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Delectable Wicked Rakes*
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Despite being promised all six books in the blurb at my favorite book review site, the ARC I received only contained two novels. By the way, this irks me. I don’t mind being given only one or two books in an anthology to review, but be honest with me about it. Don’t promise six books and then give two!
Here are their reviews.
Stolen by My Knave by Dawn Brower: I have read several books in this series, though it has been some time since I last visited this world. While the author does provide some information necessary that we learned in the other books of the series—even though I was familiar with this series—I sometimes still found myself scratching my head trying to remember all the interrelationships, who crossed to what time and when, etc. Probably for a series like this, it is best to read them one after the other so you don’t forget the minutiae. I definitely felt like I needed a family tree and a chronology. I enjoyed the witty banter between Jack and Elizabeth, and I absolutely adored the references to Pride and Prejudice, especially how Jack learned from it. Jack is a jaded man, and I thought he was a little too glib for too long to be a truly good hero.
Enticed by Lady Elianna by Amanda Mariel: Cinderella, Regency style. After her father’s death, Elianna was essentially made into a servant by the new earl (they even call her thus to her face). They don’t even give her the honorific of Lady anymore, and to outsiders, they simply refer to her as either a servant or companion, never mentioning her relation to them or her status as a lady. Because of fear, I guess, Elianna never speaks out about this, even when she can. She is willing to be ill-treated by those who are actually her family, and even when someone asks more about her, she tells the same lies that her cousin’s family spout. Actually, I found that recurring theme rather irritating after a while. Why wouldn’t she tell the truth when asked or speak up to the hero on the many occasions when he asked? Instead, she just accepts her fate, and she seems unwilling to try for more of a life; she just bemoans her fate. And she is so apologetic to the dastardly relations—gag. There didn’t seem to be good enough reasons for her to act like this. And I also didn’t quite believe that the hero was so fascinated why her so quickly. The melodrama factor got ratcheted up too many degrees, making the story ridiculous. Even the way things resolved in the epilogue… like so many books of this type. So many romance tropes were used, without apparently being sardonic, that I nearly had to force myself to keep reading; I will admit to having a morbid fascination to see how many cliches this story would have. I found myself wondering if the author meant this as farce: let’s see how cliched I can make this and still have people buy and like it.
