Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by chels_ebooks
Lily by Patricia Gaffney
4.0
This is a hard book to rate! I spend a lot of time reading more recently written historicals where the main conflict is "I'm a rake and I don't want to get married," so uh, lower stakes. This was an epic gothic suffer-fest with a chandelier-shooting hero and and a long-suffering heroine that just doesn't know when to say "Enough!"
Devon Darkwell is the Man of the Manor, a broody viscount who wears his suffering like a badge of honor. He sees his maid, Lily Trehearne, skinny dipping, and he's surprised to realize he desires her. Lily is a former gentlewoman in hiding, and Devon - no fool- realizes this instantly, but does not care. He doesn't care much for her at all, aside from using her as a plaything.
After he's injured, Devon insists on Lily and only Lily attending to him, having no inkling of the amount of havoc this wreaks belowstairs. He does not know the amount of abuse she endures for his attentions because he cannot fathom the inner lives of servants. In this, he's a typical gothic hero: aloof, casually cruel, and supercilious.
I've seen some comparisons between this book and Patricia Gaffney's upsetting masterpiece [b:To Have and To Hold|525622|To Have and To Hold (Wyckerley Trilogy, #2)|Patricia Gaffney|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1309201518l/525622._SX50_.jpg|776433], which makes sense because this is another viscount/servant romance with a cad of a hero and a heroine who simply has to endure. The key difference is that [b:Lily|525619|Lily|Patricia Gaffney|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1322372728l/525619._SY75_.jpg|513465] works as a twisty-turny adventure story, while [b:To Have and To Hold|525622|To Have and To Hold (Wyckerley Trilogy, #2)|Patricia Gaffney|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1309201518l/525622._SX50_.jpg|776433] is more of an emotional character study that somehow sells you on an enduring love that was borne from an abusive relationship. The romance in [b:Lily|525619|Lily|Patricia Gaffney|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1322372728l/525619._SY75_.jpg|513465] is held up almost entirely by Lily herself, who has an unearned devotion to Devon that the book never quite justifies. If there was an epilogue where Devon fell off a cliff, I would be okay with it.
Devon Darkwell is the Man of the Manor, a broody viscount who wears his suffering like a badge of honor. He sees his maid, Lily Trehearne, skinny dipping, and he's surprised to realize he desires her. Lily is a former gentlewoman in hiding, and Devon - no fool- realizes this instantly, but does not care. He doesn't care much for her at all, aside from using her as a plaything.
After he's injured, Devon insists on Lily and only Lily attending to him, having no inkling of the amount of havoc this wreaks belowstairs. He does not know the amount of abuse she endures for his attentions because he cannot fathom the inner lives of servants. In this, he's a typical gothic hero: aloof, casually cruel, and supercilious.
I've seen some comparisons between this book and Patricia Gaffney's upsetting masterpiece [b:To Have and To Hold|525622|To Have and To Hold (Wyckerley Trilogy, #2)|Patricia Gaffney|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1309201518l/525622._SX50_.jpg|776433], which makes sense because this is another viscount/servant romance with a cad of a hero and a heroine who simply has to endure. The key difference is that [b:Lily|525619|Lily|Patricia Gaffney|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1322372728l/525619._SY75_.jpg|513465] works as a twisty-turny adventure story, while [b:To Have and To Hold|525622|To Have and To Hold (Wyckerley Trilogy, #2)|Patricia Gaffney|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1309201518l/525622._SX50_.jpg|776433] is more of an emotional character study that somehow sells you on an enduring love that was borne from an abusive relationship. The romance in [b:Lily|525619|Lily|Patricia Gaffney|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1322372728l/525619._SY75_.jpg|513465] is held up almost entirely by Lily herself, who has an unearned devotion to Devon that the book never quite justifies. If there was an epilogue where Devon fell off a cliff, I would be okay with it.