Lady Windermere's Lover

By Miranda Neville

Hell hath no fury . . .

Damian, Earl of Windermere, rues the day he drunkenly gambled away his family's estate and was forced into marriage to reclaim it. Now, after hiding out from his new bride for a year, Damian is finally called home, only to discover that his modest bride has become an alluring beauty—and rumor has it that she's taken a lover. Damian vows to keep his wife from straying again, but to do so he must seduce her—and protect his heart from falling for the wife he never knew he wanted.

Lady Cynthia never aspired to be the subject of scandal.

Lady Cynthia never aspired to be the subject of scandal. But with her husband off gallivanting across Persia, what was a lady to do? Flirting shamelessly with his former best friend seemed like the perfect revenge . . . except no matter how little Damian deserves her loyalty, Cynthia can't bring herself to be unfaithful. But now that the scoundrel has returned home, Cynthia isn't about to forgive his absence so easily—even if his presence stirs something in her she'd long thought dead and buried. He might win her heart . . . if he can earn her forgiveness!

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jun 24, 2014
• ISBN: 9780062243331

Miranda Neville

Miranda Neville grew up in England before moving to New York City to work in Sotheby's rare books department. After many years as a journalist and editor, she decided writing fiction was more fun. She lives in Vermont.

Reviews for Lady Windermere's Lover

[janet126 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not Miranda Neville's best. Plenty of detail about the hero's backstory does not quite redeem his bad treatment of the heroine, who, by contrast, is not as well developed. A meandering plot adds to the reader's frustration.

[winterlillies · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Miranda Neville is one of those authors I’ve always wanted to read, but I haven’t had the opportunity to do so until now. So when I had the opportunity to participate in the blog tour for LADY WINDERMERE’S LOVER, I couldn’t pass up the chance!We have good character development. We first meet Damian when he’s a young man. I really liked getting to see him at this age because we can see how reckless he becomes that night and how sorrowful he is afterwards. It’s really easy to see the man he’ll become. We don’t get much of Cynthia in her youth and by the time we do know her she’s already evolved into the woman Damian wanted his wife to become. She’s a bit complex to understand but Neville doesn’t leave us hanging and we’re given insight to how and why Cynthia transforms. I really liked Cynthia because she’s a woman who chooses to form her own destiny. Though the real scene stealer in LADY WINDERMERE’S LOVER? Julian Fortescue! Neville gives us a seductive secondary character that really does shine whenever he’s on the page. We have a few secondary characters that play a vital role and all of them are tied to Damian’s past. I really liked how Neville set this up because we get insight to how and why Damian changed. Furthermore, if you haven’t read any of the books in the series it’s not necessary in order to enjoy LADY WINDERMERE’S LOVER.What I really liked about Neville’s LADY WINDERMERE’S LOVER was the friendship Cynthia forms with Damian’s friends. I loved how they accepted her openly with no questions asked. I also really liked that Cynthia had a few surprises up her sleeves and was able to surprise Damian on a few occasions. What I most enjoyed was when Cynthia and Damian finally had a talk regarding their marriage and why Cynthia accepted his suit.I debated with the rating between a three and four and in the end, decided on a three for three reasons. The first, there hardly was any conflict between Damian and Cynthia. Of course Damian thinks Cynthia is having an affair and yet we don’t get much solid proof of this other than a suggestion of sorts. I wanted a bit more internal conflict between our main characters. Secondly, I got the impression that Damian wasn’t interested in his wife until he realized another man really wanted her. I wanted Damian to realize how incredible his wife was on his own, but other than wanting to keep her because they’re married, I didn’t see it. Thirdly, the whole reason Damian lost his mother’s home was because he decided to gamble it. Never did he take responsibility for his actions that night and instead blamed those around him and lost some good friends because of this.Overall, Neville’s LADY WINDERMERE’S LOVER Lover was a satisfactory read. It’s been awhile since I stayed up late into the early morning to finish a book and this was definitely one of those reads.If you’re a fan of historical romances or are in a reading rut, I recommend Miranda Neville’s LADY WINDERMERE’S LOVER. I can’t wait to read her backlist, but most important, really looking forward to Julian’s story!

[ffortuna_6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is not without its problems, which other reviewers have extensively described. For my part, I found it engrossing despite those problems. I loved its clear embrace of consent -- it's consistent throughout the book, but even when Cynthia went to Denford's HOUSE, to HAVE AN AFFAIR, and then decided to change her mind, there were no hard feelings. And when Damian comes back and thinks she did have the affair, there's no "he was so angry he couldn't help it" or anything like that. He's an adult, he thinks about the situation, understands his own part in it, and goes about trying to fix it. In the same vein, the plot is based on a misunderstanding, but it's not something a simple conversation can fix. It's a misunderstanding about expectations and intentions, in a relationship where no trust has been built, and it takes time for both parties to work through something like that. I also liked the subplot about silkworkers and workplace abuse; it's a little heavy, but it contributes to Damian's progression from being a privileged man who doesn't care to someone who actually does care. I wish that plot had been more prominent in the resolution, which is admittedly rushed and mostly just sets up the next book. That's what irritates me the most, that the ending, although emotionally satisfying as far as the main relationship, was totally unnecessary. I had already gotten hooked for Julian's story, I didn't need this weird thing glommed into the last fifty pages. But anyway.There's also a realism to the sex, not only the mechanics of it but how they feel about it, the way it's paced. How and when they're attracted to each other and decide to go to bed. Sometimes the similes are a bit silly, but I don't mind that when the relationship and the sense of getting to know someone are so perfect. The sex is no more, and no less, than it should be for this couple in this story, one of several ways they're interested in each other and want to be intimate with each other, but struggle for trust and a shared viewpoint. And I loved how Cynthia developed, going from not knowing a word for her vagina and having no idea sex might be fun, to being able to ask for what she wanted and enjoy her own fantasies. (I do wish the book had gone in a polyamory direction, it seemed like it was about to for a second, but I realize it'd be pretty unlikely and I also like that Cynthia could be so clear about what was a sexy fantasy vs. something she'd like to try in real life.)All told, I loved this because it's a romance for adults, not teenagers. Setting the couple later in their lives and adding in the social and diplomatic subplots made for a more layered read than the typical "young people meet and fall in love" storyline. I'll be picking up the fourth book to get the rest of Julian's story, and if it's as good, I may go back and read the first two.

[MarissaElizabeth · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Horrible. What an unlikeable leading man.