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    My Lord Jack
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    My Lord Jack
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    My Lord Jack
    Ebook400 pages6 hours

    My Lord Jack

    By Hope Tarr

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Former French courtesan Claudia Valemont can't believe her life has come to this: standing in front of a Scottish judge, sentenced to death for stealing a horse. She fled France to find her father and escape the hangman's noose. Now here she is, facing the same fatealone, desperate and penniless.

    "Hold! I will speak for her."

    Burly Scottish hangman Jack Campbell takes pride in his work: serving justice and giving the condemned a quick end to their sorry lives. Why he spoke for that pale, hollow-eyed Frenchwoman he'll never know. But now he's stuck with herassigned to be her keeper for six months' indenture.

    Bound together by the rules of her sentence, Jack and Claudia learn to appreciate their differences. But as their wary affection turns to tender desire, secrets from the past appear and threaten to destroy their future

    Previously published.

    112,000 words
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCarina Press
    Release dateJul 1, 2010
    ISBN9781426890413
    Unavailable
    My Lord Jack
    Author

    Hope Tarr

    Hope Tarr is the award-winning author of twenty-five historical and contemporary romance novels. She also writes screenplays as Hope C. Tarr – Stolen Kiss with Emmy Award-winning producer and director Linda Yellen is in development – and women’s historical fiction as Hope Carey. Hope is a founder and curator of the original Lady Jane’s Salon® reading series in New York City. Launched in 2009, the Salon donates its net proceeds to the NYC charity, Women in Need, Inc. Visit Hope at her website at www.HopeCTarr.com and follow her on Instagram @hopectarr and Twitter @hopetarr.

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    Reviews for My Lord Jack

