The Viscount Risks It All

Erin Knightley

Jan 2016 · A Prelude to a Kiss Novel Book 7 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

From the bestselling author of The Duke Can Go to the Devil, comes a new novel about destiny, and taking a risk on a second chance at love…
 
Gavin Stark, Viscount Derington, learned his lesson when his childhood love was swept off her feet by another man before Dering could declare himself. Ever since, he has lived a life of no regrets—reaching for what he wants while never again allowing himself to lose his heart. If the experience taught him anything, it was never to risk what he wasn’t willing to lose.
 
Lady Felicity Danby had everything she ever wanted in life until the moment her husband died, turning her world upside down. A year and a half later, she is finally ready to return to Bath to spend the summer visiting family. She finds comfort in her old childhood friend, but is taken off guard when passion begins to simmer between them. She’s already lost everything once—can she possibly risk her heart a second time?

Ratings and reviews

Never have I felt so much for a broken-hearted hero. Gavin and Felicity were childhood best friends; Gavin knew when he was fifteen that he was in love with Felicity, and when they reached the age of twenty, he decided the day had come to propose to Felicity. Unfortunately, it was the same day that she told him she was getting married. Gavin’s heart broke, and so did mine. Ten years later Felicity, a widow for eighteen months, returns to her hometown with her small daughter. Gavin has never forgotten her, and he is stunned speechless when he sees her at a soirée. Although, he wants to get married, he is not looking for love because he’s still hurting. I will admit to feeling a bit conflicted about this romance until the last thirty or so pages of the book, not because the ending is rushed, but because of the author’s perceptiveness and dedication to authenticity. Ms. Knightley provides a tremendous insight into love lost, whether it be about Felicity, who had deeply loved her husband, or Gavin’s broken heart. The author conveys sentiments and emotions in such a way that I felt Felicity’s melancholy, I felt her emptiness; her heart still has no room for another man, even though she’s making efforts to live again. Gavin, at first, tries to avoid Felicity, but they were such good friends, and he cannot stand to see her so sad; if nothing else, he endeavours to bring her some happiness, to make her smile again. And when Gavin decides to win over Felicity, is where the story becomes positively heart-wrenching, and where the author’s amazing writing skills make this story so different from the norm. I had felt Gavin’s passion for Felicity from the beginning as strongly as her grief, but I could not sense she had come to love Gavin with as much ardour; it was a difficult romance for me, until those very last pages where the author’s masterful and realistic portrayal of true love hit me, and hit me hard. All this without cloying plot twists, but in a subtle, realistic, and brilliant grasp of what real love is. I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

About the author

Erin Knightley is the author of the Prelude to a Kiss series (The Duke Can Go to the Devil, The Earl I Adore, The Baron Next Door) and the Sealed with a Kiss series (Flirting with Fortune, A Taste for Scandal, Miss Mistletoe, More Than a Stranger). Despite being an avid reader and closet writer her whole life, Ms. Knightley decided to pursue a sensible career in science. It was only after earning her BS and working in the field for years that she realized doing the sensible thing wasn’t any fun at all. Following her dreams, Erin left her practical side behind and now spends her days writing. Together with her tall, dark, and handsome husband and their three spoiled mutts, she is living her own Happily Ever After in North Carolina.