Ruthless Audiobook (4/4) ➽ Full Romance AudioBook ➽ Anne Stuart Audiobook

• published: 15 Nov 2014
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Ruthless Part 4 of 4 Full length Audio book by Anne Stuart House of Rohan series book #1 - Summary: Few outsiders will ever witness the dark misdeeds of the Heavenly Host. And among this secret society, where exiled Georgian aristocrats gather to indulge their carnal desires, fewer still can match the insatiable appetite of their chief provocateur, the mysterious Viscount Rohan. Pursuit of physical pleasure is both his preferred pastime and his most pressing urge, until he encounters the fascination of a woman who won't be swayed. And while his dark seduction appalls the pure and impoverished Elinor Harriman, she finds herself intrigued...and secretly drawn to the man behind the desire. Review #1 After reading/listening to this book, I've come across a dilemma. I'm not sure 5 stars is enough for this book. It feels highly inadequate to rate this as high as all the other good books I've come across, because this was even better. For those who are familiar with Anne Stuart, her heroes are devilishly villainous - with a tiny spark of goodness or decency buried somewhere. Her heroines range somewhere between completely inept to amazingly strong women - ALL with a steadfast place within goodness. It's seems like a highly recycled theme, but Ms. Stuart does it well. I, personally, believe its because her heroes are truly rakish and bad, and not the sugar coated vanilla fluff rakes most HR writers settle on. Viscount Rohan, aka. Francis Rohan, the Prince of Darkness, and some other French title I am unable to reproduce since I listened to the audiobook, is a bored, rich libertine. Amidst one of his scandalous sacrilegious house parties, he receives an interesting gatecrasher asking him to return her wayward mother. Elinor Harriman is a plain, 23-year-old lady, suffering poverty with her selfish ailing mother, beloved beautiful younger sister, and 2 family servants. Their dire straits have forced Elinor to venture into the Prince of Darkness's lair to retrieve her mad mother (and the money she stole), inadvertently catching the interest of her host. Elinor is both attracted and disgusted by Rohan, and his interest toward her only convinces her that he has an ulterior motive to trying to help her. Finding herself exceedingly plain and unlovable, she rationalizes that she has to protect her angelic sister from the clutches of Rohan. Rohan, on the other hand, finds himself further entranced by Elinor and manipulates her to keep her close. But, there seems to be an evil presence at work, while the dysfunctional couple learns to love. Rohan isn't your typical hero - he's 39 years old, cold-hearted and spiteful. He's mean and sometimes cruel and I occasionally wondered whether this is a start to an abusive relationship. Still, as we learn more about him, I think it becomes apparent that he's not nearly as bad as he thinks he is. While not exactly a marshmallow inside, he's a decent person who is frightened by emotional intimacy and has forgotten how to love. His emotions toward Elinor are confusing yet very apparent to him. Most of the time, he just doesn't know how to reconcile the differences between that decent part of him and the degenerate he wants to be. For an atypical hero, only an atypical heroine would do. Elinor is one of those anomalies. She's innocent, but not really. Terrible things have happened to her and her family that she has seen all the ugly things that Rohan's world produces. She has low self-worth, which I've seen people complain about, but she's a victim of abuse, so I'm not entirely surprised. Despite all that, she is still strong and protects her younger sister fiercely. She a beautiful character, though I wish we could see her grow and blossom out of the scars her mother inflicted on her. I felt that the romance between Rohan and Elinor was very strong and despite their character flaws, they belonged together. All their interactions had a hint of pain, for both of them, as if they were hurting each other and themselves, unable to claim the obvious love and attraction they shared. That scene when (view spoiler) That entire section dug deep into my heart and woke up emotions that I'm not accustomed exhibit while reading anything. I was really close to tears at that moment. There's a secondary romance between Elinor's sister, Lydia and Rohan's BFF, Charles Reading. It was cute, but character-wise, underdeveloped. Lydia was ineffectual in taking care of her sister and never really did anything. But considering how overprotected she was, I guess she wasn't all that capable anyway. Overall, this book was so beautiful. It has left an impact on me that few books have managed to do, of late. I wish we had more of the couple, but at the same time, I felt like they've been through enough. I plan to continue this series, though for now, I can wholeheartedly say that Rohan and Elinor is my favorite power couple.