Very enjoyable read from the first 'til the last page. Though shorter than Lord of Fire, I liked this better than the first, I found more color, more depth, and a richer story. This is yet the best of the three books of the Knight Miscellany and I'm anxious to read the next books. While Damien retreated to the countryside for solace before exposing his 'madness', his would-be ward Miranda was fighting her own battles and moonlighting as an actress. This is a story where age doesn't matter, with 12 years between them, they still closed the gap. Miranda healed Damien's wounded soul with her devotion and with other novels, marriage is the ending but this is one of those that doesn't end in marriage. The Knight brothers' relationship was very endearing, so was their wives' relationship with each other. Character development was gradual and brilliantly written. I always love a happy ending and this book doesn't frustrate. Its plot has a re-read value to it, I'm sure I'd pick this up again, and I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who wants a good solid story. ( )

Damien Knight, a former soldier who recently received the title "Earl of Winterley", suddenly finds himself named guardian to a fellow officer's and friend's ward. He thinks Miranda FitzHubert is a small girl who can stay at a boarding school, but instead she's a nubile young woman. He wants her to find a husband, but at the same time, he'd like to keep her for himself. If only he wasn't going mad...
This is definitely one of the historical romances whose history is no more than wallpaper. Very thin and threadbare wallpaper at that. I enjoyed the book despite, but not because of, that fact. For example, Miranda is easily accepted by nearly all members of the high society, even though she's the illegitimate daughter of a nobleman and an actress. One of the (female) characters suggests that they go ice skating, because it's "good excercise", and on Christmas Eve, they sing "Silent Night, Holy Night" - even though this Christmas carol was performed for the first time in 1818 (it took me about 1 minute to find this out on wikipedia.de) and the book is set in 1814 - 1815. And then, there's the ice. I don't mean ice cream. I mean ice cubes. At one point, Miranda pretends to have twisted her ankle in order to be able to leave the ballroom with Damien, and he asks her if she needs some ice. People didn't have refrigerators at this time, they didn't even have electricity and I think it's extremely unlikely that they would have put ice cubes in their drinks - it would have been more believable if Damien had asked Miranda if he should get her some snow from outside to cool her twisted ankle. Despite all these facts, I enjoyed the book. Damien is a tortured hero, but he has a good reason to be, and he is only very rarely cruel to Miranda and other people. Miranda herself is no doormat - I despise doormat heroines - but not overly stupid and feisty either. I like the fact that she wants to help her former schoolmates, but isn't so selfless that she doesn't want to have a good life for herself. And she does realize that this good life can be gained much easier by accepting her guardian's wealth than by becoming an actress - which is a no-brainer in real life, but obviously not so easy to unterstand to the myriad of stupid romance novel heroines out there. ( )

Spending six years in the war was all Damien Knight could take but when he came home he still couldn’t seem to get it out of his head. Reliving moments of the war during his dreams and even in his waking hours. Hearing that one of his comrades had died finally gave him something to do, Jason had left him as the guardian of his niece. She had been left at the boarding school and virtually ignored by her Uncles for so long, Miranda FitzHubert was shocked to hear her guardian was there. It wasn’t Uncle Jason, but the stranger who had turned wild the night before to save her life. Together Damien and Miranda set of for the Knight house, the hope of a new life for Miranda and maybe hope for Damien too.

Book 3.…. This is a really good Historical Romance, the emotional connection to Damien is well written. Such a strong and courageous hero, then showing a very vulnerable side - without it being odd or obvious. Keeping Miranda so innocent but giving her such experience and a traumatic past. Well done - and with the inclusion of Napoleon (and the war), so much of the Knight family (Robert, Bel, Lucien, Alice, Alec, and Jacinda), all the action (several intense fight scenes), and the romance, this is a great example of a good series. Now that the twins are happy and healthy with their little families, I want to know more about Jack, but I will be looking for the next book (Lady of Desire) which seems to be Jacinda's story. ( )

Guardian/ward romances are not really my cup of tea and this may have coloured my take on this story. The main characters were quite well-drawn but suffered from uneven plotting and pacing. The author has clearly done her historical research regarding details and yet, there was something every now and then which came through in the narrative tone, as well as dialogue and characters' attitudes, that was a little too modern, and a little too *American*, for the period and setting. This kept pulling me out of the narrative, which also lessened my interest. I don't think Gaelen Foley is the author for me. ( )

This is the story of the other twin, the one who stayed on the battlefield. And of the romance he finds when a friend leaves his niece in his care. Slightly unbelievable at times, it was a fun story. ( )