Sometimes Some People Forget Which Series is Which
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Yes, I confess. Sometimes I get my series’ mixed up. I was surprised when the wrong
characters showed up in Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean. Well, they really weren’t the wrong characters; they were in the right book. It was me! My brain was in the wrong series! It was like eating chocolate when you’re expecting vanilla. I had to turn my brain on in order to remember…hey, this series had the maniac father in it, not the baby-buying mother! It was a lot of hard work turning my little grey cells on. This is the Bareknuckled Bastard series. As I recall, in the previous books, Ms. MacLean was a bit vague as to what was going on with the main characters. And, she is not all that forthcoming in this book. So we still don’t get to know what the big secret of the Bareknuckled Bastards is. I’m beginning to believe I’m not a fan of the big secret plot arching through an entire series. When the series is more than two books, and the spacing between books is more than six months, it is hard to remember that there is a biggggg mystery lurking in the shadows. Ms. MacLean does give us a small mystery surrounding Hattie’s brother. That mystery is solved by the end of the book, actually before the end. I guess the purpose of the small mystery was to make us happy. But, it was mediocre at best, and a waste of space.This book centers on the romance between Beast, aka Whit, and the woman meant for him, Lady Henrietta Sedley, aka Hattie. Hattie has a plan. Groan. Oh no! Not that! It is a typical Romanceland plan. This plan even has a name, The Year of Hattie. She named it herself. She has decided that if she loses her virginity, no man will want to marry her. Then her father will agree to let her take over the family business. Evidently she has a better business head then her brother, but her father doesn’t’ believe women can think. What losing one’s virginity has to do with business is beyond me. If only he knew about her plan, he would know his assumptions were correct. Anyway, Hattie and her friend Nora are on their way to a brothel. Not just any brothel, mind you, but an upscale brothel for women. When she climbs into the carriage she is using to transport her to the brothel, there is a surprise waiting for her. On the floor is a very handsome man. It is not every day Hattie finds a handsome man on her carriage floor. What is he doing on the floor you may ask? Well, it was not his idea. Someone conked him over the head, tied him up, stuck a gag in his mouth, and put him in the carriage. Since this is a family carriage, she immediately suspects her not-so-bright brother of doing the dirty deed. The tied up man happens to be Beast, aka Whit. She is irritated with her brother, because Beast is not a person with a sense of humor. In fact, the Beast’s family is scary.
So what does a woman do when she finds a handsome man tied up in her carriage? Well, she talks to him, they chat, they flirt, they kiss. She unties him, opens the door of the carriage, and shoves him out. When he gets up off the ground he is charmed, (sort of). He wants to know who put him in the carriage, and just how Hattie is connected. He is not finished with Hattie - not by a long shot. He has a ton of underground connections. Because of these connections, it isn’t long before he has found Hattie at the brothel. Guess what! His sister owns the brothel. How very convenient for Mr. Beast.
Hattie is once again surprised when instead of the man she requested to help her remove her virginity, her handsome companion from the carriage floor walks into the room. Surprise! He knows Hattie knows who kidnapped him and threw him in the carriage. Hattie deduces her brother not only conked the Beast on the head, but probably did a whole bunch more. Even though her brother is a ne’er-do-well, she decides to protect him from the Beast. Beast suspects the culprit is her brother, but he isn’t going to let Hattie know that he knows. It was all a bit silly. Then the story takes a turn away from its goofy set-up and focuses in on the dynamics between Hattie and Beast. Those dynamics were the best thing about the book.
Hattie and Beast were both complex characters. Beast has tons of dark history; he is an incredibly angst-filled character. His part of this story is heavy-duty melodrama, almost Balogh-ish. Hattie and Beast had some great dialog, and some wonderful chemistry.
Do not make Hattie a CEO. We are told that Hattie is a top-notch business woman, but I wasn’t able to find any professional shrewdness in her character. In fact, she made one bad decision after another. She was a disappointment. If I read that a character makes wise business choices, I expect to see her make wise choices. Her actions did not blend with what we are told she was supposed to be.
The villain, or is he? There is an overarching storyline concerning Ewan, Duke of Marwick. He is one of the Bareknuckle siblings, and he seems to be quite evil. Throughout the series, he has tried to kill his brothers. Or, at least that is what we are led to believe. He is insanely obsessive when it comes to the sister in the group. His portrayal in this series has been close to maniacal. He is just plain scary-creepy. But, we are not told too much about him, or his past interaction with the rest of the characters. Here is what I found interesting, if you read the sneak peek at the end of the story; you will find that the next book in the series is Daring and the Duke. It appears that Ewan, aka the creep, is the hero. I have always suspected that was the way the wind was blowing, but his character has been written to be loathsome. How Ms. MacLean is going to make this guy into a hero will be interesting to read. I’m fond of Ms. MacLean’s writing and I hope she does exceptionally well in explaining away his over the top craziness. It could be good or it could be a disaster. We will see.
The villain who disappeared. Hattie’s brother is one of those villains who sort of disappears half way through the book. He’s there at the beginning stealing cargo and hitting heroes over the head. But, once everyone figures out he did the bad stuff, he is just shuffled off to the Island of Forgotten Villains.
In the end, I’m not sure how I feel about Brazen and the Beast. I was interested in the love story of Hattie and Beast. I am interested in the overarching mystery, but I feel that the author is saving everything for a big bang at the end. That could mean that the storyline will be rushed, and the characters not fully developed. But, we shall see. Finally Ewan is such an obsessive maniac, I’m not sure he will be able to be redeemed. I guess if you have been following this series, then you should read this one. However, there may be a few bumps in the road for you. I will be reading the last book in the series. I hope Ms. MacLean has a good explanation for Ewan’s deranged actions.
Time/Place: England 1837
Sensuality: Hot
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