Review: Brazen And The Beast by Sarah MacLean

Brazen And The Beast (The Bareknuckle Bastards #2)
Sarah MacLean
Avon Books
2019, 438p
Read from my local library

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}:

The Lady’s Plan

When Lady Henrietta Sedley declares her twenty-ninth year her own, she has plans to inherit her father’s business, to make her own fortune, and to live her own life. But first, she intends to experience a taste of the pleasure she’ll forgo as a confirmed spinster. Everything is going perfectly… until she discovers the most beautiful man she’s ever seen tied up in her carriage and threatening to ruin the Year of Hattie before it’s even begun.

The Bastard’s Proposal

When he wakes in a carriage at Hattie’s feet, Whit, a king of Covent Garden known to all the world as Beast, can’t help but wonder about the strange woman who frees him—especially when he discovers she’s headed for a night of pleasure… on his turf. He is more than happy to offer Hattie all she desires… for a price.

An Unexpected Passion

Soon, Hattie and Whit find themselves rivals in business and pleasure. She won’t give up her plans; he won’t give up his power… and neither of them sees that if they’re not careful, they’ll have no choice but to give up everything… including their hearts.

I really enjoyed the first in this series, Wicked And The Wallflower but upon reading that, it was what was going to be the third book that interested me the most and this was just a book that should be read in order to get to the third one.

The series centres around a group of siblings – several born on the same day, bastard sons of a Duke and a girl claimed to be legitimate, but the wrong sex. The siblings were pitted against each other (the males, obviously) so that the Duke could choose who would be his heir. When it was all over, one was the winner, the other three were running literally, for their lives.

Years later, and the three that ran rule Convent Garden. The first book revolved around Devil and how he came to find happiness and this one deals with the one called Beast. When Lady Henrietta finds him unconscious in her carriage, it puts a spanner in the plans she has put together so carefully and she can’t have it. She must go ahead despite this inconvenience and when Beast wakes, vowing revenge on the ones who got the jump on him, Henrietta turfs him out of her carriage. But Beast doesn’t let anything go and he knows Henrietta will lead him to the answers he wants. He chases her down….and they make a bargain of sorts.

This was an up and down read. I thought the beginning was intriguing, particularly as Beast was down and out, having been hit from behind and bested. The ‘Bareknuckle Bastards’ don’t let anything go though and when Lady Henrietta figures out why he’s there, she knows she has to protect the (somewhat undeserving) culprit. Lady Henrietta was born common, her father was given an Earldom through services to shipping which will not be passed down and will only be for the duration of his lifetime. Having failed to make a match during her Seasons, she wants more from life. She wants to prove to her father that despite being the wrong sex, she can run his highly successful shipping business, that she has the intelligence and wherewithal to do so. Her father remains unconvinced, purely because of the fact that she’s not a son.

Where the book kind of lost me was the bargain between Beast and Henrietta, which, after he betrays her, she intends to keep part of….presumably because it fits into her plans to rid herself of something, but it makes very little sense plot-wise, after what Beast has done. She’s not privy to the why he has done it, so she sees it as the ultimate betrayal, which makes all of the interactions afterwards fall somewhat short for me, until it’s revealed why Beast did what he did, because of his saviour complex. Whilst there was a lot to like here in terms of Lady Henrietta’s background, her intelligence, her determination, her self belief, her want for something more than the life mapped out for someone who had the advantage of wealthy father who had been granted a title, there was also some times when the story went in circles and repeated some of the instances of the first book, probably deliberately (Devil even remarks that Beasts sits, in the same situation Devil himself was in earlier) and it just feels done before.

My excitement about the third book is in a state of confusion. I enjoy an anti-hero who needs redemption, especially if it’s a man tortured by love but the Duke seems like such a complete tosser who actively tried to murder people in this book and it makes me wonder how he can be redeemed or why anyone would love him. I’m sure MacLean will weave in tragic backstory using scraps of what we already know but given what both Devil and his scar as well as Beast, have experienced, as well as the one they saved and kept hidden all these years, how on earth this could become a situation that anyone could accept is a mystery. I feel as though a line needs to be drawn somewhere and ‘man who attempts to murder his own siblings as well as the one he claims to love unreservedly’ might well be it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a book where the hero needs to grovel more than this one. We shall see.

7/10

Book #127 of 2020

Mini Reviews {4}: What I’ve Been Reading Lately

The library is a godsend when you’re on a book-buying ban. I have to admit, I haven’t utilised mine much lately – I’ve had more than enough books to keep me occupied, between ones I receive for review and ones I’ve bought. After all I do still have basically 2 entire bookcases that are my unread pile – and god knows how many on my iPad from various Amazon and iBooks sales! But I’ve been wanting to read a few specific books lately and so I decided to head back to the library.

