The Madness of Viscount Atherbourn by Elisa Braden

August 17, 2020

And so it begins
Nothing says romance better than an abusive relationship.

The Madness of Viscount Atherourne is the first in Elisa Braden’s, Rescued from Ruin series. Of course, I have read them out of order, starting with number four and progressing from there to here. It was interesting placing everything in order. When I got to this book, the first thing that popped into my little gray cells after reading was, “Man it’s a good thing I didn’t read this one first. If I had I would not have read the others.” Why is that? Well I shall tell you in one word: revenge.

I hatessssss revenge plots. In my opinion, it is very rare that an author can pull these stories off, and this story is no exception to the rule. The revenge plan has been thought up by none other than our “hero” Lucien, Viscount Atherbourne. Notice I put hero in quotes. Anyway, Lucien is seeking revenge on Harrison, Duke of Blackmore. Now, don’t get me wrong. Lucien has a valid reason to hate Harrison…or at least he thinks he does. You see Harrison killed Lucien’s brother, Gregory, in a duel. So, that’s one reason to be mad. If that was not bad enough, there is the reason for the duel. It seems that Harrison seduced Gregory and Lucien’s teenage sister, and then abandoned her. She was with child, emotionally unstable, and ended up taking her own life. As you can tell, Lucien has a strong axe to grind. However, his revenge plan pretty much sucks.

You see Harrison also has a sister, our heroine, Victoria. Lucien’s grand plan is to seduce Victoria, and in so doing, create a scandal. This scandal will ruin Victoria, and make Harrison sad. Or something like that. Or, maybe his plan revolves around creating the scandal, forcing Victoria to marry him, then denying Harrison any access to his beloved sister. That could be the plan! It must be the plan, because that is what eventually happens. As with most Romanceland plans, it was not thought out very well. Now, a question may have popped into your gray cells, as happened with me. It cannot be that easy to seduce a morally upright woman…can it? Ha, ha, ha…I laugh. Let me introduce you to Victoria.

Victoria is at a ball with her fiancé…yes, fiancé. She’s not especially fond of the guy, but she is engaged. And, then her eyes fall on a handsome stranger who just walked into the room. She gets hot. Different areas of her body are twitching. She is so warm; she must exit the room and go out on the balcony. Oh no, not the balcony!! Guess who shows up? The handsome stranger. It isn’t long before the handsome stranger has his hands up her dress, caressing her moist cavern walls. The stranger and Victoria seem to forget that there is a party going on in the next room. But, eventually the gossipy members of the party arrive on the scene, and Victoria and the stranger are caught. Oh what a scandal! Turns out the stranger is none other than Lucien. The revenge is in place.

Lucien shows up at Harrison’s doorstep the next day, and proposes marriage as a way to prevent scandal. Wait a minute! I thought that was the whole idea! I was very confused. But, Lucien’s plan is going down the other path now. His plan is to keep Harrison away from Victoria. That way he can rub his hands together in glee as he watches Harrison get sadder and sadder. He watches Victoria’s every move. He does not allow her to visit her brother. He does not allow her to go anywhere her brother might be. He intercepts correspondence between the two. He does not let her know that Harrison has tried to visit her. He is a real weasel.

During this time, does Victoria ever wonder why her brother is ignoring her? Nope. She’s too wrapped up in Lucien’s magic flute to bother. His Timothy Toad is a true wonder! It bewitches her. It is hers, hers, hers. But remember, she has the magical cavern, and that magical cavern is Lucien’s. There is moisture and heat all over the place, all the time, in every room, on every piece of furniture. Then one day Victoria finds out that Lucien has been keeping her from her brother. She is mad. Then she is not. It's the magic flute again.

Then Lucien discovers something. It was not Harrison who seduced Lucien’s sister! Did I forget to mention there was another brother in Victoria’s family: Colin.  Colin was a real piece of work. And, sad to say my little Petunia’s, a future hero. Anyway, Colin is a drunkard, a gambler, and a seducer of young girls, or at least one unstable one that we know of. Yes, he seduced Lucien’s sister, but he thought she understood the rules. He thought she would understand that he was not ready for any kind of commitment. However, she didn’t, she kept sending him letters of entreaty, which he ignored. He also was not aware she was with child, because he never opened up any of her letters. He never told anyone he was the one responsible for her fall from grace. He let his brother take the blame for the seduction; he did not attempt to stop the duel that killed Gregory. He just went on playing, drinking, and being a big old stinkbug.

Then everyone learns the truth. Harrison is sad, Victoria is sad, and Lucien is sad. Lucien is also a little red-faced. There is groveling (not enough).

This was a disturbing book. It has page after page of sex, and page after page filled with an abusive relationship. Remember abuse does not always take on a physical form. Victoria and Lucien’s relationship is not a healthy one. Lucien is a possessive abuser, and Victoria is a fool. The only character who was likeable in this book was Harrison.

I will end with what I said in the beginning. If this had been the first book in the series that I read, I would not have continued with the rests. Even though this is part of a series, I cannot recommend this book. There is nothing romantic about the relationship between Lucien and Victoria…even when they get the HEA. In my opinion, there was just tooooo many damaging issues to overcome in the page numbers allotted for this book.

Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Hot