The Sins of Lord Lockwood, by Meredith Duran, was just everything I love in a book. I had debated where to go next after At Your Pleasure, a stand-alone, and while this is late in her series, it was interconnected to the only other Duran I've read, The Duke of Shadows, and I was desperate to know more about Lockwood after seeing him as a side character in that. 

Each of the three books I've read by Duran have been second-chance romances, and while The Duke of Shadows was the most cathartic of the three (nothing will beat that champagne bottle throw at the ball), this was the most tender. Lord Lockwood enters into a marriage of convenience (that is actually, secretly, a love match for both of them, despite its convenience) with Anna, a fiercely independent and phenomenally wealthy Scot who is willing to give a man *part* of her fortune if it means the deed to her family's Scottish isle can finally be hers. But the night of their wedding ends in an argument and then Lockwood's subsequent disappearance... For FOUR YEARS. Our story is told in dual timelines - at present, when they've very begrudgingly reunified after his mysterious return, and four years prior, during the weeks they fell in love and married.

Duran DELIVERS on this wild premise, once again throwing an otherwise happy couple into the most horrific circumstances she can cook up to see how they fare. And all the pain is worth it because we get:
❤️‍🔥 High-stakes and high-angst mutual pining
❤️‍🔥 Emotionally and physically scarred MMC who fears he's unworthy of our FMC 💔
❤️‍🔥 Blindfolds, see above 🥵
❤️‍🔥 Caretaking
❤️‍🔥 Loveable cast of side characters (only former convicts who don't know what the heck to do with paisley as valets from here on out, please)
❤️‍🔥 The sexiest saved marriage of the 19th century
❤️‍🔥 Justice ⚖️
 
I highly recommend this to anyone who loves an angsty second-chance romance where the couple faces significant obstacles outside the relationship and scarred MMCs overcoming traumatic pasts. 

At Your Pleasure is a stand-alone historical romance by Meredith Duran set during the Jacobite rebellion of 1715. Ultimately, I had to read this historical romance like historical fiction, because the romance is so fraught with political tension that I spent a LOT of the book raging. And while I think of Meredith Duran and Sherry Thomas as the two angstiest historical romance authors I've read, I'm realizing after finishing my second Duran (and after like seven from Thomas...) that their approaches to high-angst relationships are radically different. With Thomas, we get messy characters who suffer largely from their own machinations. The drama is intensely personal. With Duran, we get otherwise typical characters thrown into such horrifically messy situations that they are forced to make extreme decisions. Nora and Adrian, in and of themselves, aren't wholly remarkable characters, but their circumstances? WOOF. The things they do for each other - and TO each other - will make you weep, shudder, rage, weep again, and then, finally, THANK GOD, burn.

What worked for me: This is a fascinating and deeply insightful exploration of a woman's role during the early 18th century and how that role shifts during political instability. Nora is robbed of agency at every turn, and Duran's laser-focus on how she navigates a life of impossible choices is remarkably done. Our MMC actually reflects ON PAGE on the unequal burdens of intimacy (hissy bonus points!), and Nora stands up for herself again, and again, and again. And, of course, the writing is absolutely faultless.

What didn't work for me: I wanted MORE time with Nora and Adrian in their early relationship. It was hard for me to really root for this second-chance romance because we never get on-page time with their original relationship. 🚨 Also, this is HEAVY with significant CWs that could be deal breakers for some readers. I spent a lot of this book doing moral GYMNASTICS to somehow root for this couple. 🚨 

An incredibly sweet book that felt original and tender. My only reservation was with a scene that could have been slightly rewritten to feel less coercive - contextually, I understand the intention, but I think the character insight could have been achieved without the moment where he oversteps without her consent. 

My nostalgia for My Fair Lady made this a sweet comfort read.