The Duchess Deal (Girl Meets Duke #1)
Tessa Dare
Avon
2017, 370p
Read from my local library

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}:

When girl meets Duke, their marriage breaks all the rules…

Since his return from war, the Duke of Ashbury’s to-do list has been short and anything but sweet: brooding, glowering, menacing London ne’er-do-wells by night. Now there’s a new item on the list. He needs an heir—which means he needs a wife. When Emma Gladstone, a vicar’s daughter turned seamstress, appears in his library wearing a wedding gown, he decides on the spot that she’ll do.

His terms are simple:
– They will be husband and wife by night only.
– No lights, no kissing.
– No questions about his battle scars.
– Last, and most importantly… Once she’s pregnant with his heir, they need never share a bed again.

But Emma is no pushover. She has a few rules of her own:
– They will have dinner together every evening.
– With conversation.
– And unlimited teasing.
– Last, and most importantly… Once she’s seen the man beneath the scars, he can’t stop her from falling in love…

I really love Tessa Dare’s books! They’re the perfect blend of fun, lighthearted historical romance but also that angstyness that gives you the feels! And this one is so ‘me’ – a grumpy, reclusive, scarred hero! This is like a take on Beauty and the Beast – the Duke of Ashbury was severely wounded in the war and he knows that the delicate little misses of the Ton won’t be able to stomach him as a husband. When Emma Gladstone, a seamstress, demands payment for a wedding dress she made (and walks into his library wearing it), Ashbury thinks that he has a solution to all of his problems. As a Duke, he needs an heir. And Emma, well he has privilege and money to offer her, a comfortable life where she need not work her hands to the bone to survive.

I really liked Ashbury and Emma – especially Emma. She’s so clever and quick and she’s perfect in the way that she handles Ashbury, cutting him down from that stuffy distancing he does, believing himself to be too hideous for words since his wounding. She teases him mercilessly, using funny little pet names for him. I thought the stuff with the servants was hilarious as well. I like sassy servants and the way that they intervene and plot felt so interesting, just a little twist on being discreetly in the background. I liked that Ashbury wasn’t intimidating – not really. There were times when he sort of tried to be but Emma never really took any notice of him. She was uninterested in the fact that he was a Duke, making her a Duchess other than it would mean security. She actually looks at Ashbury and sees what’s underneath, beyond the scars, beyond his somewhat brusque and difficult manner.

I read this in an afternoon – it’s the sort of book that I could see myself rereading, becoming a comfort read. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series now. The group of friends Emma finds are so interesting and I’m sure they’ll make for great books when they each meet their own Duke.

8/10

Book #124 of 2018

Wicked And The Wallflower (The Bareknuckle Bastards #1)
Sarah MacLean
Avon
2018, 396p
Read from my local library

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}:

When Wicked Comes Calling…

When a mysterious stranger finds his way into her bedchamber and offers his help in landing a duke, Lady Felicity Faircloth agrees—on one condition. She’s seen enough of the world to believe in passion, and won’t accept a marriage without it.

The Wallflower Makes a Dangerous Bargain…

Bastard son of a duke and king of London’s dark streets, Devil has spent a lifetime wielding power and seizing opportunity, and the spinster wallflower is everything he needs to exact a revenge years in the making. All he must do is turn the plain little mouse into an irresistible temptress, set his trap, and destroy his enemy.

For the Promise of Passion…

But there’s nothing plain about Felicity Faircloth, who quickly decides she’d rather have Devil than another. Soon, Devil’s carefully laid plans are in chaos, and he must choose between everything he’s ever wanted…and the only thing he’s ever desired.

So if you’ve read Sarah MacLean’s The Day of The Duchess then you know who Felicity Faircloth is. Once a glittering debutante, a few scandals and the like mean that she’s cut by her former friends and known as ‘Finished Felicity’. With the arrival in society of a mysterious Duke, Felicity’s mother is desperate to try and make a match. Felicity however, is more interested in the stranger that appears and tells her how he will help her win the Duke. For the man known as Devil, Felicity is supposed to be a means to an end, a way to destroy someone who tried to destroy him….but for Devil, Felicity is also nothing but temptation, a reminder of everything he wants and cannot have.

The bastard son of a Duke and the daughter of a Marquess, sister of an Earl, don’t belong together. But when Felicity decides she’d rather have Devil than the Duke he’s pushing her towards, things get….complicated. There’s an awful lot more going on than Felicity understands in this game between the man called Devil, King of Covent Garden and the mysterious and reclusive Duke. The tangled relationships are fascinating and I have a feeling that the third book in this series is going to be devastating (in a good way). This sows the seeds and it’s incredibly interesting. Redemption is something that MacLean does ridiculously well.

