Hero of My Heart was a delightfully fast paced romance with flawed, lovable characters that I easily connected with. Megan Frampton wove an engaging tale about the power of love, trust and redemption. I consumed this in a single sitting and found it to be the perfect read for a rainy evening.

Tragic events in Alasdair Thornham life have caused the Marquess to find himself addicted to opium. We meet him in a gambling hall as he is contemplating ending it all when fate intervenes. A man struts in with Mary Smith on his arm; offering to sell her virtue to the highest bidder. It is clear the young woman is in shock, and being held against her will. The crowd goes wild bidding for her but Alasdair steps in and wins her. He plans to save her by marrying her. The tale that unfolds is sweet, and action packed as these two lost souls find purpose.

Mary Smith is a vicar’s daughter and when her father passed her greedy half-brother spent what comforts they had on booze, women and gambling. When he gets desperate he decides to sells her. Mary finds a surprising hero in the dark, brooding and deliciously handsome Marquess. Mary was funny, a thinker and planner. She tends to see the good in others, but she isn't a fool either. Alasdair has serious issues and instead of dealing with those feelings he prefers to escape into the void opium provides. He doesn't think he is worthy of saving but I did grow fond of him and he has redeemable characteristics. Villains and secrets keep thing interesting as these too set out on their journey to Scotland. Told in present tense it goes back and forth between perspectives helping us gain insight into the characters emotions but at times it pulled me from the tale. Both characters drew me in and I found myself hoping for a happily ever after.

The premise for Hero of My Heart was a good one, with twists, secrets and danger. While I adored the characters, I had issues with historical accuracy in their speech, some of the repeated phrases and the redundancy the perceptive provided. Alasdair is addicted to opium and this thread didn't feel developed enough and was simplistic in its handling. This isn't a demon that you easily shake and while we do see some of the withdrawal symptoms and lapses it wasn't accurately portrayed. Why am I saying it was a good read then you ask? The characters made this enjoyable, and I connected with them. If I let the issues go at its heart this was an entertaining read and I found myself swept up in the events.
ARC provided in exchange for unbiased review
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(I'd give this 2.5 stars)

When Mary Smith is drugged, and sold off in a seedy pub by her half-brother, it's clear that she needs rescuing. Alasdair Thornham is the only rescuer available, and so he saves her. But Alasdair is hardly in the ideal position to be anyone's saviour as he's addicted to opium and consumed with guilt.

Mary is a vicar's daughter, who imagined a life spent in her village, teaching at the local school. When she's rescued by Alasdair, her life is turned upside down. Before long, she realises that Alasdair needs saving too, perhaps more than she does. I liked Mary, she's pragmatic and determined with a kind heart. She doesn't give up on Alasdair, and tries to help him with his addiction.

Alasdair decided that saving Mary by marrying her can be his final act of goodness before allowing himself to fall into the depths of his personal hell. He's mired in self-loathing and guilt, he's a truly tortured soul which made my heart cry out for him. He can be a bit autocratic and stubborn, but he had good intentions when he aids Mary. Although it's not long before his desire for her, starts to outweigh his need for numbness.

I liked that the characters were so essential to each other, they both needed help in different ways and saved each other. I also liked the plot's premise, but I thought it was rather poorly executed.
There were so many inconsistencies, Alasdair's recovery from addicition was unrealistic. I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure after a day or two he'd still be suffering in agony from withdrawal. On numerous occasions the style and dialogue would also start to feel much too modern.

Another issue for me was that there was so much going on, and several times plot points were very conveniently wrapped up. The resolution with Alasdair's cousin at the end was over very quickly and neatly, it was disappointing after all the build up.

The characters saved this story for me. I enjoyed their sparring and chemistry. I thought Alasdair was particularly well written and was the perfect tortured hero waiting for the right woman to save him!
Overall the book was fairly enjoyable, but by the end I was just waiting for it to finish.

I received a review copy from Random House, via NetGalley.

*Originally published at Rookie Romance

review now available at: http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2013/03/books/genre-fiction/romance/xpress-reviews-e-originals-first-look-at-new-books-march-22-2013/

Hero of My Heart is a story about two people who come together and save each other.

Historical romances are hit or miss for me. Hero of My Heart was an enjoyable read that fell a little flat in the middle and towards the end. Alasdair buys Mary who is being auctioned off by her brother. Alasdair isn't a dashing hero, at first. He's addicted to opium and is slowly killing himself. They are on the run from Mary's brother and Alasdair's cousin. While on the run, Mary and Alasdair fall for each other. Alasdair protects Mary from her brother and Mary helps Alasdair with his opium addiction.

Hero of My Heart is an engaging story for the most part. I did feel that Alasdair's opium addiction was handled a little too cleanly. We aren't told how long he was on opium and how many pills he took a day, but I'm pretty sure he was a heavy user. So I don't think that an opium addict would be able to 'clean' after a day or two of non-use. It also wasn't clear what caused Alasdair to turn to opium. Was it his time as an soldier? Was it his brother's death? Was it his wife's death? I wished that the addiction aspect was more fleshed out.

I felt that the ending was too rushed. Of course, there's the inevitable conflict and misunderstanding that separates Alasdair and Mary. When they finally come together and reconcile, the book ends. I was hoping for an epilogue or something due to the abrupt ending.

Overall I enjoyed Hero of My Heart despite the few issues I had with it.

Hero of My Heart is a raw and sensuous story. I enjoyed it immensely, although I think that Alasdair’s opium addiction was resolved a little too quickly. That being said, the book was very entertaining. The characters were delightful and I enjoyed the sparring between the two. Full review available at http://romanticreadsandsuch.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/hero-of-my-heart/

"Merry" Mary Smith, the late vicar's daughter, is in a very bad predicament. Her half brother is gambling and drinking her inheritance away and has decided to sell her to the highest bidder who happens to be a devastatingly handsome man who seems to be ill. Little does she know she is in for the adventure of her life. "So much for her prayers".

Alasdair Thornham, Marquess of Datchworth, is in an opium laden state when he sees the man auctioning off a beautiful woman in the local tavern and feels compelled to save the damsel in distress. Little does he know he will have a handful to deal with after coming out of his stupor. "Welcome to hell, Alasdair, he reminded himself".

This is a suspenseful and romantic adventure of two lost souls who are destined to torture and love each other no matter what the outcome. I find Ms. Frampton's style very clean and refreshing and her characters are playful as well serious. The issue of opium addiction with soldiers of war is a new twist and very probable.

Thank you to Ms. Frampton, Random House Publishing Group - Loveswept Series and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

I've been on a historical romance binge lately and it's been hit or miss with some of them but I actually enjoyed this book. I like that it talks about addiction even if some area are questionable.. like how he shouldn't tempt himself with alcohol but sex is okay? I really like the banter between the two main characters and enjoyed their adventure before they arrived in London. The villains in this story was great at first but then everything was resolved so easily that it wasn't believable to me at all. I wish the author spent more time wrapping everything up better and gave the evil cousin a more believable role. The end where she meets her mom was also very anti-climatic. Overall, I really adore the characters but the story could be better, especially the ending.

Let's take every single romance novel cliché and toss them into one book, shall we? Dreadful. Just dreadful.