Her Enemy At the Altar ~ Review

Her Enemy at the Altar: Virginia Heath

Back Blurb :

AN UNEXPECTED END TO THE WINCANTON-STUART FEUD?

Scandal broke last night when Lady Constance Stuart was discovered in the arms of Aaron Wincanton, the son of her family’s greatest enemy! But now we can reveal an even more shocking development. Our sources say a special licence was obtained and the two were married before sunrise!

It’s been confirmed that Aaron has stolen his new bride away to the country to begin their unexpected marriage. We’ll be watching closely to see exactly what happens when a gentleman invites his enemy into his bed …

My View :

I have read a lot of very, very good reviews about this book and I found myself such a very lucky lady that I was able to get an advanced copy from lovely Virginia, unfortunately, it has taken me an age to get to write my review for this amazing book, When I say amazing, I am not just using big word’s I mean this is so good. So I hope after an awfully long wait I do both Aaron and Connie justice with my review.

It starts off with a love-hate relationship between the two of them from page one, which continues throughout the book and makes for great reading as we see Aaron and Connie battle it out, both are too proud to admit what they really feel for the other, so we enter a game of chess where they both try to outmanoeuvre the other with their equally acid tongues and wit. The argument’s between them are such a joy to read as they both have the same highly strung, volatile and explosive personalities that really should never be put in the same room as one another let alone be married but yet it works.

They are forced together because of one brief elicit embrace which was seen by not just their warring fathers but also by the gossip of the ton, so Aaron does the decent thing and marries Connie which is where the fun starts.

Poor Connie, because of events and her cruel father is ripped from her family and home to be forced into the household of her family’s enemy, she is saddened by events, and scared about what the future hold’s but she is also very confused as she soon comes to learn that she is actually better off in the Wincanton household then she ever was in her own, she so desperately wants to have a relationship with her own family, especially her mother but at the same time as she comes to love Aaron she doesn’t want to betray him. At times the poor girl is an emotional wreck, as anyone in her position would be but the strength she has is just amazing, she is a formidable woman in every sense of the word, like Aaron she is deeply traumatized from past experiences and exceptionally sensitive about her look’s but her loyalty to those she loves is absolute.

Aaron Wincanton is just the best hero I have come across in a while, he is fiercely loyal and takes his responsibilities very seriously, he is honourable right down to the core that his sense of duty is just oozing through his aristocratic veins. But what I definitely love about Aaron is his fragile vulnerability, the side of him that he only lets Connie see, the fact that he was a serving military man help’s to the only shame is that we never actually got a glimpse of this handsome man in his uniform. . .sigh!

She spun around at the light tap on the door, ready for a fight, and watched it open barely a crack. Instead of Aaron, only his large hand squeezed in and it was waving a white handkerchief. The man was incorrigible! Surely he did not seriously think he could get around her with charm, not after he had so rudely dismissed her like that?

Oh, just come in, you fool!’ Already she could feel the sharp edge of her temper soften despite her determination to remain livid.

The door edged open slowly to reveal him standing there with the handkerchief of surrender in one hand while the other hand held a bucket over his head like a helmet. He surveyed the room with exaggerated weariness before he gingerly stepped inside, still holding his bucket armour about his head and looking, much to her utter consternation, quite delightful.

‘I come in peace, Connie. Put down your weapons.’

I just love, that Virginia has brought into focus how PTSD, was seen then and how in that era it was looked on and dealt with and how just like today it can affect not just the poor person suffering but those around them and I commend Virginia for making it a major part of the story with Aaron and Connie. Aaron is such a strong, decisive man and when he is brought so low by the trauma he has experienced and seen it is truly heartbreaking, but we shout in joy when Connie brings him through it.

Her Enemy at the Alter is stunning, there are some heartbreaking parts that will have you sobbing, but the majority of the book is made up of either Aaron and Connie bickering or giving in to their baser needs, which those parts are so sexy and steamy.

This is an intelligent, sexy and beautifully written book that just has to be added to any Historical Romance readers bookshelf, I loved it and I cannot recommend it more, as I have said before Ms Heath is so very talented and deserves recognition for her talent.

Simply Stunning!

Oh! nearly forgot, anyone who loves Mr Darcy emerging from that pond will love the part where lovely Aaron gets soaked, and well I’m not giving too much away, just imagine that soaked shirt-clad Mr Darcy :-).

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