The Viscount and the Vixen: A Hellions of Havisham Novel (The Hellions of Havisham Book 3)

FINAL DECISION: With a heroine who is unusual in historical romances, this book shatters traditional romance tropes. Deeply emotional and difficult, I ended up liking it quite a bit, but had to struggle with it a bit.THE STORY: Viscount Locksley intends to save his mad father from a mercenary woman who has shown up to marry him. Instead Locke marries her himself because he knows that while he wants her, she is the type of woman he could never love. Portia Gadstone is desperate for security and is forced to agree to marry Locke in his father's place. Two people who plan never to love find that getting to know one another changes everything -- until secrets from the past threaten everything.OPINION: It's taken me nearly a year to actually read this book because I made a mistake that I've done before and likely will do again -- I read reviews that gave away the big secret in the story and I hated it. And then I couldn't read the book because every word I tried to read was infused with my dislike for the ending.I know better -- especially with Lorraine Heath books. Heath often challenges the assumptions and expected stories. Her characters are imperfect and are put in terrible situations. Yet I love her books for exactly that reason.While this book never fell into the intense love that I have for some of Heath's books, I managed to enjoy this book quite a bit in spite of the revelation I knew was coming.The characters here are complex, especially Portia who is a woman who has been burned by love and has no intention of being vulnerable again. She is different from other heroines and I think that a reader is supposed to learn about her before her secret is revealed.Locke is wonderful. A dear and caring man who has learned the wrong lesson from his father's intense sense of loss of his wife. He is so ready to fall in love despite his protestations that he will not. He is kinder and more forgiving than I expected. His character was what made the book for me because through him I could understand how I should respond to Portia.This is a worthy book to read because of how it challenges the standard historical romance, but I do recommend that a reader approach the story with an open mind, an open heart and without reading spoilers.WORTH MENTIONING: There is a novella about Locke's father which overlaps this book.CONNECTED BOOKS: THE VISCOUNT AND THE VIXEN is the third book in the Hellions of Havisham series. This book can be read as a standalone although there are character crossovers.STAR RATING: I give this book 4 stars.

I was interested in the story from the first page and thought about it when I wasn't reading it. Portia arrived with lots of mysteries, and as the story developed the elderly marquess and the hero surprised me as well as she did.I enjoyed the gradual revealing of Portia's history and motivation for answering the matrimonial advertisement, and I enjoyed the development of the love between her and Locke.I skimmed over a lot of the sex, and I did not like the way Locke insisted on kissing her even when he said he wouldn't and she didn't want him to. That only knocks the rating down from 5 to 4 1/2 though, so I'm still giving it 5 stars. (It's been a while since I've enjoyed a historical romance!)

This is a good book to end the series. I liked the characters and appreciated the way that Locke dealt with his father's mental challenges, it was very sensitive and showed how much he his Dad.. I liked the hero and heroine and enjoyed how their relationship developed. It had me staying up late at night to see what happened next so, by my measure, that is how I know I like a book. It has a happy ending as all romance novels should and in these times that is important.

I have loved Lorraine Health's books since I read the first one years ago. That first one, Lord of Scoundrels, was my favorite book . . . until this one. The love in this book touches my heart, from the lost love to the found love and all the love in between. This book will definitely be in my to be reread bookcase.I'm

