Surprisingly, I was not the originator of this Rec League, even though it is definitely my jam! Thanks to Meryl for sending this one in:
I’m looking for some recommendations for books in which the hero is the villain in a previous book in a series (not a jerk, but really a redeemed villain). I remember coming across one or two in my reading but I can’t remember what either of them are.
Amanda: Elyse, Would Duke of Sin by Elizabeth Hoyt ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) work for this one?
Elyse: Yup!
Amanda: I think Moonglow by Kristen Callihan is SLIGHTLY there, though the hero isn’t fully a villain. In the first book, he tried to steal the heroine away from the hero. It’s a point of contention in the second book as his heroine is that woman’s sister.
Sarah: Devil in Winter ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) – Sebastian, the hero, is the villain in the first book, I believe. I think it’s the first, and into the second somewhat.
There’s also an older historical that is nagging at my brain.
Oh – Amanda, would Lothaire ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Scribd ) qualify?
Amanda: Hm…I think so. I also think some of the later Immortals After Dark books would work too because Cole is focusing on the “villains” now.
Sarah: And The Duke’s Wager by Edith Layton ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), which is a lovely bait-and-switch romance. That one is fun.
Which villains-turned-heroes would you recommend? Tell us in the comments!
Rupert Campbell-Black, the dastardly villain of Jilly Cooper’s Riders, gets redeemed by the love of a good woman in the second book, Rivals. Jilly Cooper’s books are usually about 800 pages long with hordes of characters and they get stereotyped as ‘bonkbusters’, but they always have several very sweet love stories!
Last night I read Loretta Chase’s Isabella and sequel The English Witch (the sliver lining of insomnia??). Hero of The English Witch was the, I’ll say, “villain light” of Isabella – lying about his brother’s intentions in order to box Isabella into an engagement; blackmailing Isabella and her family by threatening to expose her mother’s secrets…all for Isabella’s income.
Elisabeth Hobbes, The Blacksmith’s Wife and Redeeming The Rogue Night! Roger is a spoiled womanizing jackass who tries to break up his brother’s marriage after trifling with his wife before marriage. He’s just ugh.
The werewolf character Ben in Patricia Briggs Mercy books starts out as a woman hating dirtbag who Mercy doesn’t want around Adam’s teenage daughter but he evolves over time to become one of my favorite characters. Although not a romance for his character, he is the hero in her short story, Redemption
There’s a con-man turned hero in KJ Charles’ An Unnatural Vice as well.
I wonder if any of Charlotte Stein’s Dark Obsession series count? Particularly the first one – Never Sweeter. The hero in that one was the heroine’s bully years ago. And in one of the others, the hero is also…questionable.
Another villain-turned-HEROINE: Helena, Lady Stapleton, is the “wicked stepmother” of Sir Gerald Stapleton in A Precious Jewel. She gets her own story in A CHRISTMAS BRIDE.
Sean, the hot rugby player who is bad at sex, from The Player and the Pixie, book 2 in the rugby series by LH Cosway and Penny Reid. He was exposed as such an apparently petty and backstabbing person in The Hooker and the Hermit that I didn’t think he could be redeemed. To my surprise, I enjoyed Sean and Lucy’s story much more than Annie and Ronan’s in the first book because Sean’s character development was so much better compared to that of Ronan who was still basically a controlling alphahole at the end of book 1.
Elisa Braden’s The Devil is a Marquess. The hero was the villain of books 2 and 3 I believe so best read in order. One of the best rake redemption books I have read.
Love Shadowheart, have read it many times. It definitely has story problems, but still a favorite.
King’s Captive might also qualify. Another favorite.
Fourthing Iron and Magic by Illona Andrews. I’ve reread it three times.
My Only Love by Katharine Sutcliffe is an “Old Schoo!” romance that I love. I haven’t read the first book, but in that book, the hero tried to kill one brother and slept with the other brother’s fiancee right before the wedding.
Ooh! Seeing Karina Bliss in this comment section (Hi!) reminded me of her excellent RISE. Asshole brother part 3, this time a rock star and a sexy one at that!
Edward, the Marquess is Rutland is a villain in Christi Caldwell’s Heart of a Duke series and the hero of the sixth book in the series, The Heart of a Scoundrel. He’s manipulative and heartless due to a Secret Pain.
In contemporary m/m:
Roan Parrish’s Out of Nowhere (Middle of Somewhere #2) focuses on Colin, who was the antagonist to his brother Daniel, the lead of In the Middle of Somewhere.
Lily Morton’s Gideon (Finding Home #3) – Gideon was a bit of the baddie in Milo (#2 in the series).
I’d hate to call Colin and Gideon villains, but they were debuted as antagonists in their respective series, Colin definitely did not have a lot of redeeming features (from his brother’s point of view) before we got his own stories. Morton and Parrish are both great writers, wonderful world-builders.
