Dark Torment Book

Pride is the rift between lovers

First published in 1985, there is a delightfully retro feel to this 2013 ebook updated with the bare-chested hunk on the cover. It definitely hearkens back to the spitfire historical heroines and the love-hate dynamics made popular by Deveraux, Garwood, Lowell, Woodiwiss and others. I was a little surprised by the many graphic love scenes for a 1985 publication, especially since the purple prose was noticeably absent. This is my first book by Karen Robards.

Events take place in 1838 Australia, in the rural part of New South Wales. Sarah is the daughter of a large sheep station owner, who indentures convicts to work the property. One day, she is at the Melbourne waterfront with the family and interrupts the whipping of an Irish convict, probably saving his life. Turns out, he is bound to Sarah's father. Dominic Gallagher is excessively prideful, as is Sarah. They both also have vicious tempers and tend to speak before they think. Mix pride, hot-headedness and powerful attraction, and things go from simmer to boil pretty quickly between these two. Hanging in the background are subplots related to the toady foreman wanting to marry Sarah, a pretty but spiteful step-sister, and the mystery of Gallagher's past.

Spinster Sarah is plain but competent and kind. She runs the house and the books for the station. "Better an old maid than an unhappy wife, she had decided long ago." The new convict disturbs her, both with his insolence and his handsomeness. It has been a long time since I read a romance where the hero is so prideful that it gets him into trouble. As a personality characteristic of Dominic, it was carried to its farthest extent. He maintains his intractability for the majority of the book, and sometimes that wandered into uncharitable thoughts of the prideful Sarah. The battle of wills between these two was probably the best aspect of the book.

While the happily ever after in Dark Torment is a given, I was very unsure of the path. Particularly troublesome was the toady Percival and his position of power. However, the road to the HEA was also impacted by pride, shame, and impulsiveness on behalf of both Sarah and Dominic, plus their indiscretions were such that the possibility of discovery was high. I just kept thumbing through the book, ignoring sleep, because so many things could affect their future happiness and I wanted to watch these two move from baiting each other to publicly embracing each other in the worst way. I just wasn't sure how they could possibly get there.