I am a huge fan of Anne Stuart and her dark heroes who can really push the envelope as I I always find that this can make a story more interesting. So I jumped on the chance to read Ruthless which is the start of a multi-generational trilogy.

When Viscount Francis Rohan first encounters Elinor Harriman at his Heavenly Host gathering — a place for carnal and gambling pursuits — looking for her wayward mother, a cat and mouse game of battle of wills soon start between them. I really loved their first meeting and there were overtones of the Hades myth – which in some ways Francis embodies ,and I am always a sucker for this theme as the Hades/Persephone myth is one of my favourites. But! As I progressed further into the book, this was not the case.

One of the best elements in the book is Elinor, who was one of the best developed and well drawn heroines I have read in a long while. I enjoyed her relationship with her sister and her strength of character to struggle financially to keep a home over family’s head. While at the same time dealing and caring for her mother’s mental and physical deterioration to Syphilis, which has caused her to act crazily although this condition was a repercussion of her self-centered and reckless past. But her loyalties and feelings to her mother was always strained and there was an incident that brought tears to my eyes that drove Elinor to do things she would not normally do. Due to this she had to build walls to remain strong and independent, but I admired how resilient she was despite the hardships she suffered.

Because of her difficult past I liked how the possibility of a dark hero, like Francis, could push those boundaries and break through to her real self that she shut down. And especially since the society mores are the ones who shunned her and her family. And Francis never really played by those rules, but their romance really didn’t work for me. In contrast, while Elinor had real depth, Francis did not. He fell into the trap of, ‘I had a tortured past so I now must act like an arse’ category.

Now I love the dark, tortured heroes but I felt that he played up to that image of the dark, jaded and bored rake instead of really acutally being one and I did not think his past was enough for him to act this way. But while his initial provocative interactions with Elinor – who was also challenging him back – worked, soon afterwards I found him to be patronising towards Elinor. Numerous times in the book he called her ‘child’ and It just threw me off. He saw that she held her family together and he admired that, but mocking her in that way was not dark or challenging.

I also felt at time that he was just playacting the villain, and if he had a fake mustache, I could just envision him twirling it. He was a cardboard cutout of a jaded rake, and I was disappointed because Francis was not fleshed out despite that initial indication. I the reason I was disappointed is because he had the potential to be a great hero – especially with the early promise of the Hades’ motif. But his attitude towards Elinor was based on an uneven equality, and she was definitely his equal in their relationship.

Another aspect that disappointed me was the subplot that involved Elinor’s long lost relative . It was a weak point in the book, and for such an intelligent character to trust someone she barely knew was really not believable – especially since she was such a sensible character.

Overall, Ruthless had a promising start; the setting, Elinor’s character, and the initial promise of Francis was engaging. It had the hallmarks of a good dark love story. But Francis’ one dimensional character, and the weakness of the plot didn’t make this book a keeper for me. And if it stuck to the Hade’s overtones, I think it would have been a much stronger romance and story. I do plan to read the next book of the series which will focus on Elinor and Francis’ son.

I give Ruthless 2.5 out of 5 bookies.