You see, I have rehearsed this hour, this very moment, a thousand times and a thousand times more since last I lay with you. Trust me when I say that you do not wish me to heed my own desires, Nore: they are too impatient and too hungered to guide me wisely.

Redonk Nutshell: After many years former lovers-turned-enemies come face to face amid a potentially treacherous plot

A dark historical, At Your Pleasure by Meredith Duran is the story of Adrian and Leonora, two doomed lovers who were forced to go their separate ways in their early years.  Several years pass, Adrian returning to Nora’s ancestral home at the call of the King to rout out her treacherous brother.  Both he and Nora have some pretty poignant words for the other – their business was left extremely unfinished; despite their mutual distrust, neither can keep their attraction from rekindling.

This was a fantastic yet gut-wrenching story.  It’s dark in that both Nora and Adrian have led less than happy lives.  Their reunion is not a happy one, and it gets worse before it gets better.  What really makes this gem sparkle is the love they have for one another, a love that, despite everything that conspired against them, manages to thrive against the odds.

The desire that moved him was not simply concerned with satisfaction. This hunger in him wanted to break her open so completely that she would never recover her reserve; that she would forget, for eternity, that once her body had been aught else but his.

I adored this book – I think it’s safe to rate it as a favorite of 2012.  It was intense and dark but fully redeemed by the leads and their gradually rekindled passion and respect for one another.

At Your Pleasure by Meredith Duran

Rating: A

Romance: 4/5            Raunch: 3.5/5