Lord of Darkness

By: Elizabeth Hoyt

Narrated by: Emma Taylor

WHEN STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT

He lives in the shadows. As the mysterious masked avenger known as the Ghost of St. Giles, Godric St. John's only goal is to protect the innocent of London. Until the night he confronts a fearless young lady pointing a pistol at his head-and realizes she is his wife . . .

BECOME LOVERS . . .

Lady Margaret Reading has vowed to kill the Ghost of St. Giles-the man who murdered her one true love. Returning to London, and to the man she hasn't seen since their wedding day, Margaret does not recognize the man behind the mask. Fierce, commanding, and dangerous, the notorious Ghost of St. Giles is everything she feared he would be-and so much more . . .

DESIRE IS THE ULTIMATE DANGER

When passion flares, these two intimate strangers can't keep from revealing more of themselves than they had ever planned. But when Margaret learns the truth-that the Ghost is her husband-the game is up and the players must surrender . . . to the temptation that could destroy them both.

Critic reviews

"Lord of Darkness...illuminates Hoyt's boundless imagination... readers will adore this story."—RT Book Reviews

"Hoyt's writing is imbued with great depth of emotion ...Heartbreaking ... an edgy tension-filled plot."—Publishers Weekly

"I adore the Maiden Lane series, and this fifth book is a very welcome addition to the series . . . [It's] sexy and sweet all at the same time . . . This can be read as a standalone, but I adore each book in this series and encourage you to start from the beginning."—USA Today's Happy Ever After Blog

"Lord of Darkness is classic Elizabeth Hoyt, meaning it's unique, engaging, and leaves readers on the edge of their seats, waiting for the next book . . . an incredible addition to the fantastic Maiden Lane series. I Joyfully Recommend Godric and Megs's tale, for it's an amazing, well-crafted story with an intriguing plot and a lovely, touching romance that I want to enjoy again and again and again . . . simply enchanting!"—JoyfullyReviewed.com

"Beautifully written . . . a truly fine piece of storytelling and a novel that deserves to be read and enjoyed."—TheBookBinge.com

If you thought you knew Godric well...

Imagine if you will a masked vigilante who roams the night to safe-guard the innocent from evil is blackmailed into marriage to a unwed woman from a good family, and even though this action on the part of the vigilante secures the reputation of the young woman, she suspects the masked man is the murderer of the father of her unborn child and has sworn to take vengeance in her own hands after she loses the love of her life and her unborn child. Unfortunately, she is unaware of one small fact…the same vigilante she has sworn to kill, is her husband whom she wants desperately to agree to consummate their hasty marriage after many years of living apart in hopes of having the baby she has craved for years. This is the premise of Lord of Darkness, with the magic of Elizabeth Hoyt sprinkled in for romantic measure. Godric St. James first appeared in the Maiden Lane series, Wicked Intentions, as a wizened, gray haired romantic, hopelessly in love with his deceased wife Clara. Although a mist of mystery surrounded the reliable character, I never thought he would warrent his own book. However, through this listen we see a change in Godric from a man determined to walk in the deathly shadow of his wife, to a man yearning to step back into the world of the living. Lady Margaret, “Megs” is just the woman to do it. Sister of the notorious Griffin Reading, Megs is a strong willed-young woman unafraid to pick-up a pistol or two to avenge her lost lover, even if that means going after the infamous Ghost of St. Giles. This was a wonderful listen with two complex characters thinking neither of them deserve or is good enough to simply ask for or take what they want from life in order to be happy. Godric shows a side of himself that listeners would not have expected from previous novels and even made me wonder, “Was he this type of husband with his beloved Clara?” My guess would be no. Only Megs could bring out that side of desire in a man who seems so much in control in every situation. The narration… well I can’t say it was the best, and it did take me a while to get use to since the last narrator did made the novel come to like so well, but the storyline was wonderful and I got past the narration once I got into the story. . Not to mention Hoyt gives the listener a tantalizing peek at the next installment of the series and for one I am saving a credit for the next one.