But back to this one. I thought there was some really great witty dialogue between Felicity and Devil (Devon). Felicity is not a shrinking violet – she’s a bit older (27), she’s been around a while, she’s not really intimidated by much and perhaps because of her age, her parents don’t really seem to keep an eye on her all that much. She’s able to make her way around to most places unchaperoned. She’s not afraid to admit that she wants more – not just to be a pretty asset to a titled, wealthy man. She wants passion, she wants to be wanted. And while it seems that Devil can promise her the Duke’s offer, he himself is the one that wants her the way she desires.

Devil was a nice change as a hero – he’s rough, he’s definitely involved in questionable activities and he has a formidable reputation. He and his brother Whit are so interesting (and so is their sister, definitely dying to know more about her backstory) and this was just delightfully escapist fun. I enjoyed the ending, which is a bit of a turning upside down of a damsel in need of rescue trope and it goes to show that Felicity can fit into the life she wants to choose, despite Devil’s reservations. He has some good inner angst about not being good enough for her (perhaps not being good enough for anyone). Despite the fact that his father was a Duke, his illegitimacy is all people will see, no matter how rich and well turned out he is. Felicity comes from a good family, an excellent family (albeit one that has made some stupid decisions) and he thinks she deserves a better life than the one he could give her. I would’ve liked to see Felicity’s family’s reactions to a match with Devil. They were willing to sacrifice her for their own gains, relying on her to make a ‘good’ match to fix their mistakes. How far would that desire go? Would her Marquess father be okay with her marrying someone incredibly rich, but not from society? Would there be any angst or would the fact that Felicity was happy be enough? I would’ve liked to see this properly addressed.

But I still really enjoyed this -it was a great story on its own and it also did an amazing job of setting up future stories. I’m keen to learn more about Whit and then of course there’s the third book. If that’s done right, it’ll be phenomenal.

8/10

Book #125 of 2018

Review: The Day Of The Duchess by Sarah MacLean

The Day Of The Duchess (Scandal & Scoundrel #3)
Sarah MacLean
Piatkus
2017, 400p
Purchased personal copy via Amazon

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}:

The one woman he will never forget…
Malcolm Bevingstoke, Duke of Haven, has lived the last three years in self-imposed solitude, paying the price for a mistake he can never reverse and a love he lost forever. The dukedom does not wait, however, and Haven requires an heir, which means he must find himself a wife by summer’s end. There is only one problem—he already has one.

The one man she will never forgive…
After years in exile, Seraphina, Duchess of Haven, returns to London with a single goal—to reclaim the life she left and find happiness, unencumbered by the man who broke her heart. Haven offers her a deal; Sera can have her freedom, just as soon as she finds her replacement…which requires her to spend the summer in close quarters with the husband she does not want, but somehow cannot resist.

A love that neither can deny…
The duke has a single summer to woo his wife and convince her that, despite their broken past, he can give her forever, making every day The Day of the Duchess.

The idea of this has intrigued me from the very beginning of the first book in this series, where Sophie Talbot caught her sister’s husband inflagrante and pushed him into a pond in front of most of London’s high society. There was enough about Malcolm and Seraphina in that scene for me to want to know their backstory and to see what happened next.

And so we pick up several years into the future after Sophie sat the Duke on his backside. Sera suffered a devastating loss and fled and the Duke has been relentlessly searching for her ever since, crossing continents and oceans in an attempt to find his Duchess and make things right between them. Now however Sera has returned to London of her own accord and demanded a divorce on the last day of the House of Lords, not only humiliating Malcolm in front of his peers but also letting him no in no uncertain circumstances that she wants to be free of him permanently.

It was always going to be hard to redeem a character the readers were introduced to as he committed infidelity in front of his wife. There’s no denying that Haven messed up, he knows it as well and as their background unfolds it definitely gives the reader a sense of understanding, about why he might have felt driven to do such a horrid thing. Does it excuse it? No. But he’s suffered for it as well, and Sera’s disappearance has further punished him. He’s spent months and months criss-crossing the globe searching for her and is about to go and look for her again now that Parliament is closed, when she shows up. It gives him a chance to buy some time so that he can convince her they can try again but all Seraphina wants is her divorce.

