For Want of a Viscount
Grade : C

In Want of A Viscount, the latest instalment in Lorraine Heath's The Chessmen: Masters of Seduction series features a whole lotta instalove, and the tropes and plot points are a mite bit goofy, but if you can get beyond it the end result is fairly charming. There’s a little bit of a crossover here with the author’s Sins for All Seasons books; you don’t need to catch up on that series, but it adds another layer of complexity readers may or may not want to fiddle with.

John Castleton, Viscount Wyeth, is the Chessmen’s beloved Rook (and best known by this name). He has been talked into coming to Elysium, a private pleasure club for women, at the request of his half-brother, Aidan Trewlove (The Duchess in His Bed), the establishment’s owner. It seems a high-society miss has purchased a single kiss from the establishment, and Aidan thinks Rook the right man to deliver it because he won’t get caught up in passion and push her too far – Rook has, of course, vowed Never to Love and to end his father’s bloodline with himself. Rook agrees, but swears Aiden to total anonymity. He has a reputation to think of, after all. Rook is a solitary man because his father’s well-known propensity for getting it up and on with every skirt he can lift – including that of the only woman John has loved thus far - means John has decided to go in the opposite direction and keep a spotless reputation. His choice has been affirmed by the discovery that his father had a multitude of his by-blows tossed into a baby farm (including Aidan, as detailed in his own book.) John will keep his own pants buttoned, thank you.

Tall, freckled Leonora Garrison is drunk on absinthe when she meets Rook, the stranger whom she has paid to kiss her. She’s so drunk that, to Rook’s exasperation, she falls asleep in the middle of it. When she awakens she thinks their oral entanglement was a wonderful dream, which is a good thing. In her everyday waking life, Leonora is looking for investors to save her family’s struggling company, which is dying thanks to mismanagement by her brother, Sam, who has no interest in Leonora’s aims. Alongside her mother – who gauchely throws herself into the whirl of society and tries to find Leonara a rich husband – brother and sister look for an investor in their company among the upper crust. Leonara is also an inventor who’s created a mechanical writing machine not unlike a typewriter, which might save everything, if she can just find someone with deep enough pockets. She, too, doesn’t want to marry – marrying means losing her ability to be scientific.

And yet, Rook cannot get the Lady of Sighs (as he nicknames her, and also - ugh) out of his head. And yet Leonara – once they meet on even footing with their real names attached – finds herself attracted to Rook. They end up in a gossip column after someone spies him on his knees outside of a ballroom before Leonora, helping her get a pebble out of her shoe – which looks like a proposal, natch. This isn’t enough to keep them away from one another – and soon they get caught in one of those Compromising Situations which may force Rook to put a ring on Leonara. She loves him, but is completely convinced that he doesn’t love her and is just acting out of honor. He loves her but is convinced he has spoiled her dreams by despoiling her, and on top of that, He Will Not Be Like His Dirty Earl Daddy Oh No. Can romance intervene? Will Leonora return to America, and will her invention see the light of day?

Y’all know where this one is going, which is surprising for a Heath book. The character work generally shines through, but the tropeiness of In Want of a Viscount drags it down, and a couple of bad plot choices make it a perfectly mediocre, kinda disappointing read.

Rook is an excellent hero for the most part; he’s a good guy, he’s honorable, he likes Leonara for her mind as well as her looks and finds her easy to confide in. But while he is justified in his emotions towards his father in one way, in another we have seen his tragic love averse, Men Hates Daddy So Much, oh So Much, type oh so often. His feelings cause him to make a stupid mistake late in the book to provide nothing more than unnecessary third act tension.

Leonara is a smart woman encountering passion and being loved fully for herself for the first time, which is delightful to read. I did have a giggle when she compared performing fellatio on John to the satisfaction of listening to machinery whirr and intercourse to the pistoning of same!

The romance is a slow-burn that progresses at a decent rate, and is very sweet and romantic in places, though it’s very instalusty, and yes, this is another romance where Heath has to have her hero explain-think that his woman is All Woman and not 'just' a scientist Then the last quarter happens and Heath seems to struggle to add conflict into the mix late-game. There’s a brief threat that a third party might rise, but that doesn’t occur; instead, the final act conflict stems from No One Talking, because Rook is convinced he’s forcing Leonora to do something she doesn’t want, and Leonara is convinced that accepting his ring and settlement would be compromising her integrity. This tension is solved in a paltry two chapters with nary enough conflict. And as for Rook’s resistance to continuing the Earl’s line, well… you know how that’ll go. Everyone is so filled with misplaced honor and pride it becomes very annoying very quickly. And the moment where they consummate their love and are caught is so ridiculous that… well, I shall not reveal it.

Leonara’s family is atrocious – her mother is grasping and society-greedy (of course she wants to hobnob with the Astors), her brother just as self-interested, so you will root for her to get away from them and into Rook’s small but lovely extended family.

Even a mediocre Lorraine Heath book might be worth a peek – just don’t make In Want of A Viscount a romance-reading priority.

Reviewed by Lisa Fernandes
Grade : C

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : March 10, 2024

Publication Date: 02/2024

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Lisa Fernandes

Lisa Fernandes is a writer, reviewer and recapper who lives somewhere on the East Coast. Formerly employed by Firefox.org and Next Projection, she also currently contributes to Women Write About Comics. Read her blog at http://thatbouviergirl.blogspot.com/, follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/thatbouviergirl or contribute to her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/MissyvsEvilDead or her Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com/missmelbouvier
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