When Ash Falls - Rachel Van Dyken

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author Rachel Van Dyken returns

to regency romance with the last and final installment in The London Fairy

Tales series...A regency retelling of Snow White and The Seven Dwarves.

Ashton Wolfsbane,

Earl of Gyles, has taken a vow of celibacy after blaming himself for his sister

in laws death. After a failed suicide attempt, he's dedicated his life to bring

justice to the weak making it his personal vendetta to be the death dealer to

the wicked, also known as The Grimm Reaper. He denies himself lusts of the

flesh and is known throughout London because of his ability to kill

effortlessly and without emotion, that is until he meets Princess Sofia, a

woman hell bent on making him forget all his reasons for denying himself the

one thing he's always craved---love.

After rescuing the

fair damsel, he thinks his job finished, that is until he discovers he's to be

the Princess's escort throughout London until she's safely married. It wouldn't

be such a hardship, except the Princess has made him an offer he can't refuse.

Show her passion, real passion.

Four weeks of giving into the desire he's suppressed for so long--four weeks of bliss and

then they'll go their separate ways. But things aren't always what they seem,

and when rescuing a damsel, or making a deal with her, one must always be

prepared for the consequences.

Seven Royal Guard,

a Beast, a kingdom in chaos, and a girl as pure as the driven snow...Will they

find their Happily Ever After?

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Ash, è un membro di una casata di rilievo nella società inglese, ma ha deciso di prendere una strada diversa rispetto a quella che sarebbe stata, se avesse onorato i suoi doveri di nascita. E' attanagliato dai sensi di colpa, per aver causato un incidente che ha provocato la morte della moglie di suo fratello. Per quanto lui non gliene faccia una colpa, Ash non riesce a risollevarsi dall'oscurità che lo circonda, e pensare alla morte come unica alternativa per porre fine a tutta la sua sofferenza. Dopo un tentativo fallito di suicidio, decide che sarà la morte la sua carriera, se non sarà lei a trovarlo per prima, andrà lui a cercarla diventando un killer professionista, viene infatti ingaggiato per eliminare persone scomode o per spericolate operazioni di salvataggio. E sarà proprio in un uno di questi casi che conoscerà la Principessa Sofia, delicata, capelli neri e labbra rosse. Nonostante il celibato che si è imposto come punizione per il suo errore, Ash non è privo di emozioni, o meglio di esigenze. Ha sempre tenuto sotto controllo i suoi impulsi ma con Sofia ogni muro sembra crollare. Banale, dite? Forse un pochino, ma chi non vorrebbe leggere del grande e grosso Ash, ricoperto da cicatrici di mille battaglie, con il cuore frantumato, ormai rassegnato ad una vita solitaria e priva di alcuna manifestazione d'affetto, aprirsi piano piano a Sofia, con i baci clandestini e proposte audaci che metterebbero a dura prova anche il più determinato degli uomini? A fare da contesto ai dibattiti mentali di Ash, se lasciarsi travolgere dai sentimenti o trattenersi fino a scoppiare, rinunciando ancora una volta all'amore vero, c'è una matrigna pronta a tutto per eliminare la Principessa e tenere per se tutto il regno e la qualifica di "più bella del reame!".

Personalmente ho un debole per i libri in costume, Orgoglio e Pregiudizio ha segnato la mia vita e continua a farlo. Le formalità colloquiali, il thè pomeridiano o i balli durante la Stagione londinese...il mio cuoricino romantico si scioglie!

L'ambientazione è l'epoca Regency, quindi i personaggi sono dei Conti, Duchi, Principesse ma anche valletti e soldati. Abbiamo un panorama storico direi piacevolmente descritto, non appesantito da tediosi obblighi d'etichetta o lunghe descrizioni di pizzi e merletti o insulse conversazioni a proposito del tempo. Leggiamo di battaglie, scontri corpo a corpo e passione...tanta passione per un sentimento perduto con nessuna possibilità di ritrovarlo, in un caso, oppure mai conosciuto, nell'altro.

Premetto di non aver letto niente di questa scrittrice prima d'ora, pur sapendo essere molto nota in America e in Italia. Ho partecipato a questo blog tour un pò ad occhi chiusi ed incuriosita di vedere di cosa è capace questa autrice così apprezzata. Ebbene ho scoperto che questo libro è l'ultimo capitolo di una serie che si chiama The London Fairy Tales appartenente al genere Historical Romance ma d'ispirazione fantasy, in quanto ogni libro ha la sua fiaba di riferimento, "When Ash falls" è liberamente tratto da Biancaneve e i sette nani....leggendolo scoprirete perché.

Ovviamente inedito in Italia, speriamo solo provvisoriamente, è scritto in un inglese di facile approccio. Il bello del romance storico è che la lingua è sempre piuttosto scolastica, senza slang o parole contemporanee, la frase è formata in modo statico e quindi è più facile seguire la trama. Nonostante l'ambientazione rigorosa, i dialoghi sono molto divertenti, simpatici e sfrontati, ciò aiuta a rendere più scorrevole la lettura e motiva il lettore a concluderla. 

Alla fine del romanzo, troverete una nota della scrittrice la quale tiene a precisare che, nonostante la maggior parte delle sue pubblicazioni siano New Adult, come Ruin, la sua passione per l'epoca Regency l'ha spinta a tornare al suo primo amore, Historical Romance. Ben consapevole di non esserne esperta, e del fatto che ci sono scrittrici migliori di lei in questo settore, desiderava da tanto concludere questa serie. 