Really?? What happened to Ashford McNab?

Wow what a disappointment. Why do people change narrators?? I would rather wait longer for the release of the audible book to have the same narrator. Not that I am saying Ashford was busy I have no clue. But really?? ugh. This narrator was not so good. The story was my least favorite of all the Maiden Lane books, and I was sort of over hearing the word "betrayed". I have to say this book was just ok. I truly hope they bring back Ashford for the next book. A narrator can totally make or break a book people.. Just sayin.

Listen to the book not to the negative reviews

Emma Taylor brought Elizabeth Holt’s rich characters to life! I appreciate that she read in the proper accent of the characters. They are aristocrats and I believe Emma captured them perfectly.

Thank you Ms Holt for another lively entertaining story. Now onto the next!!

Love

Love this author!!! She is one of the best I live all the mysteries ❤️ onto the next

Age does not matter

Lord of Darkness ( Maiden Lane Book 5 ) by Elizabeth Hoyt. I absolutely love this series with a little Mystery and Romance. Godric and Megs story was beautifully written. How one woman can come move in to her husband of convenience. The age different what's what I loved most. This story had me on edges because of both their past love relationship. The aunt was hilarious I could NOT put the book down, I give it more than 5 stars. On Book 6 in audible. Happy Reading :)

What happened to Ashford McNab??

I do enjoy Elizabeth Hoyt's books and I enjoyed this one as well. However, why the change in narrators?
Emma Taylor is a good narrator in her own right, but standard has been set with Ashford that Emma isn't reaching.
I still gave the story 5 stars because the book was great but Emma just ruined the performance IMO.
I understand that Godrich is a older gentleman but the reader makes him sound like a 80 year old man and Megs sounds like a maiden aunt of 65.
On a higher note, I like how the Ghost of St, Giles has a new person playing him. This has been an enjoyable series for me. I have the complete series but I'm going back and re-listening to them because it's a tried and true series and guaranteed to be a great listen. I just hate when the writers change the narrators mid-way through a series, it kind of ruins it for you.

Skip the audio version of this book!

I love this author but the narrator just wrecked the story. Pretty monotone and made it hard to actually focus on the story. Going to have to buy the book instead. Was grating the way she pronounced harlequin. Definitely not the voice for this type of story.

This series ❤️❤️❤️

These are fabulous books. Can’t wait to start the next one! So glad there are many more

Great book!

Yet another wonderful love story in the Maiden lane series ! I simply loved Godric’s character he embraced his love for his wife a lot easier than she did. Megs took a while to get over her misplaced loyalty to a guy she wasn’t married to but thank God for patient men ! The narration was ok but it took a while to get used to her style.

Classic Hoyt! Touching story.great love.super sexy

Okay, first off .... yes the new narrator is not nearly as good as Ashford but she's not the worst i have ever heard. Unfortunately she makes pretty much every one of the men sound really POMPUS and a lot of the women, especially the ones that we've seen in the past 4 books. That was a little disturbing. The biggest problem I had was the fact that she did make Godric St. John sound really old. She did change a few names but I was able to get past that.
Now on to the actual book! When I first realized it was about Godric St John I was a little surprised. I didn't expect him to be a main focus of an entire book so the first couple of hours I spent trying to wrap my mind around this and it wasn't the easiest thing in the world. But then, in Hoyt's amazing way, she convinced me and I started to really get into the book. I started to really like Megs a lot more than I originally thought I would.
I have to say Her Grace is one of my favorite characters in this book. I love how Hoyt inserts dogs in each book. Her Grace is hilarious. I think her interaction with Godric and Megs was so adorable.
While I usually don't mind the fairy tales right and most of the time enjoy the fairy tales....this books Fairy Tale I just couldn't get into it and I probably fast forwarded through most of this particular fairy tale. I don't know why but it just didn't do it for me.
Such a great HEA.....I had tears in my eyes. So wonderful. HIGHLY CREDIT WORTHY!