The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan

This will mean hurting the women he loves and I could feel how much he hates himself for doing it. Having lived a lie for so many years, he hates the person he is becoming and he is also desperate to prove to everyone, especially his dying brother that he’s more than just a “ court jester”. With his amiable disposition, he can put people at ease and genuinely wants to make everyone feel happy. He is everything a hero should be…intelligent, charming, kind and funny. Violet would be ruined, and she would take her mother, her sister, her nieces and nephews with her. Filthy, she could hear people whispering. The vast crowd seemed nothing but shadows around her.

Her fears of the repercussions are tangible. There were many times when my heart ached for Violet, none more so than when she believes that Sebastian is going to betray their secret by revealing the truth in front of everyone. Her greatest fear is that she will be exposed for what she truly is… “ a selfish, pointless, lying coward”. It means she can hide behind a veneer of proper behaviour while indulging in her forbidden passion – her research into genetics. Violet has always been happy to follow her mother’s rigid rules. She has a brilliant scientific mind, but her father’s heartless rejection, and a marriage that left her both emotionally and physically broken have destroyed all sense of self-worth she truly believes that she is selfish and unlovable. I found Violet such a fascinating character. I just hope this review conveys just how brilliant this book is. This book is so intricately layered with complex relationships and flawed characters that I’ve found it difficult to write a review which would do it justice. THE COUNTESS CONSPIRACY has all this plus a poignant and deeply emotional love story. Every time I pick up one of her books, I’m swept away by her innovative stories, her fascinating characters, her brilliant writing and her ability to layer her stories with historical detail and thought-provoking social commentary. I’m fast running out of superlatives to describe Courtney Milan’s books. So when Sebastian threatens to dissolve their years-long conspiracy, she’ll do anything to save their partnership…even if it means opening her vulnerable heart to the rake who could destroy it for good. But Violet has a secret that is beyond ruinous, one that ties her irrevocably to England’s most infamous scoundrel: Sebastian’s theories aren’t his. Violet Waterfield, the widowed Countess of Cambury, on the other hand, is entirely respectable, and she’d like to stay that way. He’s desired, reviled, acclaimed, and despised-and he laughs through it all. When he’s not scandalizing ladies in the bedchamber, he’s outraging proper society with his scientific theories.

Sebastian Malheur is the most dangerous sort of rake: an educated one. Genre: Historical Romance (Victorian, 1867)

The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan