A Gentleman Undone

Here after all was their condition, perched on their separate wind-whipped summits, in view of each other, but too distant to reach.

I slowly made my way through the beginning of this book, realizing it's not your usual. Nor was the story for Martha, Will's older sister, so this came a no surprise, but somehow I was surprised. It's stunning how brilliant this series is. How quietly rich and subversive, how oddly fresh. How terribly difficult too.

I'd tell you to expect plots more like Sherry Thomas than any other, and I think that's true. I don't want to compare either author, really.

Will and Lydia were both incredible. Both full characters, consistent and challenging. Both able to hurt one another, to cause angst-completely show more understandable angst.

Will repeatedly tries to rescue Lydia from her gentleman protector and is repeatedly told she's not in need of it. They forge friendship and intimacy through cards and probabilities, along with a shared goal of a good deal of money for their goals.

There's this scene, barely matched in any novel for its intimacy, in which Lydia watches Will drink his coffee. It's incredible and one little example of how we feel intimacy as people but rarely ever find this level of everyday in relationships in our books.

I'm running out of Cecilia Grant's novels, but I know I can happily reread them and I'll be gifted with more enjoyment and understanding of these rich plots and characters. show less

I find myself unable to write a proper review because I find myself unable to consider [b:A Gentleman Undone|12769479|A Gentleman Undone (Blackshear Family, #2)|Cecilia Grant|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1321933178s/12769479.jpg|17913980] in isolation. To me, it's like a mirror image or companion piece to Cecilia Grant's debut, [b:A Lady Awakened|11938752|A Lady Awakened (Blackshear Family, #1)|Cecilia Grant|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1343277852s/11938752.jpg|16839861].

A GENTLEMAN UNDONE is about an emotionally scarred Waterloo veteran, Will Blackshear, who falls in love with an emotionally blighted courtesan, Lydia Slaughter. Lydia has no interest in love or the communion of souls - but she unabashedly loves sex. Will is show more amazed and delighted by her lack of shame, but finds it punishing as well. He offers her his heart; in return, she gives him a BJ. Feels good, but no warm fuzzies.

A LADY AWAKENED is about an upright widow, Martha, who has no use for earthly delights. She cares about the intangibles: virtue, charity, religion. She has negative interest in sex. She positively breaks the hero of the novel, Theo, by remaining immune to his sexual mojo.

So there are these seemingly opposite characters -- hypersexual Lydia vs hypermoral Martha -- who actually resemble one another quite a bit. Lydia survives her fall from grace into a whorehouse by becoming stronger, emotionally self-sufficient, and planning for independence. Martha survives a brief but painful marriage by becoming stronger, emotionally self-sufficient, and planning for independence (widowhood).

Both heroines respond to straightforward attempts to change them, or otherwise divert them away from their fixed, exhaustively planned paths with extreme prejudice. But both women need to change; both are being eaten alive by the strengths that sustain them. And in both books, the hero accomplishes the necessary persuasion through the gentlest of means: acceptance and admiration. Also by being kind and trustworthy and non-threatening, allowing the heroines to let down their guards, to relax, to grow.

For all those similarities (and they are significant, aren't they?) the stories are profoundly different. And they're different because they're driven by contradictory attitudes about sex. The early sex scenes in A LADY AWAKENED are painful and awkward because Martha refuses to enjoy herself. The early sex scenes in A GENTLEMAN UNDONE are uncomfortable and dirty because...well, because Lydia likes it that way.

Taken singly but especially together, Cecilia Grant seems to be arguing that romance is the combination of sex and love. Which...not that radical, I guess? But stated strongly and with vivid examples. Lydia talks about sex in really destructive terms - laying waste, destroying, obliterating. She loves sex. She's enthusiastic about it. But her relentless enthusiasm is killing her from the inside out. She needs sex with love. Martha, for her part, imagines love as pure, holy, a kind of earthly devotion akin to religion. But her relationship with Theo won't work - won't satisfy either of them - until they figure out how to burn up the sheets.

I think Cecilia Grant is amazing but I also think she's probably best appreciated by a seasoned romance reader. She tells a good story, she writes some hot sex, the writing is divine but what interests me the most is how the books seem to comment on the genre as a whole, its trends and evolution. These books could be a case study in why it's important to open the bedroom door in romances, why it's worthwhile to describe sex in such explicit detail, for example.

A few quick notes on the plot of A GENTLEMAN UNDONE. I didn't like it quite as much as A LADY AWAKENED, though to be fair I thought A LADY AWAKENED was damn near perfect. A few quibbles: gorgeous as the writing is, I totally skimmed all the card counting stuff. A major plot point involves Will doing something I found completely tasteless, and although he makes up for it really well, I liked him less for it. Lastly, so much of the book is about Will accepting Lydia exactly as she is that I was disappointed when, at the end, Lydia expends a lot of energy trying to convince Will to do something contrary to his nature She shouldn't have tried to stop him from having the duel, in my opinion. show less

Will Blackshear came back from the war unable to fit into his previous life. His understanding of morality and class has been utterly shaken, and he considers himself a murderer. Will has sworn to support the family of a fellow soldier killed in battle, and to do that he needs to make money, fast. While at the gaming tables he meets Lydia Slaughter, another man's mistress and a prodigiously gifted card sharp. She has a gift for logic and mathematics, and together they embark on a con to make their fortunes.