Carla Kelly’s One Good Turn. Hero is the bad boy in Libby’s London Merchant. Wrenching.
Not quite the villain but definitely unlikeable character in previous book: Lord Blakeney in Confessions of an Arranged Marriage by Miranda Neville. Compromised-into-marriage scenario, hero has a condition not known at the time.
I second JoS’s “Dance” rec. It’s hard to find them used these days (and when you do they are pricey) but both “Dance” and “Bliss” by Judy Cuevas/Ivory are great, with Bliss actually being my favorite. Extra points for unusual setting (Belle Epoque France)
I second The Notorious Rake too, still one of my favorite Baloghs despite the copious amounts of crazysauce. The heroine was also featured in a previous book, A Counterfeit Betrothal, as one of the potential love interests.
Also: Edith Layton’s To Wed a Stranger. Annabelle, the heroine, was definitely an unlikeable character in previous books.
Meredith Duran’s A Lady’s Code of Misconduct features a redeemed baddie, too.
Also: Edith Layton’s To Wed a Stranger. Annabelle, the heroine, was definitely an unlikeable character in previous books.
Meredith Duran’s A Lady’s Code of Misconduct features a redeemed baddie, too.
Mick in Tara Lain’s Fire Balls is horrible to everyone, but in his own book, (FAST Balls) it’s just amazing. This is the best villain-hero morph I’ve read to date.
K.M. Shea wrote a light fantasy romance “Royal Magic” where the human villain from book 1 – “Red Rope of Fate” enters into a marriage of convenience with a new elvish character and then gets redeemed in a significant way by learning to appreciate his new wife compared to his unrequited first love.
Kitty also wrote some good blog posts about the difficulty of turning Benjimir into a protagonist after his actions in Red Rope of Fate.
I enjoyed both books, although her AM Sohma pen name books are my favorite.
Georgette Heyer’s first villian is the hero in These Old Shades and the beloved patriarch in several books after.
I LOVED the Katherine Sutcliffe book “My Only Love” which featured a strong woman. Also Yes, Yes to “The Dedicated Villain” by Patricia Veryan. Roland Otten (alias) was perfectly wicked throughout the series. An early example of a redeemed villain. And finally, “Iron and Magic” is recent example and a darn fine one at that. I love the suggestions here and although I’ve read most there are a few I can now add to my massive TBR pile. Thank You readers!
In Roni Loren’s Pleasure Principle series, the heroine of Book 2, By the Hour, was – maybe not the villain, but certainly an unlikeable, antagonistic trouble-maker in Book 1, Off the Clock. Her redemption was wonderful and she totally deserved her very yummy hero.
OMG OMG OMG Ilona Andrew’s “Iron Magic: – Hugh Dambray is the best redeemed villian EVER!!!
“The Challenge” by Edith Layton has a hero who was villainous in the previous books of her “C” series(The Cad and The Choice). It’s been a long time so I forget what he did exactly, but it got him exiled to the Colonies, which is where most the “The Challenge” is set.
Also “Love in a Time of Scandal” by Caroline Linden. The previous book in the series where the hero appears to be a bad guy is “It Takes a Scandal”.
Not sure if anyone’s said it yet, but Grace Callaway’s latest “Regarding the Duke” features redeemed villain Adam Garrity, who was the main villain in Callaway’s earlier book, “Her Prodigal Passion” and showed up to be a lesser villains in some of the intervening novels.
Callaway’s “Enter the Duke” also features quasi-villain Ransom (from “The Duke Identity”) as the hero. And all her books are just wonderful, so highly recommend anyways 🙂
The last book in Aly Martinez’s “Wrecked and Ruined” series (Broken Course) has a reformed heroine villain.
Adam Black in THE IMMORTAL HIGHLANDER by Karen Marie Moning. In previous books in the series, he wasn’t a true villain, more like a mischievous, manipulating, trouble making, prankster fae.
Also more votes for Hugh in IRON and MAGIC by Ilona Andrews and Stephanie Laurens THE CAPTURE of THE EARL of GLENCRAE which is the 3rd book of the Cynsters Sisters trilogy.
“Vanquish” by Pam Goodwin. Van is a character that we met in the first book in this series as a total creep. In the second book, he is still a creep, but we can see his good side too. It’s one of the most real redeeming stories I read because he is still the same person that we met in the first book but we can see him trying and growing as a human being. Also, he meets a girl that fits into his crazy realty. It’s really twisted story.
Another Ilona Andrews book – the “villain” (not ultimate villain but a competitor/creep for the heroine’s attention) in the first book in The Edge series becomes the hero in the second book. The Edge series is underrated – I love the second book especially.