Lord Despair cover art

Lord Despair

Beastly Lords, Book 1

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Lord Despair

By: Sydney Jane Baily
Narrated by: Tim Campbell
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About this listen

From USA Today best-selling author Sydney Jane Baily

From the lush English countryside to the glittering society of Victorian London, and the shabbier side of its gambling hells, Lord Despair thought he'd left the worst behind in the Burmese jungle. He was wrong.

Lord Simon Devere returns from the Burmese War haunted by the vivid memory of his slain cousin and powerless to know reality from dreams. Unable to sleep lest he awaken in the cell of his nightmares, he sits in the dark, incapable of believing he is truly home - and safe - in England.

Jenny Blackwood is determined not to let her mother and sisters succumb to an unkind fate. With a head for numbers, she becomes the skilled bookkeeper "Mr. Cavendish". One unexpected client is the nobleman cruelly named by gossips as Lord Despair.

With the estate's coffers mysteriously dwindling, Jenny goes where others fear to tread: into the darkened room of the unstable earl. Encouraged by her tenacity, Simon believes he can become the man he once was. However, as friendship quickly sparks into passion, they discover the greatest danger lies ahead of them, and the biggest threat to Jenny may be Lord Despair himself.

©2018 Sydney Jane Baily (P)2019 Tantor Historical Historical Fiction Regency Regency Romance Romance England
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Loved all the complex personalities. Great interesting characters and their development was well done. Loved it.

Fabulous characters

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Beautiful story about hope & love helping heal. The leads are highly likeable. It lacked a bit of drama or intensity for me to give it a 5. Great narrator.

Loved the main characters but lacked drama

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I loved this story for its emotional depth. Back in England, Simon’s nightmares torture him as much as the harrowing reality of his previous 2 years held captive as a POW in Burma. Obviously the poor man is suffering PTSD. In the countryside, Jenny has become the primary bread winner, managing the tight finances of her genteel family after their fiscally irresponsible father dies. Having had to sell their townhouse to survive, Jenny is determined to save the necessary funds to give her younger siblings a London season in the hope they can return to a comfortable living after obtaining suitable matches. Both love interests are good-hearted people, each carrying a heavy burden of responsibility. Through friendship and love comes hope and healing…and the solving of a mystery. This is an excellent story with Tim Campbell’s brilliant narration. Am looking forward to listening to the rest of the series and recommend.

A story of hope and healing

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An interesting m twist on the usual troubled earl stories. made even better by the excellent narration. I thoroughly enjoyed

beautifully read

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Loved it from start to finish, no boring bits. Interesting read. The narrator was great, such a lovely voice, a pleasure to listen to,

Great Read, loved it.

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I only read this ne abuse I love the narrator but the story was very disappointing

I love Tim Campbell but this story sucked

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