A decade has spanned since Meredith Duran debuted Liam, Earl of Lockwood in her premiere novel The Duke of Shadows, and now the circle is complete. 
The timing is apt for his published story, as he has intrigued audiences from the depths of Duran’s origins. 

Duran has an extravagant gift for the written language which she does not waste; her tone’s dark description is a prominent feature in her novels and she shrouds her characters in complex emotion that pushes a reader to empathize with them.  

Duran has taken a theme in romance done a plethora of times and made it new again with gritty resonance and stellar connection.

Meredith Duran is an autobuy author for me, and I would argue that she's one of the best romance writers of all time. I was so looking forward to seeing Lockwood's story after meeting him in The Duke of Shadows, and I was not disappointed. I loved Anna's character, particularly how independent and feminist she was, and I thought the two main characters meshed well together. Duran is so good at delivering intense emotions in her writing, and she treats the emotional relationship between the characters as important as the physical relationship between them, which is what made this book so good. Loved it!

The Sins of Lord Lockwood (Rules for the Reckless, #6) 
by Meredith Duran
Anna Swedenmom's review Jan 25, 2018

Superbly Brilliant!
What a wonderful story. I have to go five stars on this one. From the beginning to the end, you will be enthralled, compelled and just plain delighted. Each and every page is an adventure in itself. This book has all the elements of the great historical romances then added a couple for more enjoyment. I absolutely adored the way it gave the background information from the past, to blending it into the here and now. The characters as well as the passion and romance in this one were off the charts. A romance with heart and soul. One that touches and gives you all that you could ask for and more. I was given this book in return for an honest review. Regards, Anna

I both liked and disliked this read. I enjoyed the author's exploration of someone from the past with PTSD. I also liked the character of Anna. Her independence and endurance to try to make it work with Liam were engaging. However, I felt like Liam was a complete jerk to Anna. I know he had turmoil that he was working through, but I felt many things he said or did were out of line. He was such a hot and cold husband to Anna and I admired that she never gave up. He was just a character that I didn't bond with and so it lessened my enjoyment of the book.

Duran's strong female characters are amongst my favorites and this last book of her 'Rules for the Reckless' does not disappoint. 

Anna and Liam have arranged a marriage that would suit them both - giving Anna total control of her small island in Scotland, and Liam the funds to take care of his inherited properties while also allowing for his travels to explore the art world. As they draw closer to their wedding date they find each other falling in love, unsure if this is what the other wants neither bring up such a volatile subject. When Liam is kidnapped on their wedding night and abducted to a penal colony in New South Wales, Anna assumes she's been abandoned, again. Liam's return four years later will force the couple to decide between living separate lives or to trust in that early spark and find their ways back to each other's wounded hearts.

I had read a few other titles by this author and I liked the synopsis, so here we go. 

I straight up loved Anna. She’s strong and sassy and she doesn’t back down. I loved that she spoke her mind. Lockwood has quite a backstory and that definitely comes into play here. He’s so good and loyal and I really enjoyed seeing him and Anna argue and banter. Plus their chemistry is insane. 

Plot wise, it was clever to to have the snippets of their past. Very effective way to show us what happened instead of an info dump or vague thoughts. There were a lot of threads to this story and I’m not sure all of them were needed.

Overall, it was a story that kept me engaged and interested. I’ll definitely be looking into future titles. 

**Huge thanks to Pocket Books for providing the arc free of charge**

I loved this addition the series. It was emotionally powerful and yet wonderfully entertaining.

“It took a long moment for silence to fall, but once she had their full attention, she continued: “Do you imagine I love him less than you do?” “Oof,” groaned Henneage. “Now with the waterworks—” “My eyes are quite dry.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out her sgian-dubh. Gibbs snorted. “That’d cut a piece of fruit, maybe—” He fell silent when she pulled out her pistol. I’m an excellent shot,” she said. “And a man’s flanks, you’ll find, pierce as easily as a melon. I invite you to keep behind me for safety, if you like.” With that, she shoved past Gibbs and out the door.” WHEW! While I don’t think Duran will ever top The Duke of Shadows or Luck Be A Lady (Rules for the Reckless Book 4) in my estimation, this book was beautifully written and Emma is so STRONG! Liam wasn’t my favorite H ever, mostly because I felt his character and moods a bit rushed over (maybe it would help if I’d read the other books more recently, went back to Duke of Shadows to fill in details it would help?), but that’s a small complaint, honestly, and one that took time for me to realize. All told, a satisfying book and a worthy addition to the series. Thanks to @netgalley and the publisher for sharing a copy for review!!

I've read most of Meredith Duran's books and while they're all good, her last two are my favorites. "The Sins of Lord Lockwood" features all of her strengths as a writer - the attention to historical detail, her memorable characters with their honest, intelligent dialogue, the emotional intensity that never crosses into melodrama. This is a superb book and I loved reading it. Definitely picking up a copy or two once it's available for sale.

