My review of regency romance Her Wicked Marquess by Stacy Reid

 

 

Major spoilers in this review for The Count of Monte Cristo and minor spoilers for Her Wicked Marquess.  

 

Regency romance Her Wicked Marquess by Stacy Reid is like The Count of Monte Cristo from the point of view of Haydee.  This is both its strength and its weakness.  The Count of Monte Cristo is, in my opinion, one of the best adventure stories ever written.  It follows the  titular count as he secretly wreaks revenge on the people who wronged him when he was a youth.  At least in the abridged version I read (in this link), which I am told by people who know such things is both the best English translation and the best abridgment  -- Haydee is a fairly minor character who becomes very important on the last page.  

Her Wicked Marquess follows the adventures of Nicolas St. Ives as he wreaks revenge on people who wronged a close friend years earlier.  He meets Maryann Fitzwilliam as he is at the point of ruining the lives of the last of his victims.  Like the Count of Monte Cristo, he relies on many talents, from cat burglary to an intricate knowledge of finances, to carry out his quest.  Although the book gets a bit bogged down in the abundant sexual positions he explores with Maryann in the last third or so, it is great fun to read about his complex machinations.

At the end of the day, though, Nicolas is a vigilante serial killer.  Oh, not all his victims die -- some are merely turned into shells of their former selves.  But he acts as the police detective, district attorney, judge, jury, and executioner.  The book explains over and over again that his victims are so powerful that they will never be prosecuted by the state for their crimes, so it's okay that Nicolas takes it upon himself.  

That all makes for a good story, but I have to question Maryann's judgment, and her long-term safety.  She is completely fine with Nicolas's actions -- until they threaten someone close to her, and even then she's not really that upset.  Nicolas is a sociopath, and it seems not entirely unlikely that someday Maryann will look at him cross-eyed and then he'll set his sights on her.  Another chapter and this book could be a thriller rather than a romance.  

 

 

My review of romance book The Dating Plan by Sara Desai

 

The Dating Plan by Sara Desai is a charming romance set in a full world.  Both love interests, Daisy and Liam, have more than one friend and more than one relative, a rarity in contemporary romance.  Although some of the side characters are a bit stock (like an aunt whose only characteristic is that she makes wacky, terrible food), many of them are almost as developed as Daisy and Liam.

The plot fits into the standard trope of fake fiancees to hot sex to true love.  Not much to say about that.  

Because I'm me, I'm going to nitpick.

Daisy reminded me of Stella from Helen Hoang's The Kiss Quotient.   They are both brilliant, introverted computer engineers with underdeveloped personal lives.  Stella is on the autism spectrum, and although Desai never says so expressly Daisy seems to be as well. It doesn't really matter, of course.  

What does matter is:  Why does Daisy's boss take her, a back office programmer, to pitch meetings to get funding for the company?   What is this thing about Daisy teaching a dance class, which is mentioned sometimes but never goes anywhere?  Why is Daisy's mother so awful? 

As for Liam -- his story is that he comes from a dysfunctional family with whom he has little contact.  We know this because he says this over and over again -- to members of the family with whom he claims he has little contact.  Like his cousin he sees constantly and is good friends with because the cousin owns the bar Liam goes to all the time.  Or his brother, the father of the nephew Liam adores and whose life he is a big part of. 

Liam's father was abusive.  This is just something that hangs in the story.  Liam was very close to his grandfather before he died, and it comes up a few times that the grandfather preferred Liam over Liam's father.  But the abuse piece is never explained.  Adults generally don't just become fully formed wife and child abusers.  They learned it somewhere, typically in their own families when they were growing up.  Did Liam's grandfather abuse Liam's father?  There's no hint of that anywhere, or of abuse anywhere else in Liam's extended family.

My (completely uninformed) sense is that a realistically estranged, dysfunctional family is so outside of Desai's experience that she simply cannot imagine what it's like.  That leaves some holes in the plot of The Dating Plan, but it's still a good read. 

Help a writer out

 

Here's an easy way to support a writer:  If you're buying something on Amazon (does not need to be my book), enter Amazon through my link.  If three people do this then I'm an "Amazon associate" and get a small percentage of sales.  Not enough for a cup of coffee or anything -- but I don't drink coffee so that's okay.

Here's the link to my book Mindgames.  

Romance Novel Happy Endings by Thien-Kim Lam has a not-so-happy ending

 

Spoilers in this review.  

Happy Endings by Thien-Kim Lam is a lovely romance novel in which heroine Trixie Nguyen gets over her horrible ex-boyfriend, narcissistic man-child Andre Walker, by going to therapy to work out issues she carries from her emotionally abusive family, and moves on to a fulfilling relationship with a man worthy of her.

Just kidding.  Happy Endings is a psychological thriller in which Trixie is tortured by Andre throughout the book until she finally has to murder him to escape his clutches.

Just kidding again.  Trixie gets back together with Andre and we're apparently supposed to be happy for her.

Prior to the action in the book, Trixie and Andre had dated for two years.  We don't learn much about this past relationship except that they lived together and had amazing sex until Andre dumped Trixie via post-it note and disappeared, leaving Trixie heartbroken.  

They meet again by chance.  Rather than kicking him in the balls and screaming "fuck you!" at Andre, for some unexplained reason Trixie suggests a friends-with-benefits relationship.  Andre pretends to go along with that, all the while secretly plotting to worm his way back in to Trixie's life.  He treats her horribly.  He tells her that she has to choose between him and her burgeoning sex toy business.  He tries to sabotage a fantastic opportunity she finds to rent a storefront.  He makes it seem like a huge concession when he allows her to take any sexual initiative.  He drops the bombshell on her that in their prior relationship he had gone to her disapproving father behind her back, which was what led to her family essentially disowning her.  He drunkenly interrupts an important sales meeting.  He age-shames her customers (but then so do all the other characters. Pro-tip:  Don't call a 70 year old woman an "old lady" to her face.)  He stalks her at the hospital where her father is dying and refuses to leave. In short, this guy is BAD NEWS. 

Andre has a knack for failing up.  He, along with his sister -- who he treats as badly as he treats Trixie -- inherit a restaurant from their mother.  (Another pro-tip:  If you own a restaurant, incorporate it.  That way, if you die with a lot of unpaid medical bills, those bills will be paid from the assets of your estate.  If the estate does not have enough assets to cover the bills, they do not need to be paid from future profits of the restaurant and bankrupt it.)  Andre refuses any innovations to the restaurant.  He refuses to allow his sister, who is taking business classes, in on the actual business of the restaurant.  He refuses to inform his sister (again, the co-owner of the restaurant) that the landlord has sold  the building where it is located.  He makes faltering and utterly unsuccessful efforts to buy the building.  He may or may not be responsible for the restaurant burning down.  He is rescued by a knight in shining armor, a childhood friend who has struck it rich in Silicon Valley, who buys the building and essentially gifts it to Andre.

In a better romance book, Trixie would date the childhood friend.  As it is, she seems destined for life of misery with Andre the monster.