I received an ARC link to Netgalley from the author for an honest review.. Only Christi Caldwell can take a virtually unlikable character in one book, and make him a hero that you fall in love with and have you sympathizing with in another. That's one of the many reasons I love Ms. Caldwell. I LOVED Niall Marksman, Guard of The Hell and Sin Club and Lady Diana Verney. I loved how he called her Princess. What in the beginning was a deragatory name became a endearment/pet name. The strong, silent, sullen guard having tea and pastries with Diana? Classic. I was crying. As I always due with a Christi Caldwell novel. Not to give anything away, but this has to be the best HEA in a Christi Caldwell novel..

I started this book right after reading a contemporary bodyguard story. At the time, I thought it doesn’t get any better than this. Oh, but it does! Sure, I love those stories where the heroine spends time in close proximity to a gorgeous man willing to risk his life for hers. But when that man is a regency hunk with a cockney accent, I’m a goner! #3 in Christi Caldwell’s Sinful Brides series, The Lady’s Guard is the ultimate bodyguard romance. With romance, suspense, danger, betrayal, and lots of STEAM, your every bodyguard fantasy will be fulfilled.

Niall Marksman was born with an edge of roughness and felt nothing for anyone. The son of a cheap whore and an unknown father, he’d been handed over as a boy to a street thug. Raised by Diggory on the streets of St. Giles, Niall had been forced to thieve and murder so Diggory could grow his street power and wealth. Until Ryker Black found him. Now, he and his ‘brothers’ (Ryker, Adair, and Callum) were proprietors of the Hell and Sin, a popular gaming hell where Niall also served as the head guard. His life was much improved now, but Niall would never forget his beginnings. He’d been an emaciated boy starving in the streets, invisible to society. And so he’d “kindled a burning hatred for those pompous lords and ladies who cared for nothing but their own pleasures”.
Lady Diana Verney had been alone all of her life. The only legitimate child of the Duke and Duchess of Wilkinson, she’d been raised for one purpose-“to make an advantageous match that would grow the family’s wealth, power, and prestige”. Society had only seen her as a duke’s daughter, but now they saw her as a mad duke’s daughter. A year ago, Diana’s mother had ordered the deaths of her husband’s mistress and illegitimate children. When it was discovered, the Duke had had her sent to Bedlam. For the past year, Diana had heard the whispers of society, that she was doomed to follow her mother’s madness. And in that year, she’d had not a single caller, suitor, or friend. Her father had become an empty shadow of a man, rarely leaving his chambers. Not only was she shunned from society, but now it seemed someone wished to hurt her. There’d been broken axels, saddles, and open windows. Someone intended her harm. She’d shared the incidents with her father, but he’d merely waved off her fears. “Society might see her as a pampered duke’s daughter on her way to madness, but she was no fool.” So dressed in trousers, disguised as a boy, Diana made her way to St. Giles to seek help from the only other person she knew to turn to. Her half- brother, Ryker Black. A man who’d wanted nothing to do with her. She was nothing to him. Nothing to anyone. Yet when she told Ryker her story, he calmly accepted it. No doubts or disbelief. Ryker knew there were still those loyal to Diggory who would do anything to harm him. Even attack his family. Diana required a guard. Not some footman in her employ but a man who could truly protect her. Ryker knew just who to send. “For the first time since her mother had been carted off to Bedlam and her father had become a shell of a man, Diana didn’t feel alone.”
Niall wasn’t happy about his assignment. He belonged at the Hell and Sin. Killoran, their enemy and Diggory’s heir, threatened the security of Niall and his brothers. Someone had infiltrated the club for the last year and Niall had yet to discover who it was. He felt like his being sent away was a mark of failure and weakness. He was needed at the club, not caring for some spoiled chit with a silver spoon in her mouth. He did like the way she looked in trousers though. But “he’d be damned if he lusted after, appreciated, or had any dealings with a bloody lady”.
It bothered Diana that Niall didn’t like her. She felt a bond with him. He’d been cast out of the Hell and Sin to watch over her and she’d been cast out of society because of her mother. She’d been so long without company that she’d hoped for a friendship of sorts with Niall. That seemed the last thing he wanted.
“Life had given Niall little reason to smile and every reason to be silent and guarded.” Most people found that intimidating. Not Diana. She took him to task. No one challenged him. Diana did though, and it filled him with an unwanted wave of desire. As their weeks together progressed, they formed a truce of sorts. Niall soon realized he’d looked at Diana before but had never truly seen her. She wasn’t like the other society ladies. He’d thought ladies often spent their time shopping or at parties, but Diana didn’t attend a single event. She was clever, brave, and far more intelligent than he’d given her credit for. A grudging respect for her grew. She was the only person who treated him as anything other than a ruthless thug. She drew him into conversation, something foreign to him, and had him sharing parts of his life he’d never shared. There was something enlivening being with the bold, unafraid Diana. Yes, she was a lady, Ryker’s sister, an innocent, but somewhere along the way, she was becoming so much more.
Diana came to see Niall in a different light as well. Yes, he was menacing, but she found him more ruggedly beautiful than any gentleman of London society. There was a goodness and gentleness to him that he didn’t see. He’d become more than a guard. He’d become the only true friend Diana had ever known. He might like her and enjoy her company, but could he ever give her his heart?
Just as Niall and Diana are discovering each other, and in turn discovering themselves, the danger returns and Niall will have to face past fears he’d thought long buried if he wants to have a future with Diana.
What an exhilarating addition to a phenomenal series! I fell in love with Niall and Diana. Though they came from completely different worlds, they had so much in common. Diana had spent the last year certain she would eventually descend into insanity, linking herself to her mother’s crimes. But Niall forced her to look at herself differently and realize her mother’s crimes were not her own. Niall had spent his life thinking himself evil because of things he’d been forced to do as a child. He revealed his scars, both figurative and literal, to Diana. Yet she still saw the good in him and helped him to find it too. By sharing their secrets, they discovered it wasn’t your station or situation in life that determined your worth but how you conducted yourself and how you treated others.
I loved the way their relationship evolved. Diana was so genuine in her treatment of and interactions with Niall. It was comical to see him so out of his element. The art of conversation was beyond him. He rarely spoke and when he did, he was so abrupt. But as they spent more time together, he transformed. Like Diana, I loved his teasing rather than his mocking. His grinning rather than scowling. They needed each other to help them discover themselves. I enjoyed Niall’s relationship with his brothers as well. Ryker is starting to seem like a father figure to me, watching the others as they find a love that transforms. All the books in this series have been moving but this one especially so. The lives Niall and Diana endured were beyond imagination. It was tragic, but in finding each other, they found hope.
Christi Caldwell is a master at writing romance. She draws you in with a beautiful love story and keeps you hooked with a compelling plot. The romance doesn’t happen too quickly. She’s good at teasing and making you wait for it. The relationship builds gradually and by the time the characters realize they’re in love, you’re in love too. And when all that pent up passion is released, it’s magical. I’ve read every book in this series so I really can’t imagine reading this as a stand- alone. You’d miss out on the history of vital characters. And believe me, this is a series you don’t want to miss a second of.

