A PROMISE OF TOMORROW by Rowan McAllister

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press, 9/2011
GENRE: Male/Male historical romance
SETTING: England, 1818
HERO: Lord James Warren
HERO: Kyle Allen
GRADE: A

SYNOPSIS: Lord James Warren, Viscount Sudbury, lives a quiet, safe, and predictable life alone on his estate in Suffolk, only traveling to London once a year to visit family and satisfy his more forbidden needs. But this year, his routine is shattered when his niece and nephew ask him to help a beautiful young man they’ve only just met.

Kyle Allen, alone and running from his abusive lover, stirs feelings in James he has long denied for fear of tarnishing his reputation and losing his family’s love. Though undeniably drawn to Kyle, James’s honor demands he keep that part of himself completely secret, even if Kyle is feeling the attraction as well, despite the pain and betrayal he’s recently suffered.

Assistance and a future for Kyle might be secured, but then they would face a choice: stay apart and continue leading half-lives… or risk everything for love.

MY THOUGHTS: James: He’s thirty-four years old, over six feet tall, has brown curly hair and brown eyes. He’s the youngest of two. He lives alone and is very close to his nineteen-year old twin niece and nephew.

Kyle: He’s eighteen-ish, has dark hair and green eyes. He grew up in his older brother’s shadow and could never live up to his parents expectations. He was in an abusive relationship with a much older man, Victor Weir, and has been raped by him.

What an interesting story this was. It’s a true love story and James and Kyle are a perfect match. James really tried to fight off his attraction to Kyle but Kyle wouldn’t let him. Kyle is very young and vulnerable to everything. He’s very passive and wounded. They have to hide their relationship and I was hoping they’d find a way to be together.

There are three very graphic sex scenes. Knowing Kyle has been abused, James is very tender with him. I felt they were a perfect pair and that made me enjoy the intimate scenes more.

My two complaints are that I don’t think James telling his niece about Kyle was believable at all. We never learned about how Kyle came to be involved with Victor in the first place and I’d like to have known about it.

I received this from the publisher in 2011 in exchange for an honest review.