Devotion

WOW!!! I almost gave up on DEVOTION because of the cliff-hanging ending, until I found out the story continues in one of Ms. Sutcliffe's newer books, OBSESSION... Thank you very much for continuing the story... =). I'm soooo excited, couldn't wait to know the ending... =).

Devotion by Katherine Sutcliffe is an utterly moving lovestory. Set in 1805, the story centers upon Trey Hawthorne known as the Duke of Salterdon. He had once been a notorious rogue. A breaker of hearts who was handsome, aloof and so very cold. He would allow no one to breech the formidable wall surrounding his heart. His world abruptly changes when he is attacked by highwaymen. He is horribly wounded and . . . forever changed. He is abandoned by all of society. Abandoned by all who had once admired and desired him. He loses himself in a black void allowing nothing or no one to touch him. Filled with despair for her grandson, the Duchess of Salterdon places an ad in the London Times for a nursemaid. Maria Ashton, desperate to escape her father's cruelty, answers the advertisement never imagining that the Duchess will seek her out. She is hired to nurse the Duke back to health. She is to be his last hope.Maria's gentleness slowly awakens Trey from that unemotinal void he has willingly cast himself into. He does all he can to frighten her but she is so determined to help him - to save him. It is her uncommon beauty, luminous blue eyes and long hair the color of moonbeams that ignites a storm of forbidden desire neither is able to resist. He is of the noble class and she is just a servant. Society will never permit anything serious between them. Trey has a daunting responsibility to his family. A duty that has become so very heavy to bear. While he is near Maria, basking in her gentleness and beauty, he is torn between what is expected of him and what he so desperately desires. Maria's devotion to Trey will move you to laughter, to tears and will ultimately renew your belief in love. An outstanding read!!

I enjoyed reading this book from begining to end. This is the first book I have ever read by Katherine Sutcliffe and would recommend it to anyone who likes a historical romance. At the begining of the book Maria is introduced and you see why she is so desprerate to do anything to get her and her mother out of her fathers house. This is when she becomes a companion to a person she has never meet thinking all would be well only to find out that things don't always happen the way you want them to. Next you are introduced to Trey and you feel in him all the anger he has toward himself and what life has dished up to him. You want to yell with him and cry with him while he learns that no matter what happens that life will go on with or without you. After Trey and Maria meet there is an extreme clash of wills and both realize that one is just as stuborn as the other....

I laughed. I cried. I fell in love. What a wonderful Beauty and the Beast love story. I wanted it never to end. Sutcliffe is remarkable.

Sigh.... I just love novels in which the invalid hero must be healed (in every way) by the loving heroine...