Every once in a while a book comes along that takes you by surprise. It is quite, unassuming and takes you on an emotional journey you never expected. Christi has created a quite masterpiece with The Lady's Guard. Her story and characters will sneak up on you and immerse you into their world and reality.

Diana and Niall came from two completely different worlds. from all outside appearances, there is nothing about these two, which would make you believe they could work as a couple. But the beauty of this book is nothing is ever as it appears. It is easy for an individual to hide behind mask, but when you start to pull back the layers you begin to see a rich, vibrant and complex person you never expected to see.

Diana may have grown up the privilege daughter of a duke, but she never truly known love. Ignored by her father and only seen as a pawn by her mother to increase the family wealthy and standing. Diana has known nothing but loneliness and longs to escape the stifling constrictions of society.

Niall believes the world offers nothing but pain and death. Only the strong survive and if you care about anyone it will make you weak. He wraps himself in his anger and bitterness at the life he was forced to leave and blames the entitled lords and ladies who did nothing to protect a child on the streets.

When Diana and Niall world's collide it is a powerful force of anger and resentment, but as they spend time together they begin to peal back the layers of hurt and pain to find a kindred spirit. All preconceived notions about each other begin to fall away to find two lonely and hurting souls. It is at this place do they begin to heal and start to put together the pieces of their broken lives together.

There is nothing easy about Diana and Niall's journey. They will have to fight their past, present and future in order to make a life together. They must learn that they are both deserving of love and that their past does not define who they are or what their future holds.

This is a story of trials, punishment, and redemption! In a world where Social Status is everything, what happens when Lady Diane needs a Guard, will Niall, from St. Giles, be willing to lay down his life for one of the Aristocracy, whom he hates? I highly recommend ! Thanks! Enjoy!
Carolintallahassee 👒

A most disturbing story about a woman Diana who thought no one loved her because of her crazy mother and Niall who believed no one can love him because of the murderous acts he committed in order to survive, this story gave a gruesome picture of what it was like to survive on the filthy streets of London especially St. Giles. How could the burning and out of control attraction they had for each other survive, with him being street born and the owner of a gambling den and she is the daughter of a Duke, what a bleak outlook but love can weather all storms. This book has a wonderful storyline, the characters are quite intense and the romance is also intense and hot a most beautiful and engrossing story with lots of adventurous moments.

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is book 3 in Christi Caldwell's sinful brides series. I enjoyed it a great deal the story was well done and I cannot wait for the next one.