First, I must commend Ms. Featherstone on her newest creation! The Guardian Brethren series has officially started off with a bang! The story was spicy, hot, and refreshingly new. I thought that the plot and the twists and turns that came with mythical objects made it all the more exciting. Of course, the steaming hot romance between Isabella and Black sweetened the deal for me. I loved the little facts of the Templar Knights and the use of legends that were used in the story. Isabella was a wonderfully written character, very life-like and appealing as a strong woman in a time when woman just didn't do the things that she does. Black was the ultimate man -- mysterious, dark, dangerous, and extremely sexy. The added allure was that Black and Isabella's relationship seemed to leap off the pages!

Isabella Fairmont has known hardship, growing up the bastard daughter of a 'worldly' woman she knows that lust is dangerous and can destroy any who dares to touch it. Since the horrible tragedy, Isabella has been living with her Uncle and her dearest cousin Lucy. Swept into the life of a lady that she is not, Isabella's only escape has become her writing. Keeping her mother's scandalous relations foremost in her life, Isabella longs for a marriage of convenience. One where she can control her thoughts, her actions, and most importantly the passion that she fears is hidden inside. She cannot, however, seem to help her inner most mind and the workings of her writing. When Isabella holds the pen her passion seems to leap onto the pages creating a world that allows her freedoms that her own life never can. When her latest hero has all but leapt off the pages and into her real life, Isabella knows that more than just her virtue is at stake. Her very heart, her very world is about to crumble.

For the Earl of Black, scandal seems to be his middle name. Having escaped one scandal years past, he has turned himself into something of a recluse. Black longs to hide himself away from the world that scarred him. As a member of the Templar Knights, and more secretly one of the three members of the Brethren Guardians, Black must remain mysterious, anonymous, and aloof. Unfortunately, Black has just one regret that he cannot seem to put behind him; the woman he cannot seem to forget. A beauty that will not leave his mind, his senses, and maybe his very soul. It appears that Black is to be tempted beyond his own powers by the beauty who now resides next door. Her very scent tantalizes him into action, coming out into society, and possibly making a fool of himself in his attempt at seduction.

Ms. Featherstone has the phenomenal ability to transport me into another time and place with each of her books. Ultimately I loved the story line and the characters in this book. I felt that Isabella and Black's story was at a completion; while the plot was still up in the air. I find that I am lying in wait for the next addition of this remarkable series.

Book Summary

With the scandalous nature of her birth to live down, Isabella Fairmont dreams of a proper marriage—even if a passionless one. She saves her deepest desires for the novel she dares to pen, wherein a handsome lord with dark powers seduces her. But then her courtship with an appropriate suitor is threatened by the sudden attentions of the reclusive Earl of Black…whose pale blue eyes and brooding sensuality are exactly as she described in her book.

Isabella tries to resist the mysterious Earl of Black.

Yet as he pursues her, with inexplicable knowledge of her past and kisses that consume her, Isabella fears she will succumb.

If only the earl could tell Isabella the truth. With very real, and treacherous, thieves endangering her life, Black will need to protect Isabella from the very people she trusts the most….