Love Beneath the Guillotine by W.H. Lockwood


A tense adventure and love story with the French Revolution as a backdrop. Leon is dragged into Henry's orbit and can't escape the constant danger, until he realizes that maybe he doesn't want to leave the villainous man.


From the Love Beneath the Guillotine blurb:

‘Desperate men have no morals...’


Léon Lyon: beautiful, beloved, broken. As premier executioner of Reims, he’s desired and feared in equal measure, a celebrity of the most dangerous kind, a symbol of justice and good citizenship in the explosive era of the French Revolution. But Léon has a secret. Each head he takes brings him one day closer to escape. He’s been saving every centime he’s ever earned, and any day now, he’ll leave town and rescue his little brother Émile from the same gruesome fate that has befallen him.

But all Léon’s plans are thrown into disarray when Émile is kidnapped by the dashing, dangerous, and despicable Henri De Villiers. At the mercy of a cruel and calculating (if handsome) blackmailer, Léon’s only chance to save his brother is to play the man’s wicked game.

Yet, as Léon is drawn deeper into Henri’s world, he begins to see a different side of him. Idealistic, passionate, willing to kill or die for those he loves, Henri might just be the escape Léon’s been searching for all these years.

But can Léon ever forgive Henri for what he’s done? And can either of them survive the mysterious supernatural force that seems to haunt their every move?

Love Beneath the Guillotine is the spicy, swashbuckling, slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers MM adventure-romance novel that your bookshelf has been bleeding for. It’s time to strap on your swords and load those duelling pistols. France will never be the same again.


SNik's review:

Standalone. Historical paranormal. Enemies to lovers. Slow burn. 

Leon is the popular executioner for a small town in France, and when his brother is kidnapped, Leon is blackmailed into helping a prisoner escape. Henry will do anything for those he loves, and one glimpse of Leon is all he needs to drag the man into his troubled life. 

Set during the French revolution, Henry and Leon are attracted to each other but at odds for the first half of the book as they are constantly dodging danger, evading death, imprisonment, witchcraft, and even an unwanted marriage. As adversaries they learn a lot about each other’s motivations and personal morals, so as time moves on their feelings of attraction quickly turn to love. There is quite a bit of tension inside and outside their relationship, adventures, hurt feelings, lust, and political turmoil, all of which mostly drive Henry and Leon apart. Once they both try to hold onto the happiness they have discovered are my favorite parts of the story. A lengthy but entertaining story.


Love Beneath the Guillotine is currently available as an e-book and can be read as part of your Kindle Unlimited Subscription

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