Love’s Sorrow by Terri Rochenski – a Review

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Description:
Hired as a nanny for her cousin’s children, Anne Tearle finds security and a loving family. The children are a dream, but London society is a world of its own, one where a displaced farm girl has no business being. But, wealthy rake, Gavin MacKay, helps her to see associating with the upper class might not be as horrid as she first assumed.

Like all things worthwhile, love comes at a price, and the cost soon bestows more anguish than joy. Lost, but not undone, Anne must find the courage to begin life anew, or succumb to sorrow’s unrelenting waves of grief.

Review
Love’s Sorrow is the first book of the Means of Mercy series by Terri Rochenski. I had a confusing time with this review, at first, until Sandy found out this was to be continued in the next book.

The story is well written and intriguing. A historical romance with all the finery and dresses we love to hear about. Anne Tearle is a young orphaned farm girl, raised in her uncle’s house by a wicked evil aunt. Cinderella type story has her uncle (not evil like his wife) going to live with an estranged cousin in the guise of being a tutor for her cousins two boys. Upon arriving, she was treated as family instead and introduced into London society.

Our young heroine falls in love and gets married to a handsome wealthy young Scottish man, Gavin MacKay. All seemed perfect as he seemed to be in love and attentive to his new bride, lavishing her with clothes, gifts and an enormous house.

I’m purposefully leaving out the wonderful details, so you can enjoy them for yourself! As I said before, this is well written and interesting.

After a few years of trying to have children, Gavin’s big dream, there are miscarriages and one infant death after only 3 days. This takes its toll incredibly, as would be expected, at this point Gavin has reverted to his mistresses and is a drunken despot (I’m greatly distressed, because I thought him wonderful and reformed by Anne’s love). Anne finds him in bed with another woman and leaves him, really unusual for the times. She proceeds to file for divorce, completely unheard of in the times. She is thwarted by gossip started by him calling her a liar, witch, and so much more. Whereupon, she escapes London to her friends in America, where her maid and friend marries and leaves her alone but with friends. She finds herself pregnant from a bruising rape her husband performed before she found him abed with the other woman.

The book ends on a cliffhanger with her vowing to keep the child from Gavin, if it, indeed, lives.

I’m so glad to know it will continue and Anne will find love again. I spent a couple of days in a horrible humor wondering how to write this, not knowing about book two! I’m a HEA or at least a HFN kind of gal and really looking forward to a better solution for dear Anne!

This is an excellent and complicated story, and I for one will be waiting for the next installment with baited breath! The characters in this are well done, the situations realistic…I’m just so glad it didn’t end here!

Reviewed by Georgianna

Copy provided by author