Product Description

The men of the Bastion Club proved their bravery secretly fighting for their country. Now their leader faces that most dangerous mission of all: finding a bride. As the mysterious leader of the Bastion Club known as 'Dalziel', Royce Varisey, 10th Duke of Wolverstone, served his country for decades, facing dangers untold. But as the holder of one of England's most august noble titles, he must now take on that gravest duty of all: marriage. Yet the young ladies the grand dames would have him consider are predictably boring. Far more tempting is his castle's willful and determinedly aloof chatelaine, Minerva Chesterton. Beneath her serene facade lies a woman of smoldering sensuality, one who will fill his days with comfort and his nights with sheer pleasure.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11582 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Review
'Fans of Laurens's popular romances will expect the high adventure and steamy, sensual love scenes that are her signature and they won't be disappointed by this solid offering.' Publishers Weekly.

About the Author
Stephanie Laurens is the New York Times bestselling author of many Regency-set Romances, which have gained her a legion of fans.

Customer Reviews

Bastion Club Novel - Dalziel's story

Stephanie Laurens' Bastion Club series of novels have generally been good reads, and 'Mastered by Love' was no different. Focusing on the spymaster, Dalziel, it follows his first few months as the new Duke of Wolverstone following the unexpected death of his father. Estranged for sixteen years, Dalziel/Royce regrets that he didn't have a chance to repair matters with his father, especially as his work as a spymaster had finished and he would shortly have been returning home.

When Royce returns to his home, Wolverstone, he finds everything ably managed by his chatelaine, Minerva Chesterton. He remembers Minerva as a young girl when he left, one who followed him around; she has grown up rather considerably in the intervening sixteen years and runs his home ably. When society requires Royce to marry, he is given a list of possible brides. However, he very quickly realises that Miranda is the woman for him - only will he be able to persuade her?

What was particularly good about this book was the way in which Stephanie Laurens described Royce taking up the mantle of duke and learning how his estate works, relating with his tenants and carrying out the daily business of a duke. His relationship with Minerva was believable, if occasionally requiring a few stretches of imagination. What didn't work for me was the sub-plot of the baddie, the final traitor that Royce has been hunting; very little book space was given to this part of the plot so it felt rather rushed, as if it were included just to create some kind of dramatic tension at the end. Still, overall it was a good enough read, with some nods toward historicity even if the behaviour of some characters felt a little unlikely.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2009

Oh dear... VERY disappointed
I've not written a review before, but having ploughed my way through Ms Laurens' latest opus, I just had to put fingers to keyboard and register my severe disappointment in it. I have been reading her books since I found the first Cynster novel in a bookshop in Singapore back in 2003, and have faithfully bought and read (and re-read) every one since then. Despite the most recent books all having exactly the same plot and what are becoming drearily repetitive sex scenes (if I have to read the words "blatant", "flagrant" or "evocative" once more, I shall scream), I enjoy them. For the sake of a good story I can generally forgive a lot.

But this most recent book is such a disappointment. Other people have written very eloquently about the ridiculous-ness of the plot line that stipulates Royce Varisey (anyone else unable to shake off visions of The League of Gentlemen's Royston Vaisey whenever they read that? Just me then...) should drop everything and marry immediately, so I won't go over that again. I'll just say that for me, it is impossible to believe that the Dalziel we meet (oh, and his name should be pronounced Dee-yell, by the way, and not Dall-zeel, as Jack Warnefleet seems to be about to do at one point) is the same man who successfully ran a spy network for 16 years. I know that the standard plot of a Laurens novel is that the hero should take one look at the heroine and decide they're meant to be together and the only way he can show her that is to carry her off to his bedchamber and ravish her thoroughly every ten pages thereafter, but I really hoped this one would be different. It's not.

My main frustration was the lack of a decent setting. It was all so generic. I am a displaced Borderer, so I was delighted to read that Royce's ancestral home is in the shadow of the Cheviot Hills. Goodie, I thought, a chance for a bit of cross-border excitement. Not a bit of it! The Border might as well not have existed for all the notice the characters took of it. And as for Royce's illegitimate half-brother, well can I just say that I've never heard of a Scottish (or English) Borderman called Hamish O'LOUGHLIN!! What?!? I'll just about allow the name Hamish, despite the fact that the first time it's actually recorded in print is in 1827, 11 years after this book's supposed setting. But an Irish surname? No, no, no.

There was absolutely no attempt to evoke the unique atmosphere and history of the Borderlands, other than vague references to Royce as a "Marcher Lord" - a term which is more usually associated with the Welsh Border, not the Scottish Border. The local yokels speak generic "mummerset" when they speak at all, instead of the distinctive Northumberland dialect they should use. A little background research would have been so simple but as far as I can see, Ms Laurens stuck a pin in a map of Britain and dumped her stock plot into the setting she landed on, regardless of whether or not it actually fitted.

Such a shame. I've been a genuine fan of the all Ms Laurens' books, but I've come close to wall-banging this one a few times. Could do better.

What a Shame....
I have been waiting for the Daziel book with great anticipation and well I rather wish it hadn't been written and we could then have just used our imaginations.

Sadly it was a very dissapointing end to a superb series which I read again and again, this one will not be read again. I really felt it wasn't written with the same passion and enjoyment. The plotting was weak and very flimsy and the denoument predictable. Such a real shame! I will be very cautious in future when buying S Laurens books.