There’s so much angst in this book and most of it comes from Malcolm, who knows how horribly he messed things up and how he allowed ridiculous pride and injury to get in the way of what could’ve been the perfect marriage. He’s had a lot of time to rue his actions, years in fact and his thoughts are a tangled mess of regret, self-loathing and enduring love for Seraphina, despite the abominable ways they’ve both treated each other. Seraphina isn’t entirely innocent in this story either, she did a couple of things that were scheming and hurtful, even if she thought she was doing them for the best outcome. It was still an underhanded and sneaky thing to do and got them off to a terrible start, something in which they struggled to recover from. If Malcolm had listened, things might’ve gone better but he felt too betrayed by her to listen to her explanations, too shaped by his childhood to think that Sera had any other reasons for what she did. He couldn’t see the faults in his courtship, or that his own selfishness and desire to spend time with her alone had led to her desperate acts – it isn’t until much later that he’s able to look back and see how he might’ve made her feel.

Normally infidelity would be a deal breaker for me, but there was something about the way this story was told that changed that rule. I think it was because I spent so much time in the Duke’s head and he was so desperate to make up for what he did, get his wife back and make her happy. I really am a sucker for a guy who has so much angst going on inside his head and Malcolm definitely had that in spades. He was  desperately trying to buy time, keep her around in London, near him, so that he could make her see that they could have a second chance and the schemes he came up with were ridiculous….but Sera went along with them. They had some great chemistry, both sexually and emotionally intimate. But Seraphina craved being more than just a pretty ornament. She wanted freedom, independence. And the Duke had to see her, all her desires and needs in life before he could offer her what she truly needed in order to be happy. She’d said to him, “love isn’t enough” and it took him a little bit to understand what she meant, what was important to her.

The grovelling…..is sooo good. This book gave me all the feels every single time one of them laid themselves bare in some way or other. And what he does at the end…..such a big gesture. I loved this book. It pressed all my angsty-loving buttons, all my grovelling-male loving buttons, everything. I really liked the “Soiled Sisters”, I think they’re funny and ahead of their time and I like the relationship they have, their matter-of-factness about how they’re viewed by others. My interest is piqued for not one but possibly three future books that I think this story set up quite nicely.

This book was everything I hoped it’d be, from that first scene in The Rogue Less Taken.

9/10

Book #115 of 2017

Series Review: Love By Numbers by Sarah MacLean

Nine Rules To Break When Romancing A Rake (Love By Numbers #1)
Sarah MacLean
Hachette Digital
2010, 432p
Personal purchased copy

Blurb {courtesy of the publisher/Goodreads.com}:

A lady does not smoke cheroot. She does not ride astride. She does not fence or attend duels. She does not fire a pistol, and she never gambles at a gentlemen’s club.

Lady Calpurnia Hartwell has always followed the rules, rules that have left her unmarried—and more than a little unsatisfied. And so she’s vowed to break the rules and live the life of pleasure she’s been missing.

But to dance every dance, to steal a midnight kiss—to do those things, Callie will need a willing partner. Someone who knows everything about rule-breaking. Someone like Gabriel St. John, the Marquess of Ralston—charming and devastatingly handsome, his wicked reputation matched only by his sinful smile.

If she’s not careful, she’ll break the most important rule of all—the one that says that pleasure-seekers should never fall hopelessly, desperately in love.

I’ve heard some really good things about this series and I always rather liked the titles. Lately I’ve been on a massive historical romance kick – it’s pretty much all I want to read so I was scouring iBooks looking for some good candidates and these jumped out at me so I thought it was time to give them a go. I really enjoyed this first one.

Calpurnia (Callie to her friends/family) had one interaction with Gabriel St John, the Marquess of Ralston as a debutante and it’s something she’s never forgotten. Now a wallflower almost a decade later, her younger sister is out and has landed the catch of the season, bagging a proposal from a Duke no less. Callie decides that she’s never going to be married so she might as well live her life, doing the things she’d never be allowed to do were she a successfully married lady or someone who still had prospects. The first thing she wants is a proper kiss – and she chooses Ralston to deliver it.

I loved Callie and Ralston together – he’s a total rake, existing kind of on the fringe of society due to a scandal. He’s a Marquess so the mothers would still be happy to marry a daughter off to him but Ralston doesn’t want to be married. When Callie lays out her plan to him he decides that he should at least accompany her to do several of these things and keep her safe. In return he needs her help making sure his half sister is accepted by society. With an impeccable family and her sister marrying a Duke, Callie has the ability to smooth the way. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement, complicated only by a bit of falling in love. Callie and Ralston have great chemistry and her adventures were fun. I also really liked her relationship with Juliana, Ralston’s recently-acquired half sister and can’t wait for that book!

All in all this was exactly what I was after. A super fun read.