Liam Devaliant, Lord Lockwood, had been kidnapped, just after he had got married. His bride was Scotish, strong willed and wealthy. He was dragged away, tortured, the cruelity, and so wanted revenge. He had been gone for almost four years, he and his friends had to clear up what had been done to them. He had to have proof. Lady Anna Wallace had been a bride for four years but he disappeared on their wedding night and had been gone for a long time. 
You could see her anger, he had been in town for months and not bothered to let her know. 
This was a mesmerizing tale of how cruel man can be to other men. The descriptions are neat and help you see the background of the story. The characters were varied and worked to protect each other. I think the author did an amazing job of trying to show her concept of this cruelity. I must admit I found this book interesting, action filled and unable to put it down.
I received this from Net Galley and chose to voluntarily review it.

This book was amazing.  I have never read a book by Meredith Duran that I haven’t loved but this was the best one yet.  My heart aches for Liam and Anna.  Their journey was so sad and painful but so good.  I can’t wait for the next book.

Whoa. That's one hell of an opening. 

Damn. Anna is definitely not a simpering miss. 

So he's turned to drugs then. 

I knew it was better to be Scottish. 

Are they truly married, without consummation? 

This is like the Hunger Games of dating. 

The flashbacks are a bit jarring. Though it's sad to hear how happy they were, and their expectations for their wedding night that never happened.

I wish he would tell her that he wasn't joking about being abducted and sent to Australia. Because it's getting annoying that she actually thinks it's a joke. 

She got mad at him for getting money on their wedding day, when that was his whole reason for marriage? That was hypocritical of her; she got an island! 

You better run, Stephen. This lady is a good match for her husband, and she knows it. 

Times were so different. Now we know about PTSD, and that pregnant women shouldn't drink. 

A lovely ending. 

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have been waiting for Lockwoods story ever since I read "Duke of Shadows" years ago. Who was this mystery guy that Julian was best friends with? The guy that was so charming and affable but had a touch of mania about him? I wanted his story so badly. I've read all of Duran's stories, hoping Lockwood would pop up again. 

So imagine my pure and utter joy when I was reading A Lady's Code of Misconduct and Lockwood's story was brought up. I was tickled absolute pink! 

I have been desperately waiting for this story for years and when I requested the story from Netgalley I thought for sure I would not get it. But then my request was granted! And I kept saying to myself "You need to savor this, don't jump in and read it in one day. SAVOR IT!" But alas I gobbled it up. It was delicious! 

This story lived up to all the hype and expectation I had in my head. I LOVE Anna. She is by far my favorite Duran heroine. She is definitely the kind of heroine we need in our current culture and I could not get enough of her wittiness through out the story. Liam was the perfect hero. Duran did such a fabulous job with his character. The ups and downs of their relationship were spot on. 

My biggest fear reading this was that it wouldn't live up to my expectations but it absolutely blew them out of the water. Great story and well worth the wait. Thank you Netgally for the ARC.

This is such an emotional, heartbreaking Novel! My heart is still pounding! What would you do, if you had married for Convenience, on your honeymoon, your husband goes missing? Would you look for him, or think he had your money, and now, after a row, he was off to see the world? This is honestly, one of the best desperate books, that I have ever read! It is an absolute Must Read! It is number 2 on my list of top 25 for 2018!
I highly recommend! Thanks! Enjoy!
carolintallahassee 👒

I really enjoyed this book. I think it managed to cover a lot of content without being overwhelming. Anna was probably one of my top ten heroines, and I say this having read hundreds (no exaggeration) of historical romances. I also thought this book was an interesting and fresh take on PTSD.

Excellent read!  I was very pleased with the quality of the writing.  Duran is an artist who uses words beautifully to paint vivid images of the landscape and the elements that denote the time period.  The reader becomes transported to 19th century Europe.  The language of the author and the dialogue of the characters are authentic and help to create a well-written historical romance.   Liam is a strong character.  Though scarred in many ways, his strength shines through his action and love for Anna.  Anna is an admirable woman who proves to be a strong and likeable female lead.  Both characters learn much about their true self because of their love for each other; a love that is denied and keeps the reader engaged due to the desire to see the this love succeed.  The novel has just the right balance of romance and suspense.  Readers will truly enjoy this story.

This is Anna and Liam’s story. They were supposed to be a marriage of convenience.  Liam disappeared on their wedding night.  Anna thinks that he went on his merry way but he was kidnapped and put in a penal colony. He survives to come back to find the cousin who put him there. He brings back the men he served with.  The story is very descriptive of the horrors he lived.  They find their way to loving each other.  Meredith Duran is a fabulous author.

I enjoyed reading this book, it was fun to get the story of a character that's been instrumental in the other books in the series.  I thought it was interesting that the main villain wasn't quite as worried about his fate as characters in similar situations would have been.  I felt like this has happened in other books to other characters, where members of the aristocracy cut off their funding, get them banned socially, etc.  And his lack of concern over this makes me wonder if it's a commentary on the rising power of the non-aristocracy class.   Anywho, it was an interesting story.

I felt that the ending was a little abrupt, but still enjoyed it.

I have not read any of the other books in this series, so I feel like I cannot give this a fair review. As a drop in, I did not enjoy it.

I enjoyed this book quite a lot - the characters were engaging and while there was some suspension of disbelief regarding the central premise of the work (kidnapped groom the day after the wedding etc., the fact that the wife didn't raise alarm) once you got past that it was a good read. The villain was a bit of an old fashioned mustache-twirler.