Tuesday, January 23, 2018

New Release-Review: SINLESS by Lynne Connolly (The Shaws #1.5)





Sinless

Series: The Shaws #1.5
Author: Lynne Connolly
Publisher: Lyrical Press

Genre: Historical Romance (Georgian Era)
Release Date: January 23, 2018

Blurb

In Georgian England, love can mean ruin—even for a Shaw . . .

Lord Darius Shaw has never been in love before. But when he renews his acquaintance with lawyer Andrew Graham in a raid on a molly house, where men meet men for forbidden pleasure, they discover mutual feelings as deep as they are dangerous. For while society will turn a blind eye to an aristocrat’s transgressions, Andrew has far more at stake. The son of city merchants, Andrew has a disastrous marriage in his past, and a young daughter to support. He could lose his livelihood, his reputation and even his life—and drag Darius down with him.

Darius and Andrew’s only choice is to deny the true nature of their relationship. But when an enemy Italian spy threatens their secret—and their futures—the two set out to catch him. And in the process they are forced to face their desires—and make a life-changing decision.





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Carra's Review

This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and when it comes to M/M historical romance I can be very hesitant and picky because it can be a difficult genre to get right and still remain true to the time period.  The author actually did a pretty good job of this, though I wish there could have been an epilogue to see how Darius and Andrew were faring after the end of the story.  Also, even given the number of historical books I’ve read (both M/M and M/F), there were several terms and phrases I had to look up for their meaning.

Darius is quite lucky in that his family accepts him even knowing his orientation.  But his family seemed quite progressive and more laid back than you’d expect from a family in their position in this time period.  For the most part he’s discreet, though there’s still rumors from time to time.  His position in society does much to quell the talk, something that Andrew does not similarly benefit from.

Andrew comes from a working class family, and has worked hard to get to where he is.  He does have a daughter, and he places her first in everything—even if that means he will never find love.  He suppresses his wants, as he has so much more to lose than Darius if he gives in and is outed publicly.  But the pull between these two is quite strong, and that ups the tension—emotional and sexual—throughout the story.

The majority of the story focuses on the intrigue going on as they attempt to identify a spy, which does offer a nice dose of suspense.  The romance plays second fiddle to this for much of the book, with the tension between Darius and Andrew mounting the further in you go.  When they finally give in to each other, it is quite passionate and the scene is done well.  Again, the focus is more on the mystery, and their intimacy is kept to a minimum which fits well with this story.

4.5 stars for Sinless, and I would definitely recommend this to M/M historical romance fans.  While the physical scenes are at a minimum here, there is still enough for me to put this as an 18+ read.


Also Available


AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU





Coming Soon


Releasing June 26, 2018

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU





Author Bio

Lynne Connolly was born in Leicester, England, and lived in her family’s cobbler’s shop with her parents and sister. She loves all periods of history, but her favorites are the Tudor and Georgian eras. She loves doing research and creating a credible story with people who lived in past ages. In addition to her Emperors of London series and The Shaws series, she writes several historical, contemporary and paranormal romance series. Visit her on the web at lynneconnolly.com, read her blog at lynneconnolly.blogspot.co.uk, find her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter @lynneconnolly.


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