Lord Despair cover art

Lord Despair

Beastly Lords, Book 1

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Lord Despair

By: Sydney Jane Baily
Narrated by: Tim Campbell
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About this listen

From USA Today best-selling author Sydney Jane Baily

From the lush English countryside to the glittering society of Victorian London, and the shabbier side of its gambling hells, Lord Despair thought he'd left the worst behind in the Burmese jungle. He was wrong.

Lord Simon Devere returns from the Burmese War haunted by the vivid memory of his slain cousin and powerless to know reality from dreams. Unable to sleep lest he awaken in the cell of his nightmares, he sits in the dark, incapable of believing he is truly home - and safe - in England.

Jenny Blackwood is determined not to let her mother and sisters succumb to an unkind fate. With a head for numbers, she becomes the skilled bookkeeper "Mr. Cavendish". One unexpected client is the nobleman cruelly named by gossips as Lord Despair.

With the estate's coffers mysteriously dwindling, Jenny goes where others fear to tread: into the darkened room of the unstable earl. Encouraged by her tenacity, Simon believes he can become the man he once was. However, as friendship quickly sparks into passion, they discover the greatest danger lies ahead of them, and the biggest threat to Jenny may be Lord Despair himself.

©2018 Sydney Jane Baily (P)2019 Tantor Historical Historical Fiction Regency Regency Romance Romance Victorian England

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The MMC suffers heavily from PTSD after being captured and imprisoned in a Burmese jail cell then watched as his cousin died in front of him. He was rescued after 2 years in captivity and suffers nightmares and has somnambulism due to the trauma. I loved how detailed the description of his troubles are because it immersed me in that world completely and made me feel like I am suffering along with him. You can feel the <i>despair</i> with how the author wrote those scenes.

He avoids sleep because he has nightmares of being back in the jail cell and yet he wonders if him being in England is actually just a dream and he worries he will wake up only to be right back in captivity.

The FMC is basically the one who saves him and pulls him out of his suffering and makes the MMC want to live again instead of trapping himself in his bedchamber and trying hard not to sleep so that he doesn’t see his cousin dead every time he falls asleep.

I’m muddying this all up I am sure but the premise of him being repeatedly the one out of touch with reality and the anguish he suffers then the FMC is the one that alleviates his pain is a wonderful role reversal for me that is not very common (I wanna say only at 30% of HR) in Romance.

The story isn’t an automatic 5 star <i>(I really wanted it to be and was so close to rating it so)</i> with the middle slumping and new plots/problems introduced and being resolved immediately. I just wanted all those “filler plots” to be over with and go back to the problems the couple have and navigating living together with the MMC’s PTSD.

Detailed description of MMC’s suffering from PTSD

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I enjoyed this book very much great story with a fantastic narrator. I will be looking for more books from this author as the characters really came to life and the story was well thought out.

Well worth a read/listen

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Honestly very impressed at the story line and the quality of Narration, and the very likeable characters. 10/10.

An Amazing listen with excellent Narration.

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A well written story set in the Victorian era and focusing on the often unseen, and at the time unacknowledged, damage that war and captivity has on fighting men. A sensitive portrayal of the hero’s mental state and ultimate recovery set in a less than traditional romance. I enjoyed this and listened to it over the space of just two days. Recommended.

A very unusual love story

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Just about to listen to the second book in this series so thought I would leave a review for the 1st. A very enjoyable book well worth the listen!!

Really enjoyed this book 🙂

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Great book. I love how the author portrayed the main characters, their courtship and subsequent marriage. The presence of something so rarely discussed as PTSD from war and in this case captivity is a great addition to the story, both as a theme but also as an important subject to reflect over and discuss. The way the characters met this challenge was admirable and yes, sometimes problematic, but it brought great substance to the plot and made the story real and relatable. Tim did a great narration of the book and I like how he brings you right into the British aristocracy with his voice. He’s great at distinguishing between male and female characters and even though I’m partial to duets he leaves nothing wanting.

A wonderful story with an important theme

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I liked the story with its twists and turns. Plus Tim Campbell’s performance was again excellent. That man’s skill of portraying different characters is truly impressive.

Great story

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This book had a very different plot to most I listen to. It was the normal man meets woman and you know they are going to end up together but with a much deeper and darker story, showing what affects the ravages of war can do to a person. There was also the interesting sub plot of the missing monies, an all round good listen.

Excellent

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I did enjoy this a bit more meaty than others mainly because instead of the usual girl meets rich nobleman there were a few more strands of interest

Better than usual story

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This book touched my soul. I love how the issues were discussed from the start and tackled in piecemeal. I love how they loved each other and how love was not one of the issues to be tackled! Overall, this book is a delight.

Soulful

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