Early Book Review: A Gentleman Undone by Cecelia Grant

A Gentleman Undone by Cecelia Grant is a regency era romance scheduled for release on May 29 2012. In this novel we meet two wounded souls. Will Blackshear is a man haunted by the things he saw and the decisions he made while fighting in the war. Lydia Slaughter is another man's mistress, with a dark past and wounded soul of her own. Together they enter a battle of wits, and a partnership of sorts. While they each battle their inner demons and their mutual attraction things get more complicated. But will they each be willing to lay all their cards on the table and take the greatest gamble of all, falling in love?



A Gentleman Undone's main characters, Will and Lydia, are both dynamic characters which seem realistic. They hold true to their personalities and their pasts throughout the story. Although I will admit to getting annoyed with each of them a few times because of their desire to sacrifice their own happiness for just about everyone else. However, that part of their natures is deeply tied into the story, and made complete sense in the context. I did love Lydia, she is a strong woman in a difficult situation and a unique mind. She struggles to follow logic and ignore her heart, although Will breaks through her defenses. Will fights to act as an honorable man, though he believes himself anything but. I might not have always like their choices or thoughts, but by the end of the story I respected them. The secondary characters had depth and were just as well done as the key characters. I will admit to taking a long time to get into A Gentleman Undone. I am not sure why, but it was not until the characters started trading barbs that I became invested in the story. However; after that all of the interactions, dialog, and love scenes all hit the right notes. The love scenes were very well done, and quite steamy. However, considering Lydia's position in life and past readers must rather expect that to a certain extent.

I recommend A Gentleman Undone to readers that enjoy damaged heroes and heroines, or characters that are different that you normally find in regency era romance. Readers that enjoy regency romance in particular will enjoy this novel. While I liked it, and enjoy the characters that fall outside the expected scope, I will not yet be adding Grant to my list of must reads, but I think that many others might be ready to do so after reading this book.