The first half was more interesting to me than the second. The main characters are thrown together under unusual circumstances, and I was interested to see how things would play out. Content Warning for cheating if you're particular about it. The heroine is married and has an affair with the hero at her husband's request. The second half was a lot of frittering about and pining and worrying over (mostly) nothing, and my attention started wanting to wander. There's a very obvious solution right in front of them, but they're both entirely blind to it. It would be off-putting for them to spend a lot of time plotting their future before her elderly husband even shuffles off, but he could hardly be more blatant in his approval of their relationship, and still they don't even acknowledge the possibility until the very end, after she's considered an absolutely horrible fate instead. Open your eyes! lol. The villains are all super villainy. It's not one of the better books by this author in my opinion, but I was entertained decently. ( )

I’ve been meaning to branch out into other series by Burrowes, since I loved her Rogues to Riches series. As ambivalent as I feel toward this first installment, I suspect I’ll probably slowly make my way through this series as well.
On the negative side, it was more explicit—and at times downright sleazy—compared to the other books I’ve read. The villains were cartoonishly evil, I hated every scene with Lucy and Blanche, and I wished for a lot less detail of the humiliation and abuse Darius suffered at their hands.
On the positive side, the tenderness between Darius and Vivian was pretty heart-melting, and the family loyalty on display at the end was moving enough to make me want to cheer.
On the middle side (heh heh, I just made that up), it was an interesting twist to have the desperation accompanying prostitution played out with a male character, but I still couldn’t like or enjoy it.
I can’t help loving Burrowes’s protagonists, and the knowledge that many of the supporting characters will have their own books makes me want to try more in the series. With a name like Lonely Lords, I worry about the levels of angst in store—there was certainly more of that than I like in this book—but I’m probably too curious about the other characters’ stories to stay away. ( )

Interesting different sort of book. It lacked a bit of background that would have pulled it up a star I think. Darius made some pretty horrific choices, choices that are pretty uncommon and I would have liked a better explanation of why he needed the money so badly instead of just inferences. I would also like to know how he came to choose to be a gigilo instead of a steward or a gambler or a merchant or really just about anything else. Did he try something else first and fail at it?

I liked that the story took place over a long period of time so that you could believe in the reality of the characters' feelings.

All in all I enjoyed it and look forward to reading more in the series. ( )

a unique take on Regency life, ultimately satisfying ( )

What an unusual story and an unusual pairing. I almost gave it five stars, but some of the jumps in time were disconcerting. ( )