    3.5/5

    12 ratings2 reviews

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    • 5/5
      MY LORD JACK by Hope Tarr is a wonderful historical romance set in 1798 Scotland. It is well written using Scottish dialog of the era that adds authenticity to the story and if full of banter between the hero and heroine. The plot is easy to follow as well as the characters who will capture your heart and have you setting on the edge of your seat. It has wit, romance, danger, adventure, betrayal, trust, sensuality, falling in love and finding the truth. The hero, Jack, is handsome, strong, lonely, loves animals, is kind, considerate, illegitimate,compassionate and the hangman. The heroine, Claudia, is beautiful, half French, escaping the revolution of France, trying to find her noble father, is illegitimate, a courtesan, strong willed,and prosecuted as a horse thief. For this thievery, she is to hang until Jack, steps forward on her behalf. She is placed into his custody for six months, Jack, immediately feels a connection to her, but tries to deny it. Claudia is also finding him easy to fall in love with. Jack's half brother demises him,and is out to destroy Jack and Claudia. What follows is a test of true love with hardship and sacrifice. The father, Claudia, as so hoped would love her turns out to be a worst enemy, than Jack's half brother. This is a story of love, sacrifice, deceit, betrayal, friendship and with a happy ever after ending. I would highly recommend this story especially if you enjoy Scottish romance and adventure. This book was received for review from Net Galley and details can be found at Carina Press and My Book Addiction and More.
    • 5/5
      My Lord Jack was an enjoyable read that had some unique elements and was packed with almost non-stop action especially during the second half of the book. It pairs a hunky Scottish hero with a French heroine both of whom are of illegitimate birth and for a long while, neither feels worthy of the other. Even though both were essentially low-born, Claudia was raised in an environment where she was as pampered as any noble due to her mother's status as a courtesan. Initially she and Jack have a clash of wills and some humorous moments when Claudia is remanded into Jack's custody after stealing a horse and must learn to do menial chores and work as a barmaid. For the first half of the story Jack and Claudia's relationship evolves rather slowly. There is a burning desire between them right from the start, but Jack is too honorable a man to act on it. Claudia would have been happy to, but she is keeping a lot of secrets about herself and her past from Jack which tended to stunt their emotional intimacy during the first half of the book. After Claudia attempts to escape, there is an explosive moment between her and Jack where she eventually confesses all in a beautiful scene that led to some deep passion. During a large part of the book, but particularly in the second half, the author has a penchant for torturing her hero and heroine, mostly through the actions of others. Jack's brother, Callum, has harbored a deep-seated jealously of Jack since they were children and blames him for their mother's murder. Callum's hatred evolves into madness as the true circumstances of their mother's death are revealed, and Claudia's father isn't a very nice man either. The couple end up embroiled in some edge-of-you-seat, nail-biting suspense that left me with teary eyes and frayed nerves because of all that they had to endure to find their HEA. After all that, I don't think two characters could have deserved it more. It might have been nice to have a few more romantic scenes or perhaps a wedding scene at the end, but overall I wasn't too bothered by this. I think that their actions demonstrated their love by showing just how far they were willing to go and how much personal risk they faced to protect one another. Jack was positively a to-die-for hero. When I first read the cover blurb for this book and realized that he was a hangman, not only did I find that to be a highly unusual profession for a romance hero but I wasn't sure if I would like him being an executioner. Even though it made me a tad bit uncomfortable in much the same way that it did Claudia, I still fully respected Jack. His reasons for his career choice become quite clear as he begins to remember things that had previously been rendered to his subconscious by traumatic amnesia. Also, Jack had a reputation for being extremely precise and conscientious about his work, studying the science and mathematics of hanging to ensure a quick, clean parting for the condemned, so much so that some prisoners actually requested him by name. Outside of his occupation, Jack mostly leans toward being a tender beta hero. He is an animal lover who cares for a menagerie of “wee beasties”. He loves all creatures, counting them as his friends, and as a result is a vegetarian. He is an educated man and a lover of books, and he is also quite intelligent. Even when given only limited clues, Jack uses reason and logic to figure things out rather than jumping to conclusions that could have led to clichéd misunderstandings. He is a skilled herbal healer and an incredibly talented artisan who creates beautiful sculpted wood mantelpieces. Jack wasn't afraid to cry when the situation warranted it, he was protective of all women, and best of all (to me anyway), he was a virgin who had taken his own personal vow of celibacy. All this certainly didn't mean that Jack was a pushover though. In spite of Claudia having a rather stubborn personality, he never let her get the upper hand. He also had a couple of alpha moments brought on by his intense love for Claudia and fear for her safety. Overall, Jack was a near-perfect hero for me who I thought was a great match for Claudia.It took me a little longer to warm up to Claudia. At first, she acts a bit spoiled because of having led a pampered life as a courtesan in France before the events of the revolution forced her to flee to England in search of her biological father, her only remaining relative. She barely escaped France with her life and once the reader begins to learn of the things that happened to her there both before and after the revolution started, she becomes a much more sympathetic character. Claudia is also smart enough to realize her good fortune when Jack rescues her from being the next person he would have had to hang, and although initially completely inept at common labor, she does slowly grow and show some backbone about her new lot in life. In fact, as time goes on she gradually becomes more confident and spunky, facing all the hardships that life throws her way with poise and dignity. She relishes every moment with Jack, even though she doesn't feel deserving of a kind and gentle man like him. Jack may have rescued Claudia on more than one occasion, but her love for him gave her a courage she didn't know she possessed to enable her to return the favor. In the end, I really liked Claudia and thought that she was a worthy mate for Jack.There was a large cast of supporting characters with lots of villagers in the little hamlet where Jack lived. I really liked Jack's best friend, Milread. She was obviously a bit sweet on him herself, but any feelings she might have had for Jack didn't stop her from being a good friend to Claudia too and always doing what was best for the both of them. Her little brother Luicas, Jack's apprentice, was rather gullible but at the same time was a neat kid with a good heart. As I mentioned before, Jack's half-brother, Callum, is really the main villain, and he's quite the piece of work, but there are other ne'er-do-wells who join in tormenting our hero and heroine. Even Claudia's father, Lord Aberdaire, was an icy man with an Arctic chill emanating from his pores. He seemed to care for nothing or no one, except perhaps his equally evil butler, and his single-minded pursuit in life seemed to be begetting an heir at any cost. All in all, it was an interesting cast of both friends and foes.My Lord Jack is part of Jove's multi-author Highland Fling series, but that designation is a bit misleading, since the story takes place in the Lowlands and not the Highlands. As such, the men don't even wear kilts, but there is extensive use of the Scottish dialect as well as French words and phrases which I thought the author used to good effect. I've noticed a number of mediocre ratings for this book online, and although I can see how there might be several little things that could be bothersome, I personally thoroughly enjoyed it. Readers who don't mind a lot of action and adventure along with their romance will probably find it to be a pleasant read, as would those who like intense peril and don't mind their hero and heroine traveling to hell and back before getting their happy ending. It may not have been an absolutely perfect read for me, but My Lord Jack entertained me with likable characters and a tense, fast-paced plot kept me eagerly coming back when I had to put it down. Things happen surprisingly quickly with lots of events packed within it's 300 pages. This might be a bit overwhelming to some readers, but everything except one minor plot point about a courier who was ordered killed by Lord Aberdaire, was wrapped up to my satisfaction. I also would have liked to see a bit more contemplation on Jack's part when it came to relinquishing his long-held vow of celibacy, but the lack of it was hardly a deal-breaker. This was my first book by Hope Tarr, and I look forward to reading more from her in the future. Even though she perhaps could have reigned in the broad scope of the plot and built a bit more intimacy and romance between Jack and Claudia, I found her general writing style to be quite solid. This was only her second novel, and as such, I was impressed with her ability to engage both my emotions and attention so well with one of her early efforts. I borrowed My Lord Jack from the library, but I liked it so much, I plan to get a copy for my keeper shelf soon.