the contemptible characters were fun to read.  In fact I did buy the second book the series hoping that Matthew’s, Micheal’s twin brother, character is better than his brothers. As I love dark characters, but dark characters who hurt their lady loves and are not whole heartedly repentant irk me. Micheal Scott, irked me as I have not been irked in a longtime!

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