The Defiant Daughter
Series: The Ashmead Heirs #2
Author: Caroline Warfield
Published October 21st 2021 by Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.

Goodreads Synopsis
Madelyn assumed marriage as an old man’s ornament would be better than life with her abusive mother. She was wrong.

Now the widowed Duchess of Glenmoor, she wrestles with ugly memories and cultivates a simple life. She is content. At least, she was until her half-brother returned to Ashmead bringing a friend with knowing eyes and coal black hair to capture her thoughts.

Colonel Brynn Morgan’s days as an engineer in his father’s coal mines in Wales are long behind him. With peace come at last and Napoleon gone, he makes a life for himself analyzing the reports about military and naval facilities worldwide for a shadowy government department. What income he has is committed elsewhere. He has nothing to offer a wife, much less a dowager duchess.

More lies between the duchess and the man she wants than money and class. They have personal demons to slay.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

For Madelyn Tavernash, she though marriage to the Duke of Glenmoor would be the welcome freedom from her overbearing parents. However, her husband was controlling and abusive, and she just about survived under his reign of terror. Now happily widowed, she's pleased to be home in Ashmead, with her brothers, and their families, and can't even think about remarrying. But the handsome Colonel Brynn Morgan, a friend of Rob's, who's helped them a lot recently, has turned her head, and she needs someone to turn too when a past secret rears it's head. Together, they battle their demons, and soon realise that they are much better suited together, rather than apart - no matter their differing places in society.

When we met Maddy and Brynn in book 1, it was clear that the chemistry between the couple needed to be explored, and that they were fated for their own story. I loved how plot driven this was, and the fact that the couple spoke to each other - not always immediately, mind - about their troubles. Maddy was someone who I wanted to hug after what she had faced in her life. Her only saving grace during her horrific marriage was her two step sons, Gideon and Philip, and when events dragged them apart, it really hurt her. Now that she can restore their relationships, and hopefully discover the truth about lies her husband told, she can find comfort in the future. Brynn, also, had demons, but his were to do with his family, and living in a mining town and facing the horrors of colliery life. They both really exorcised their demons, and came out the other side so much better for it. I'm hoping we get to see them again, with their HEA, in book 3, The Forgotten Daughter!

Dates Read:
November 6-7 2021

Rating
3 Stars