8/10

Book #48 of 2016

Ten Ways To Be Adored When Landing A Lord (Love By Numbers #2)
Sarah MacLean
Hachette Digital
2010, 400p
Purchased personal copy

Blurb {courtesy the publisher/Goodreads.com}:

Since being named one of London’s “Lords to Land” by a popular ladies’ magazine, Nicholas St. John has been relentlessly pursued by every matrimony-minded female in the ton. So when an opportunity to escape fashionable society presents itself, he eagerly jumps—only to land in the path of the most determined, damnably delicious woman he’s ever met!

The daughter of a titled wastrel, Lady Isabel Townsend has too many secrets and too little money. Though used to taking care of herself quite handily, her father’s recent passing has left Isabel at sea and in need of outside help to protect her young brother’s birthright. The sinfully handsome, eminently eligible Lord Nicholas could be the very salvation she seeks.

But the lady must be wary and not do anything reckless…like falling madly, passionately in love.

I have to admit, I read this one for continuity. I really just wanted to skip to the third one but I thought this one might contain some development for those characters so I’d better read it so I didn’t miss anything. I liked Nick, twin brother of Gabriel, the Marquess of Ralston in Callie and Ralston’s book, I thought he was quite fun.

Whilst I admired Lady Isabel and what she was doing, I have to admit that I didn’t warm to her the way I did to Callie and to Juliana. Perhaps that was simply because of the way she had to be due to her position. She’s the daughter of an Earl who had gambled basically everything away (including her, many times) and left her impoverished, trying to keep a household going as well as raise her younger brother (now the actual Earl after the death of her father) without any funds. Nick happens on them whilst looking for something  and Lady Isabel sees a chance to get her marbles (statues) valued as he’s a well known antiquity expert. She’s unaware that Nick is looking for something that she’s hiding and this…well it plays out for a looong part of the book. Nick wanting her to trust him with her situation so he could help but Lady Isabel believing that he would betray her or make things very difficult for her or others.

This one was just okay, an easy read but didn’t love it.

6/10

Book #49 of 2016

Eleven Scandals To Start To Win A Duke’s Heart (Love By Numbers #3)
Sarah MacLean
Hachette Digital
2011, 385p
Purchased personal copy

Blurb {courtesy of the publisher/Goodreads.com}:

She lives for passion.

Bold, impulsive, and a magnet for trouble, Juliana Fiori is no simpering English miss. She refuses to play by society’s rules: she speaks her mind, cares nothing for the approval of the ton, and can throw a punch with remarkable accuracy. Her scandalous nature makes her a favorite subject of London’s most practiced gossips . . . and precisely the kind of woman the Duke of Leighton wants far far away from him.

He swears by reputation.

Scandal is the last thing Simon Pearson has room for in his well-ordered world. The Duke of Disdain is too focused on keeping his title untainted and his secrets unknown. But when he discovers Juliana hiding in his carriage late one evening – risking everything he holds dear – he swears to teach the reckless beauty a lesson in propriety. She has other plans, however; she wants two weeks to prove that even an unflappable duke is not above passion.

I was excited for this book from Juliana and Simon’s first interaction in the first book. They are utter opposites – Juliana has had an unusual upbringing and has come to England under a cloud of scandal that her brothers and sister-in-laws have attempted to smooth over with their social standing and connections. Simon has been raised as the eleventh Duke of Leighton, and has had duty and prestige and social standing rammed down his throat from the time he was born. He is icy politeness and correctness where as Juliana is fiery passion and free will. She likes doing what she pleases, not what she should as a young lady.

All of their interactions are so amazing – Juliana hasn’t been raised in London so there’s a lot she doesn’t understand about the social hierarchy and just who a Duke can (or will) and cannot (will not) marry. She’s all about the passion, she wants to experience things and she wastes no time telling Simon that she plans to bring him to his knees in the name of passion. He prides himself on his self-control and his correctness, the very upbringing that has been relentlessly drummed into him but he finds Juliana very hard to resist. He seeks her out (under the pretense of helping Ralston keep an eye on her) even when he should be doing something else. Simon knows that he must marry and marry extremely well in order to protect the family from a secret that will break sooner or later and cover them in scandal but Juliana makes it increasingly hard for him to do his dukely duty. He’s always known that his marriage would be a contract, a pairing of social equals. Love isn’t something that’s considered during a marriage in the ton and if it comes later, well it’s an added bonus. Juliana makes him want more even as he’s aware that it isn’t in his future. Unless he risks everything about the impeccable family name and sheds his entire upbringing of course!

I really loved this one – it lived up to all of my expectations.

9/10

Book #50 of 2016