Dysfunctional Family Alert
http://www.sarahmaclean.net/
Wicked and the Wallflower is the beginning of a brand-new series by Sara Maclean, the
Bareknuckle Bastards. We are introduced to three the illegitimate sons of a creepy Duke. And, they all have nicknames. So, not only do I have to remember real names and titles, I have to remember nicknames. Spoiler: and when the book ends we are left with the impression that the one son is a villain. But, my mind thinks that we are being lead down a red-herring path with that suggestion. Anyway, the creepy Duke is desperate for an heir and gathers his three bastard sons and his legitimate daughter together. He makes it his priority to make their lives miserable and sows threads of distrust among them. He encourages them to compete with each other. I do not mean the good kind of competition. He is truly a horrible man. The siblings bond, but there is some kind of mysterious flare-up among them and two of the brothers and the sister turn against the future villain brother. But we never find out why. And, by the time the next book comes out, I will have forgotten just what’s going on. I’m not fond of loose threads or mysteries which aren’t wrapped up in one book. My brain can just not retain all that stuff. I wish the author had been more forthcoming with us, the readers. I know we will eventually find out what caused the riff, but it was all a big stinking secret. Regardless of that, I loved the romance between Devil aka Devon and Lady Felicity Faircloth, but I wished there had been more of the romance part.If you read The Day of the Duchess, you will remember Felicity as one of the women who was vying to be the next Duchess of Haven. She did not succeed. Felicity was an interesting heroine, and I liked her a lot. She was strong female, but often times she was so very insecure. She wants to have friends but seems to have often made a lot of bad choices when it comes to picking those friends. She wants to return to her group of friends, the ones who hurt her. Eventually she sees them for what they are, a group of nasty bullies.
There is a whole lot of machination in the beginning of the story when Devon and Felicity first meet and it’s all very intriguing. Felicity announces that she is engaged to Devon’s brother – she’s not. She leaves the party and when she returns home she finds Devon in her bedroom waiting for her. This was a very fun scene. Devon decides he’s going to use Felicity to get at his brother, of course it doesn’t take long for him to realize that he can never use Felicity as he originally planned. I can’t really tell you too much of what went on in this story, because there was a whole lot going on. The romance in this book was wonderful and I loved it just bunches and bunches. Devon and Felicity were a great couple. Felicity was one smart cookie. If there was an issue I had with this story it was the mystery surrounding the secondary characters and the dark, deep mysteries plot which will be eventually brought to us in future books. Excuse me if I repeat myself.
Loved, loved, loved the romance, but didn’t love the incompleteness I was left feeling at the end. Sometimes an author can be tooooo mysterious. I do recommend this story, I suspect that there are some things coming which might surprise us with this storyline – I just want to know now.
Time Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Warm/Hot
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