BOOK REVIEW- THE DUKE WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (Victorian Rebels) by Kerrigan Byrne

he bravest of heroes. The brashest of rebels. The boldest of lovers. These are the men who risk their hearts and their souls—for the passionate women who dare to love them…

He is known only as The Rook. A man with no name, no past, no memories. He awakens in a mass grave, a magnificent dragon tattoo on his muscled forearm the sole clue to his mysterious origins. His only hope for survival—and salvation—lies in the deep, fiery eyes of the beautiful stranger who finds him. Who nurses him back to health. And who calms the restless demons in his soul…

A LEGENDARY LOVE

Lorelai will never forget the night she rescued the broken dark angel in the woods, a devilishly handsome man who haunts her dreams to this day. Crippled as a child, she devoted herself to healing the poor tortured man. And when he left, he took a piece of her heart with him. Now, after all these years, The Rook has returned. Like a phantom, he sweeps back into her life and avenges those who wronged her. But can she trust a man who’s been branded a rebel, a thief, and a killer? And can she trust herself to resist him when he takes her in his arms?   AMAZON 4 STARS

This was such an emotional story, that dumps straight into some pretty rough times that The Rook as a boy is going through.  Rough isn't even a tough enough name for it..brutal, would probably be a better word for it.  Even his name will be changed time and again in this story.  So I am going to use the name Ash for most of it.  That is the name that Lorelai gave him as she helps nurse him back to life.  He has no memories of who he is, not his name or anything else. So she re-names him.  He survives when all the odds are against him.  For a time he finds peace with Lorelai but it's going to be short with a whole lot more suffering coming his way.  The time that they spent together was at times sweet even though he went through a lot of pain as he physically healed.  

Lorelai is familiar with pain, she lives with it every day.  She is crippled after all but she wasn't born that way. She has such a tender heart towards people and animals.  She became quite skilled when it came to nursing injured animals. But she also has a cruel brother named Mortimer who calls her duck because of her injury.  Her father is no help and has never really protected her, he is a weak man concerned only by the opinions of others. Ash is also going to feel the cruelty of Mortimer at least for a time.  Mortimer will be dealt with, sooner or later.

There is a lot of action, danger, mysteries and even love in this book.  Things will be revealed that have been secrets for a very long time.  And it will cause quite a few surprises when it comes to the position of people in Ash's life.  People that he has forgotten and people who grieved for him thinking that he was dead!

If you are looking for a book with tensions of a lot of different kinds, this book definitely has it along with some really good secondary characters.

The Epilogue puts a really good ending to the whole story. 

 "I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy of this book via Netgalley and this is my honest opinion of it.