I definitely recommend this book for anyone who enjoyed the previous two Hellions books, both because it provides closure for the series and because I think that, if you were willing to accept the deceptions that occurred between the couples in those two books, then this plot shouldn’t be horribly unpalatable, even though the lies are pretty big.Before I get into the issues, I’ll say that the writing is good, and I enjoyed the concept of the plot: a young woman, desperate for safety, answers an advertisement to marry an old marquess, expecting to live quietly in the country, and ends up marrying his closed-hearted son instead, getting much more than she bargained for. Heath does well revealing Portia’s motivations for so desperately seeking security rather slowly and in a veiled enough way that I didn’t feel like I was always guessing her secrets before they were revealed. There is a twist/reveal toward the end (which maybe I should have seen coming but really really didn’t) that both makes the deceptions more emotionally complicated and clarifies Portia’s motivations throughout the story.My major issue with Portia was the extent to which she felt like a modern character inserted into the historical context. The same could be said for Locke, and for both of them, it’s explained as just being unusual, but along with the impropriety of their marriage, the story overall doesn’t ring true to the period. I did, however, enjoy that there was some musing on the ways in which the world way changing in the Victorian era.Portia’s likability and her deception are the major issues I’ve seen mentioned in other reviews that I don’t necessarily agree with. Her motivations, as justified at length toward the end of the book, truly are understandable for the period and context, even though the situation is painful and, as Locke discovers for a time, it’s easy to vilify her for her choices. I take more issue with Locke’s character, which I didn’t think fit with the way he was presented in the previous books as the sort of wise, prudent one of the group. This was disappointing because I liked him so much in the other Hellion stories.Locke was also oversexed. And Portia was oversexed. And the story was oversexed. There was just so much sex, and a whole lot of time was spent with the two of them thinking about sex and wanting to have sex. To some extent, the sex was used to help illustrate the progression of the relationship, but not enough to justify all of it.Speaking of the progression of the relationship, that was probably the biggest issue with the book. The story starts with two people, who for very different reasons, are determined not to be in love with one another, and are satisfied with their match because they are both so sure the other is not the kind of person they could ever love. Part of what works here is that Heath quite believably puts them in a position to have mistaken first impressions of one another, but those impressions are quickly dissolved by their true understanding of each other’s characters because they spend so much time together. The problem is that from early on, there’s far too much of both Portia and Locke realizing they might be falling in love, being afraid of it, almost admitting it, determining that they can’t let it happen, and repeating that emotional cycle. It would have been far more effective to either slow down the emotional development or have them confess their love earlier on and play out the rest of the plot with them both aware of their mutual love.An earlier confession of love might also have assisted with how the story wraps up. The emotional tangle is resolved a little too quickly toward the end, but I will confess that I enjoyed the end a great deal in spite of that. It’s a bittersweet happily ever after for both the book and the series, and I ended up pretty happy with this book, even though there were a lot of ways in which it could have been improved.

I liked both the main characters and the father character as well. The secret that was kept until 70% of the book kept you guessing what had really happened. The ending was very sweet. Recommended!

Not as good as the others in this series. Please can someone explain to the writer the use of the word ‘fancy’. It is not just informal it is totally inappropriate in the context here. In the 1800s it did not mean what it does today. Read Jane Austen’s Emma. So many words and phrases that were not used by nobility, are throughout these books. Is it lack of knowledge or laziness? I don’t know but it is very irritating.A British English teacher

SpoilersI know for many that the heroine Portia Gadstones behaviour is unforgivable but I feel we look from a 20th century perspective when women always have an alternative,a source of help for themselves or an illegitimate baby. At the time of this novel the choices faced by women were dreadful. Portia put her baby first and given that she assumed that Locksley meant what he said and wasn't interested in love he would not be hurt by what she did. Dishonest, yes,simplistic,yes but what choice did she really have?I think the brilliance of Heath is that she often has a character act in a way that appears unforgivable but she draws you round and let's you see how the H\H grows and changes and so forgives. Brilluant!Also Marsdens story which we glimpse in each of the books in the series is utterly and completely heartbreaking . I read the final book in the series ,When the Marquees Falls immediately after this and cried so much - positively cathartic. I keep thinking about it.

Amazing. This story is excellent. The storyline and characters are well written. This made me weep in places, oh, but it was so very entertaining and enjoyable.This is one of my all-time favourite Top Ten choices for 2016. If you only want to read one book, then make it this one....it's exquisite!Elaine5+ *

Worth a read if you’re bored

Loved it all. I am a huge fan of historical romances and if you are you will love this too