ARC Review: Lydia Dare - The Wolf Who Loved Me

Westfield Wolves Series:

Book 5:

The Wolf Who Loved Me: Mr. Weston Hadley and Lady Madeline Hayburn

 

Release Date: April 3rd, 2012

Summary:

Three years ago Wes spotted Lady Madeline across a ballroom and ever since he has been besotted. The few times he has been in the same room with Lady Madeline, he hasn’t been able to take his eyes off of her, too bad she hasn’t been able to look him without fear in her eyes. Wes knows that Madeline is WAY above his reach, but his heart just won’t listen to what his head is telling him; that he will never ever be good enough for the likes of Lady Madeline Hayburn. Lady Madeline never officially met Weston Hadley, who is one of the three “Penniless Hadley Brothers” and she is pretty sure she never wants to. Even if her eyes go searching for him on one of the rare occasions him and his brothers are invited to a Ton function, but eventually they reach the wicked scar on his cheek and she realizes just how dangerous and inappropriate he is for a lady of her stature.

All of that changes one night on the full moon. Madeline sees Weston from out her window dragging a man to the barn. She goes out to investigate and finds herself seeing Weston transforming, could that be true what she saw, surely not?! Damn it! Weston has really done it this time, Dash is really going to light into him for this one. The only people that can know about his kind outside of the society are their mates, and Lady Madeline is no mate of his… But she could be…

Review:

This is the newest in the Westfield Wolves Series from the creative minds of the writing due that makes up Lydia Dare; I’d have to say this is an excellent addition to the series. With a Lydia Dare book you get historical romance with a bit of the paranormal thrown in for good measure. L. Dare is one of the best at seamlessly blending the two genres; I can’t imagine that it would easy. One of the things I love the most from this duo is much like a Julie Garwood novel you know you are getting great characters. The concept of whatever novel you are reading might not necessarily be new, but you will fall in love with the characters in their stories and this one is no exception. 

This book takes place three years after the last book “Never Been Bit” with Sorcha and Alex; we are still in Kent and Caitrin is still Madeline’s neighbor, you will actually see a lot of her as she tries to tame Dash’s three unruly roguish half brothers. She is bailing them out of scrape after scrape. And now Weston has gotten himself into one doozy of a problem. 

I think that Weston is taking top spot for my favorite L. Dare wolf. He is equal parts sweetheart and rogue, completely besotted with Madeline for the last three years; he routinely makes a complete arse of himself whenever she is around. Even as he is doing it, he can’t seem to stop himself.   But when he is with Madeline, those deep buried manners seem to appear.  On the other hand, he is still a reckless Hadley brother, he races, he drinks and can’t seem to turn down a bet, even when on his last penny. With Wes you get a bad boy with good intentions. I’ll take it, and him! It about breaks your heart when he is self depreciating, he grew up knowing he was one of those “Penniless Hadley Brothers”, where on one hand it is librating; he can basically do whatever he wants and at this point no one will raise an eye brow. But, when his heart belongs in a Duke’s daughter’s hand, there is nothing he wouldn’t give to be respectable and good enough. Towards the end about killed me, I felt so bad for these two.

Lady Madeline Hayburn, has grown up knowing that she is the daughter of a Duke, that she will make a splendid match of some titled well off gentleman, but secretly she hopes for affection, if not love and mostly PASSION. You see she reads.. a lot. My kind of girl. *smiles*  For three years her father has thrown her on the marriage market and not one of these titled gentleman, stir her the way that she feels that she should be. She knows these men are after two things, her connections as part of a powerful family, and her dowry; which is quite sizable. When she sees Weston, she is pulled toward him at the same time as she is scared of him, he confuses her. One thing she does know is that he will never do. What I really like about Madeline besides her sweet gentle nature and a huge heart is secretly she’s a bad girl! Oh yes, she is a closet bad girl, so closet even she didn’t know it. But as soon as Wes shows her a different way, where you can get dirty and jump out of windows, she seems to take to it and run with it. One transgression at a time she sheds a bit of the ridge, never been dirty Lady Madeline and becomes a little more Maddie a girl that can have fun. I enjoyed reading these small changes; it makes Madeline stand out a bit from some of the other females of the series. I really enjoyed Madeline as a character.

This book will take you all over the place, from Kent to Scotland. It is a grand adventure for these two as they flee. There was also great emotional growth for both Madeline and Weston, their adventures made them realize things about themselves that had them both reevaluating. We also get too see Caitrin, Dash and the other two Hadley brothers again. This supporting cast always provides fun entertainment. Even the Duchess is back and feisty as ever, I gotta admit I’m quite found of her. I enthusiastically enjoyed this book and recommend Lydia Dare to anyone who enjoys Historical Romance or Paranormal Romance or both. 

*This book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley for an honest review


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Wolf Who Loved Me

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