I loved him and his strength in not allowing Emma’s pain to push him away. His determination and dedication to her when she pushes him away is sweet and lovely. And that is one reason that I adored Julian. She is difficult to get close to as a character because her pain keeps her emotions closed off and frozen. Emma has PTSD in a time that didn’t have the vocabulary or understanding of what was happening to her. I won’t lie, sometimes these brutal events are difficult to read, but they are not gratuitous or unduly graphic. Emma especially has trouble dealing with the events of her parents’ deaths and then the horror of the Insurrection. The beauty of the love between Julian and Emma in the face of the darkness that threatens them everywhere. That is what surprised me most about this book. Yes, the subject matter is dark and the journey of this characters, especially Emma is difficult to read at times, but the story is fantastic and the romance balances beautifully the darkness of the plot.

I’m sorry now that I waited although it turns out that I read it at exactly the right time since it falls right before Duran’s new book. OPINION: I’ve had this book on my to-read list for years, but always shied away from reading it because people called it dark and difficult to read. When Emma arrives, her fiance is not the man she thought he was and as India seems to be exploding all around her, Emma turns to Julian Sinclair, Duke of Auburn for help. Emma suffers after the death of her parents on the journey to India. THE STORY: Emmaline Martin is an heiress who has come to British Colonial India to marry the man who has been selected for her since her childhood. The romance is sweeter than I might expect but life gets in their way. FINAL DECISION: Powerful as the characters have to overcome their experiences with death in Colonial India.

The Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran