Celia's Grand Passion - Lynn Kerstan

EVEN OUTRIGHT REJECTION WOULDN'T STOP HER FROM PURSUING HER GRAND PASSION. . . .


No man in London could match Lord Kendal's cool elegance nor rival his skills as a diplomat. His icy calm was as notorious as his untouchable heart. And few women had any illusions of finding love in his arms. Lady Celia Greer, however, was not among them.

Young and very determined, she has made it her mission to melt the ice around his lordship's heart. Though charmed by the exuberant young widow, he is not willing to toy with one still innocent in the ways of love. But if ever there was a gentleman worth saving from his own cold prison, it was Kendal. And if ever there was a woman for the job . . . 'twas she!

I've put Kerstan on my WL after reading Lord Dragoner's Wife, that was a MOC story between a titled gentleman and a cit's daughter and I greatly enjoyed it. Celia's Grand Passion is completely different but it was also a nice story.

It starts in a surprising way with a lady of the ton hiding in a closet to spy on the gentleman of her dreams. Naturally she couldn't be an ordinary lady and Celia does have a strange story behind that we get to know as the action progresses. The lover of her dreams is Lord Kendall and he ends up catching her spying on him.

When they meet again at a society ball Kendall seems as interested in Celia as she is in him. Since they are both free, she is a widow and he a widower, the eventually decide to engage in a love affair. But everything goes wrong when Kendall discover something about Celia's past, something that makes him distrust her as he did his wife and that left him scarred about trusting people.

I did like Celia's quiet dignity; she knew she was not in the wrong and that men are often only interested in their own pleasures so she actually bests him and makes him feel the worse about his attitude. They separate, determined not to see watch other again but fate brings them together when Celia meets Kendall's son and brother in the country and he eventually comes home.

I did like them more the better I knew them and although Kendall's past wasn't that original I thought Celia's story was a bit different from the ordinary. For a while I thought it would be difficult for those two to find their way to happiness because they kept bickering and fighting each other but in the end I am glad they found a way to make up and confess their feelings.

Grade: 4/5