Both of these are by Courtney Milan and are the part of the same series that the awesome Unclaimed was part of.
Unveiled - involves Ash Turner, a man who rose from poverty to immense wealth and now is about to inherit a Dukedom from the Duke of Parford (as the Duke's current children have been declared illegitimate) and Margaret Dalrymple, the daughter of the current Duke who knows she should dislike the new heir but finds herself drawn to his goodness. I loved this book to bits because Milan seems to do this rare of rarities - have heroes who are not rakes or bad boys but genuinely good men who the heroines end up loving for their morals, hard work, strength of character, respect towards them, and genuine goodness. You have NO idea how freakishly rare this is in any novel, let alone a romance one. Lady Margaret loves Ash because he makes her be a better person and makes her be more. And I love that.
Unraveled - EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! I've just finished this one and I think I have a new book to add to my list of all-time faves. This one involves Miranda Darling, a daughter of actors who has now fallen on hard times, lives in the slums and makes some of her living by being a paid (sort-of, long story) witness for people who need to get out of their criminal charges and Smite* Turner, the incorruptible magistrate in Miranda's jurisdiction. This hits ALL my kinks! I confess I was pretty interested by Smite's brief appearances in Unveiled and Unclaimed, but this book exceeded my expectations. I am a total sucker for heroes who are severely screwed up but functional despite it all and heroines who are pragmatic and cheerful and with a very good head on their shoulders. I adore Miranda, with her hard-won optimism and matter-of-fact approach to life (and OMFG heroine with sense at last - when the bad guy tries to blackmail her, she does the sensible thing and refuses and tells Smite about it) but I confess I was all about Smite, who is very logical, very bad at emotional interactions (and not even sure he can allow himself any), incredibly damaged but able to fashion a useful existence despite that damage - making sure what happened to him won't happen to others and trying to cope in the world which has many internal limitations due to the horrors of his past. Basically, short version is he has an appalling background but he doesn't use it as an excuse to wallow or fall apart but as the motivation to save others. And what could be more awesome than that? Oh, and I also love that he doesn't get miraculously fixed by love - he gets better and happier but there is no magic cure - he is still justice-driven, people-averse and cannot bear to have his face touched. I love that Milan realizes some scars don't go away, just diminish. Oh, and my fave scene in this book - when Miranda takes Smite's hand and touches it to her face, showing him how she would like to touch him if he could bear to be touched - would alone pretty much make the whole book worthwhile if it wasn't already.
* The Turners' lunatic mother named all her kids after Bible verses, puritan-style and names like Ash, Mark or Smite are the abbreviations the brothers came up with - basically a word from the Biblical sentences she named them after.
Unveiled - involves Ash Turner, a man who rose from poverty to immense wealth and now is about to inherit a Dukedom from the Duke of Parford (as the Duke's current children have been declared illegitimate) and Margaret Dalrymple, the daughter of the current Duke who knows she should dislike the new heir but finds herself drawn to his goodness. I loved this book to bits because Milan seems to do this rare of rarities - have heroes who are not rakes or bad boys but genuinely good men who the heroines end up loving for their morals, hard work, strength of character, respect towards them, and genuine goodness. You have NO idea how freakishly rare this is in any novel, let alone a romance one. Lady Margaret loves Ash because he makes her be a better person and makes her be more. And I love that.
Unraveled - EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! I've just finished this one and I think I have a new book to add to my list of all-time faves. This one involves Miranda Darling, a daughter of actors who has now fallen on hard times, lives in the slums and makes some of her living by being a paid (sort-of, long story) witness for people who need to get out of their criminal charges and Smite* Turner, the incorruptible magistrate in Miranda's jurisdiction. This hits ALL my kinks! I confess I was pretty interested by Smite's brief appearances in Unveiled and Unclaimed, but this book exceeded my expectations. I am a total sucker for heroes who are severely screwed up but functional despite it all and heroines who are pragmatic and cheerful and with a very good head on their shoulders. I adore Miranda, with her hard-won optimism and matter-of-fact approach to life (and OMFG heroine with sense at last - when the bad guy tries to blackmail her, she does the sensible thing and refuses and tells Smite about it) but I confess I was all about Smite, who is very logical, very bad at emotional interactions (and not even sure he can allow himself any), incredibly damaged but able to fashion a useful existence despite that damage - making sure what happened to him won't happen to others and trying to cope in the world which has many internal limitations due to the horrors of his past. Basically, short version is he has an appalling background but he doesn't use it as an excuse to wallow or fall apart but as the motivation to save others. And what could be more awesome than that? Oh, and I also love that he doesn't get miraculously fixed by love - he gets better and happier but there is no magic cure - he is still justice-driven, people-averse and cannot bear to have his face touched. I love that Milan realizes some scars don't go away, just diminish. Oh, and my fave scene in this book - when Miranda takes Smite's hand and touches it to her face, showing him how she would like to touch him if he could bear to be touched - would alone pretty much make the whole book worthwhile if it wasn't already.
* The Turners' lunatic mother named all her kids after Bible verses, puritan-style and names like Ash, Mark or Smite are the abbreviations the brothers came up with - basically a word from the Biblical sentences she named them after.
