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Wayward One (2013)

by Lorelie Brown(Favorite Author)

3.94 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1619212544 (ISBN13: 9781619212541)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

series

Waywroth Academy

review 1: When a young lady freshly finished with her education standing at the brink of adulthood goes searching for the benefactor who paid for her board and tuition, she receives a shocking answer that sets her life on a new path. Seraphina has worked hard the last ten years to turn herself into a lady and hide her origins from the world of polite society under an armor made up of restraint and rules. She was always made to feel the position of just not quite being good enough to pass for a gentlewoman by everyone except her two closest friends who are aristocrats by birth. Now that their time at school is finished, Sera is determined to find out who has been her secret benefactor with dreams that it is the father who never came to claim her when her mother died. Instead of a... more father, Sera finds an old childhood friend and protector, Fletcher Thomas.Fletcher began looking after Seraphina when she was six years old to his twelve. Her mother was his crime lord father's mistress and they died together in a fire. When Fletcher inherited his father's fortune and dark empire, his first thought was to take care of Sera and save her from the desolate life she would have as a penniless orphan. He secretly made sure she was sent to the best boarding school and that she was educated to be a lady. Fletcher made his own plans all around the idea of becoming a gentleman of legitimate business and claiming Sera as the lady wife who would help him leave his sordid life behind.Unfortunately, he had set backs in business and is unable to claim Sera when he wants to, but suddenly there she is at his door having tracked him down through his payments to her school. Sera is all that he could hope for in her cool, calm lady ways. He can see her distaste for the home he had built and thought was decorated in the style of those of the rank he hoped to join. But Sera can save him.Once she gets over the shock of Fletcher being her benefactor, Sera tells him that she will no longer be a charity case and wishes to earn her way. Fletcher blocks all her attempts to work genteel jobs so she comes up with a compromise. She will take on the task of improving him so that he can land the railway deal with the earl. Fletcher reluctantly agrees to this with an agenda of his own. With Sera living under his roof and setting him and his home in order, he can work on her and persuade her to marry him.But that's when things get interesting, suddenly somebody doesn't want Sera there and incidents start happening that frighten her. The more dangerous event is the strong attraction Sera has for Fletcher. It scares her because it makes her lose control and losing her control is something she refuses to do even if it costs her a chance at happiness.I really enjoyed this story from the very beginning. The strength of the story is the well written characters. Fletcher is primal and raw, but he wants to be a better man and rise above his origins. He wants Sera, his angel. Sera is also those things (well not the part about being a man) though she locks it all down tight beneath the hard won ladylike veneer and rules she bracketed around herself. Sera wants Fletcher as much as he wants her, but she is confused and scared. I love how they both grow in this story. The story is told against a historical backdrop that is rather unique in ways. It includes the ballroom and drawing room of polite society, it includes the slums and rookeries of east end London, but what is unique is that it also includes a glimpse into the lifestyle of those in transition between the two. I thought the author did a great job making all of this feel authentic and vibrant like the characters. Because of this backdrop and the background of the main characters, the story has a darker, grittier taste to it than the average historical romance which I found a refreshing change.All in all, it was a really good read. I recommend this historical romance to those who can appreciate a sensual and dangerous bad boy hero and a heroine that is just awakening to who she is and what she wants.
review 2: I will warn you I tend to be a bit biased when it comes to Lorelei’s books whether they are just her or her collaboration with another author that results in the naughtiness of Katie Porter. I did receive this one from Lorelei but as always she doesn’t ask me to write nice reviews or honestly even to review the books. I just love them enough to let you know that this is a really nice book full of snark, heat and enough love to make you smile.Sera has always held out hope that the benefactor paying for her schooling is actually her father taking care of a bastard daughter. She’s held out hope that she isn’t an orphan but in one moment finds out the man paying her bills is a bit of a rogue. He runs gambling halls and other scandalous enterprises which of course will not do. She sets out to find out why he is paying for her to make her way but ends up getting more than she bargained for when she also gets persuaded (hmmm more like persuades him) to put things to rights in his household so he can live more like a respectable gentleman than rogue. She’s uptight, judgmental and very stuck in appearances to society but under all this is a woman who has a heart of gold with a streak of rebelliousness that fits our hero perfectly.Fletcher… sigh… Fletcher… He’s not an easy man to pin down. I mean we have a man who operates on the dark side of society due to his birthright. We have a man that takes care of his people and wants to better their positions. We have a man who is such a sweetheart to Sera even to the point of holding himself away from her as to not taint her with his current enterprises. He wants her so much not only for the air of respectability but ultimately for the woman she is under all the prim and proper. He’s attempting to finally come out from under his dad’s reputation and make his world in the respectable parts of society but has his best laid plans thrown for a bit of a loop when Sera takes matters in to her own hands. These two are definitely meant for one another and the snark that goes between them was fun to read and enjoy.There is a bit of heat in this but not too much to override the sweet story of two people finding something precious that makes them perfectly suited for their times and environment. They are a fun pair to read and I thank Lorelei for giving me the chance to do so.As always… She can give me more any time as I will be happy to head back to this period and little group she has created. less

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