Each of these characters felt completely individual and unique, and I could see why they were drawn to each other. What I found fascinating about this book was how different it was from the usual books about mistresses. In every show more other regency romance I've ever read, the "mistress" is actually a total innocent virgin, and she and the hero embark on a love affair and then get married. In this, Lydia has been a prostitute for years, continues to be another man's mistress while falling in love with Will, and has very enjoyable sex with men other than Will. And this is not like other books either, in that everyone knows Lydia's station in life, and marriage to her really would ruin Will and his entire family's reputation. They get married, and Will truly does have to drop out of Society, he does lose touch with members of his family, and he has to start working for a living. They're happy together, but it's not a fairy tale ending. show less

Grant is able to be bring such realness to her characters. We can feel the emotions, the darkness, that pushes these characters to do what they do. I think it is also the way Grant writes. She has a such a unique voice. She has a way of putting you inside the characters' heads. It's pretty easy for me to immerse myself in a book, but Grant's writing pulled me in deeper.

This book is harsher than A Lady Awakened. Theo had a sense of humor that lightened that book a little. In A Gentleman Undone, Will and Lydia are both very serious characters. They both have dark pasts and at present are both working on goals to establish themselves.

I liked Will very much, but Lydia holds most of my praise. She's extremely smart. Grant likes to write very show more smart women, I think. She's very straightforward about what she wants when it comes to sex. She is a courtesan, and though not a conventional beauty, she's very good at what she does. I know some readers of romance have trouble with their hero or heroine having sex with anybody else after they meet each other. Lydia is another man's mistress and is with him for more than half the book. In this case it is realistic why Lydia would stay with her lover. Will and Lydia at first deny their attraction, and then once that comes out, neither feel they could realistically be together, even when that attraction runs much deeper.

I usually do not have strong feelings, negative or positive, when it comes to epilogues. The last bit of conversation between the hero and heroine tends to be a bit sappy. But this one had the most brilliant final dialogue between Will and Lydia. I loved it.

ARC provided through NetGalley. show less

What bravery it must have taken Grant to write this story in the face of the overpowering mountain of romance tropes. Lydia is a tough, tough cookie, at times repelling but always interesting and dark. Will is such a sweetie, although he can be a bit angsty and annoying with his constant moral dilemmas. This book definitely had a modernist tone and I almost felt like it should have taken place in the late victorian period or something rather than the regency. At any rate Grant overturns and redefines the tropes of the pollyana prostitute (a la mary balogh) and the "virgin prostitute" rather interestingly and with a lot of nuance. I liked that Will wasnt rich and all powerful but still adorable all the same. In all, for me it just can't show more compare to the a lady awakened because it lacked the humor that mr. mirkwood's character brought to that book. Here you have two dark angsty souls who have to deal with a lot of pain to find THEIR happily ever after which totally goes against the grain of the formulaic romance novel endings which I have seen in every single other one I have read. show less

This book isn't quite as brilliant as A Lady Awakened, but it comes close. I love that Will's darkness and his nobility coexist so logically and so naturally. I love Lydia's strength and harshness. However, while we see some of Will's healing in that he takes on new obligations and finds new ways to meet old ones that bind him more to life than to his guilt, I would have liked to see more of Lydia's journey and see how she will be ok, rather than just the healing powers of sleeping next to Will to calm her nightmares.

3.5/4 stars

A Gentleman Undone, is a tantalizing and entertaining second installment in the Blackshear Family Series by talented new author, Cecilia Grant. The story and its main characters are sophisticated, intelligent and sublimely sensual.

Will is a complex and troubled hero. He's uneasy and burdened by dark secrets and deathbed promises. He feels unfit for polite society and has "lost all ability to enjoy himself carelessly". Will has "accounts to square, solemn trusts to keep, atonement of a sort to perform" before he can turn his thoughts to "the pursuit of pleasure." Immersed in his own darkness, Will doesn't realize that he, still, is the best of men. He has a pure steady goodness with the capacity to forgive and love show more unconditionally. He defends the weak, seeks to protect those he cares for and strives to right every wrong.

Lydia is an extremely likeable heroine. She is unconventional and inspiring. A former prostitute before being plucked as a mistress, she describes her circumstance as: "Abandoned. Orphaned. Left barren. Tired and forelorn and long past rescue." From such bleakness Lydia has emerged heart hardened and defiant. She's determined, ruthless, clever and daring. She has a plan to gain financial independence, and she needs Will's help to achieve that end.

Will feels an immediate awareness and electrifying attraction to Lydia. She dazzles and staggers him. He finds her to be striking, unique and challenging. She enlivens Will's spirit and awakens his body with a visceral carnal lust he never thought he'd feel again. He longs to bed her and tells her so, but holds his ardor in check. He vows to earn her trust before allowing anything physical to happen between them.

Lydia is no "blushing virgin" She's refreshingly assertive and shamelessly sensual. Lydia boldly states that she'll have Will "begging for mercy and begging for more." She knows what she wants and commands it from her lover.

Wildly attracted but emotionally scarred, Lydia confesses that she has no love left to give. Yet, Will still wants more from her. He dares to care for her and seeks to save her. Lydia doesn't want his heroics and chivalry and becomes increasingly annoyed with Will's "obstinate refusal" to put his erections to good use. But when he does.... It's crazy hot. He's so gloriously sexy! Will speaks with a depth of longing both plain and raw. His skills in the bedroom are masterful, expressive and lavishing. Will worships Lydia's body, mind and soul. Lydia meets his desire with "a coarse, impatient.. hunger." (I LOVE that description) The sex is overflowing with passion. Lydia is insatiable, all temper and fury. Will is strength and heart. He's a magnificent, sensual stallion. show less