Then Came You by Lisa Kleypsa

Title: Then Came You

Author: Lisa Kleypas

Published: 1993

Series: Gamblers (1)

Rating: 4 stars

This book was amazing. I loved the heroine, Lily Lawson so much. She’s so vibrant, she just jumps right at you. Lily has been through a lot, through more than anyone can imagine. She keeps her cards close to her chest *smirk* and stands on her own two feet. The grit and determination this woman has in unbelievable, and undeniable. She just doesn’t give one whit what people think, which is a good thing, considering that what they do think is hardly complementary. She realized that she would either be ostracized, a complete outcast or that she could change. She didn’t change.

Lord Raiford was a very good hero. I get tired of the heroes that have had so much pain they  have to be cruel and they can’t understand and their heads are so far up their arses they don’t know which way is up. He certainly surprised me. Several times throughout the book I pictured what would happen next, knowing it was only a matter of time until he snapped, until he was cruel, until he didn’t care enough and it would all go to the devil. But Lisa Kleypas really surprised me. There was a scene towards the end, where, suffice to say, Alex thought she was doing something that she wasn’t. I completely expected him to storm out of the room, back her up and ship her to a remote, drafty and crumbling castle in the country. He was so hurt! But when she opened up to him, he listened. He put aside his pain and actually listened and then held her. Decidedly NOT what I expected.

The side charracters are marvelous. I cheated and read book 2, Dreaming of You, which stars Derek Craven. Then there’s Pokey the old bear, Burton the amazing butler, Henry the funny, lovable little brother, and Lily’s family certainly offered up some entertainment.  You see a reunion between the family, and you can tell that despite the fact that Lily is a woman now, who stands on her feet and is fiercely independent, she’s still the little girl that wanted to please her family, that wanted to be loved and accepted.

One thing that did bother me was towards the end, when she had received a message from a bad person (I don’t want to give anything away) concerning something that had been taken from her. I felt that more pages should have been dedicated to the heart ache of the situation. It was done very well, but I would have preffered a little more emotion in there. I felt like she kind of buried herself in her husbands bed and shut out the world. But I also can’t blame her, since sometimes surviving gets so blasted lonely, and hard. I also wish she would have had a confrontation with the bad person, where she (obviously) delivers a scathing set down and her husband pummels bad person to bits of bloody pieces. But, alas. That’s also me being blood thirsty. A confrontation really wasn’t necessary, as the author gave her something better than that.

All in all, this was an amazing book. It provoked a lot of emotions in me, and the characters are so different from what you normally expect of a historical romance book. The whole setting felt real and believable.