Ho davvero gradito la lettura di questo romanzo. Non conosco i primi 4, e per leggere questo libro non c'è stato bisogno di avere letto preliminarmente i precedenti. Indipendentemente da questo, di sicuro colmerò la mia lacuna. 

Ash didn’t want to remember her this way. Her beautiful face, so often lit with a breathtaking smile, was now cold and dead.

The first time he’d seen her, he had thought she was an angel, and he’d said that very thing under his breath when she had made her debut that season…

“Beautiful,” he murmured as Lucy took a turn about the room, gaining introductions to all the available gentlemen who came her way. Taking an earth-shattering breath, the kind that every man took when he was about to approach a beautiful woman, he made his way over to her.

Music faded into the background with each step. All Ash was aware of was the clicking of his boot against the floor as he progressed toward the beauty. One dance… if only she would give him one dance, he would secure her hand forever. He knew it in his heart, in his soul. She was meant to be his.

Heart beating out of his chest, he could barely contain his excitement as she lifted her eyes and met his gaze. Blue eyes twinkled in his direction, and then she lifted her hand in a wave. A wave? Something was wrong. Ash paused and then glanced self-consciously over his shoulder. There was no one but him, and then he gazed back at her. She crooked her finger, beckoning him forward.

Completely under her spell, he couldn’t deny her any more than he could cease from taking his next breath. Finally, he stood before her, at least a foot taller than she.

“Where have you been, you rogue?” She swatted him on the arm and gave him a coy laugh. “I have been looking everywhere for you!”

“For me?” Ash questioned. “Are you certain we have met?”

“Must you always joke at such serious times?” The girl laughed again, and he was caught at the sight of her dimples as they danced along her cheeks. Carefree. She appeared so carefree, so perfect, un-weighted by the things of this world, by the responsibility and darkness, by disappointment. He tilted his head and then reached out to touch her — perhaps she truly was a dream. And then a voice broke out into the pounding in his ears.

“Ah, sweetheart, you’ve met my brother.” Hunter stepped beside the girl and wrapped his arm around her.

Ash stepped back, his heart sinking down to his feet. She hadn’t been looking for him at all, but his older brother, his twin, the duke. It was such a sad joke, a sad existence really. Would he ever be first in anything?

Months had progressed into a year as he’d watched his brother and Lucy fall into such a deep love all he had been able to do was be happy for them and try to spend as much time away as possible. After all, it was not done to want your brother’s wife, to want to care for her and protect her. It was fate’s final, cruel trick to allow Ash to feel something for another and then have that person ripped away by his brother. Though he loved his brother more than his own life, it seemed Ash was always left with nothing while his brother was given everything.

His name fit.

For he was the ash after the fire of Hunter burned out.

He was nothing but soot, darkness, and sand. One day, his ashes would trickle away into the wind, never to be remembered and never mourned, but forgotten.

“Ash! Do you hear me! I love you! I love you!” Hunter yelled at his brother as he shook his shoulders, and then his eyes widened with desperation as slapped him across the face.

Ash stared at the blood staining his hands. He tried to wipe it off. Tried but failed as it continued to drip down his wrists into his jacket. “I’m so sorry,” he kept repeating over and over again, but it did not matter.

The carriage had come too fast. Lucy had thought Ash was Hunter and had run to him right into the street.

The fault was his.

He knew it, Hunter knew it, and Lucy, beautiful Lucy, his brother’s innocent wife was dead, and it was all because he had lied about who he was, tried to be better than just the second son.

He backed away, slowly at first, and then he ran.

His feet ached, his stomach heaved, and finally he stopped in the middle of the street, hoping, praying that someone or something would hit him. Death, it seemed, was his only option; it was his wish, his choice. For how could he live with himself after what he had done?

Hunter had loved Lucy, but so had Ash. She was his everything, his only relative other than Hunter, and although he had wanted her for himself, he had pushed those emotions so far beneath the surface of his heart that he hadn’t understood how far the love had run until now, until it was too late.

On legs like lead, he walked until he reached the tombstone of his parents. Both taken from him too soon. What would they think of him now? He was the disappointment in the family, the second son by minutes. And now he was a murderer.

Disgusted with himself, he sat down on the cold grass, leaned his head against the stone, and cursed. His brother — his only living relative — and he had ruined his life and ruined his parents’ memory in the process. All he had ever wanted as a boy was to please his father, yet all he’d received was disapproval. One time — just one time — he wanted to make someone proud, make himself proud.

But it was impossible.

He looked down at bloodstained hands.

His future stared right back at him.

Flee! He needed to flee, to get away. No, not just get away. He needed to die. A life for a life. So he set about doing exactly that. It was not fair that he was able to live, to survive, when the one woman who had done nothing but brought happiness to everyone she’d met, lay dead in the street.

“Lucy,” he whispered as salty tears ran down his cheeks and across his lips. “I’m so sorry… but I will see you soon. I will see you soon.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the pistol. With shaking hands he lifted it to his chin and pulled the trigger.

Rachel Van Dyken is the New York Times, Wall Street
Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author of regency and contemporary romances.
When she's not writing you can find her drinking coffee at Starbucks and
plotting her next book while watching The Bachelor.



She keeps her home in Idaho with her Husband and their snoring Boxer, Sir
Winston Churchill. She loves to hear from readers! You can follow her writing
journey at www.rachelvandykenauthor.com

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