"Can he reclaim his broken life after an unjust conviction is overturned?"

For Sensual Romance by A. Black

Viscount Blackwood aka Ryder has spent seven years of his life in Newgate prison for a murder he did not commit. Then several "witnesses" come forward and testify that he was nowhere near the women he was supposed to have killed, and he is instantly set free. He returns to his family home, a shadow of its once regal appearance, to discover that his uncle and cousin have stripped it of its valuable objects and spent his inheritance. But that's the least of his problems. Ryder acquired two new things while he was in prison: an opium addiction and a wife he knew nothing about, and he wants to get rid of them both.

Lady Blackwood aka Jessie is a sensual beauty. She agreed to marry an imprisoned viscount because her stepfather arranged it, and now the viscount has been released only to inform her he was tricked into the marriage and believes she conspired to take over his estate. But before he divorces her and puts her out, he plans to avail himself of his conjugal rights.

I enjoyed this book and will look forward to reading other titles by Ms. Barrett. The plot is well-developed, the dialogue is natural, and the setting is true to the period. My only disappointment was that the characters were not as developed as I expected for a story with a drug addiction theme. Their actions were not always in accordance with their situations.

Sensuality: oral sex

Reviewed by Sensual Romance
Courtesy Sensual Romance
Posted February 9, 2006

Summary

Ryder Braddock, Viscount Blackwood, is an innocent man with treacherous enemies. Convicted in the slaying of a prostitute, he'd managed to avoid the hangman's noose. Instead, he was condemned to hellish years within the English prison system, much of it at Coldbath Fields doing hard labor. For nefarious reasons, opium had been smuggled to him behind bars, and he'd developed a craving for it.

Upon gaining his freedom, Ryder returns to his estate and finds that he is wed to an intoxicating beauty...who also happens to be a complete stranger. Believing he was duped into marriage while in an opium stupor, he means to see his wife pay for her trickery. He threatens her with arrest, but, first, he intends to enjoy his conjugal privileges. Ryder soon finds that his need for his wife is insatiable. She has become an even more potent addiction than opium.

When Jessie, Lady Blackwood, finds an intimidating man at her door, she is shocked to discover that he is her husband. Her stepfather, wanting to exploit the estate, had brutalized her into marrying his nephew by proxy. She soon realizes that the man is far from the murderous convict she had imagined, but his prison years have left him with a hardened edge and a seemingly ravenous appetite for sexual pleasures. Now the only thing in danger is her heart.