Lord of Scoundrels
Loretta Chase · 1995
The most decorated romance novel of the 1990s. RITA Award winner, still on "best romance ever" lists 30 years later. Dain and Jessica's sparring match is the genre's version of perfect pitch: every exchange crackles, the emotional logic is impeccable, and the moment Dain's armor finally falls is genuinely cathartic. The benchmark for historical romance.
The case against
Once Jessica shoots Dain and marries him, around the midpoint, the sparring that made the book famous gives way to a quieter second half about his abandoned son, and the energy drops audibly. Dain's whole personality is also explained by one ugly childhood, a psychology so tidy it comes with footnotes.
Romance · the Pro canon
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
if this one calls to you, so will these →
