Review of Sarah MacLean's Regency romance, Wicked and the Wallflower: What is wicked, anyway?

 

A couple of weeks ago I reviewed Sarah MacLean's Regency romance Brazen and the Beast and said that I couldn't wait to read more of her books.  And I didn't!  Brazen and the Beast is the second book in the Bareknuckle Bastards series. I just finished Wicked and the Wallflower, the first in the series.  

Wicked was not quite as charming as Brazen.  The characters were not as well-developed, for one.  Felicity, the wallflower of the title, has little personality beyond a penchant for picking locks -- a hobby with no backstory.  When did she first begin to pick locks?  Why?  How did she learn?  She mentions that her family knows she does this and doesn't approve.  How do they know?  How do they express their disapproval?

My real issue with the book was Devil/Devon, the Wicked of the title. With his brother Beast from Brazen and the Beast, Devil runs an underground smuggling empire that has made them very, very rich.  How rich?  We are told rich enough to buy all of the real estate in the part of London where the fashionable people live.  I'm going to set aside the idea that their extremely work-intensive smuggling operation, in which they seem to be selling one bottle of brandy packed in ice at a time, is unlikely to be so lucrative.  Let's accept that they are the Jeff Bezoses of their time.  They are always bragging about bringing good jobs to the slum of Covent Garden. That's great, as far as it goes.  But instead of amassing huge wealth built on the backs of their apparently blindly loyal employees (who they occasionally kill or at least beat up), couldn't they spread the money around a bit more?  Raise wages?  Build some decent housing for low income people?  Maybe a playground or park or two?  

That said, I did enjoy this book.  I look forward to reading the next installment of the series, about a third brother who inherited a title by betraying the others and has regretted it ever since. 

 

 

Note from Jasmine Gold: As the name of this blog indicates, I write erotica. Check out my dark, dystopian novel about naked sex slaves, Mindgames. Your darkest fantasies, with a phenomenal plot and characters you will come to think of as beloved friends. Available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited  and in paperback.  Or read my book of short stories about hot, consensual sex, The Mature Woman's Guide to Desire, available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.

Review of Bridgerton, Season 2

 

 

Spoilers in this review.

 

The beauty of Season 1 of Bridgerton was that it was so unexpected.  My kids had given me a rare treat on Christmas day a couple of years ago -- I got to choose what we would watch on TV.  When I turned on Netflix and saw there was a Regency romance I think I actually squealed with joy.  And then I refused to give up the clicker for the rest of the day.  My kids drifted away, passing through the living room only to cover their eyes on their way to the kitchen.   

Season 2 was entirely expected and for that reason alone watching it was a calmer experience.  The plot is also more sedate than Season 1.  It took me a couple of weeks to watch it the entire season.  But that allowed me to savor it more.

Like Season 1, the plot is charming, the costumes beautiful, the cinematography lovely.  While I was not entirely convinced by the love story between Anthony (the Bridgerton of the title) and Kate, which seemed to be based more on animal attraction than affection, it was very fun to watch.  I appreciated that Kate's sister Edwina, who Anthony had originally proposed to, went through appropriate stages of ingenue, brat, and older but wiser.  And their sponsor, Lady Danbury, played by Adjoa Andoh, stole the screen every time she appeared.

I enjoyed the subplots and can't wait for Pen -- the Hollywood ugly (she's zaftig and is forced to wear yellow, which actually looks fantastic on her) young woman who writes a gossip rag under a pen name -- to get her own season.  

My major quibble with this season is that Kate and Edwina's upbringing in India, and cultural differences that would come with that, are non-existent beyond Kate's preference for Indian tea.  Their home city (Bombay, maybe?  I can't remember because it doesn't matter) appears to be London's twin.  

My minor quibble is that all the adult Bridgerton brothers look exactly alike.  About three episodes in I was usually able to distinguish Anthony from the others.  But as for the one who paints, and the one who went abroad and takes snuff (or is that the one who paints?) -- I have absolutely no clue how to tell them apart.  

Overall I loved this show.  I hope Netflix survives long enough to bring us Season 3.  

Note from Jasmine Gold: As the name of this blog indicates, I write erotica. Check out my dark, dystopian novel about naked sex slaves, Mindgames. Your darkest fantasies, with a phenomenal plot and characters you will come to think of as beloved friends. Available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited  and in paperback.  Or read my book of short stories about hot, consensual sex, The Mature Woman's Guide to Desire, available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.

 

Review of very fun Regency romance Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean

 

 It's been a minute since I've read a Regency romance.  I've been distracted by serious books, about politics (there was salary discrimination against women in the 1990s), and Western civilization (our culture is now dominant because the Catholic church banned cousin marriage, which made clans less powerful and larger institutions more powerful), and waking up in a different body every day (this one, which I did not enjoy as much as this one).  So I was ready for some fun.  Brazen and the Beast, by Sarah MacLean, absolutely delivered.  

The book opens with heroine Hattie going to a male brothel (why is there not a better word for that?) to divest herself of her virginity so she will be ruined and her father will stop assuming that she will someday marry.  

This brothel sounds like heaven for the women who frequent it.  I hope the employees are treated well.  We never get to find out because Hattie's interlude is interrupted by our hero Whit, aka Beast, who offers to do the honors.  

At the beginning of this scene I was thinking, wouldn't it be nice if Hattie loses her virginity to the gigolo picked out to her specifications by the very, very competent madam, and has a great time.  Then, when romance blooms with Beast she's bringing some experience to the table.  But MacLean wrote the interaction between Hattie and Beast so well that I had a foolish grin on my face the whole time I was reading it.  It was kind of perfect. (Spoiler: it took a few more tries for Hattie to part with her virginity -- and when she did light bondage was involved.)

As in so many Regency romances, Hattie is an anachronism -- an upper class career woman who is very good at her job and wants to run her own shipping conglomerate.  And Beast -- well, he's so secure in his alpha maleness that he's incredibly supportive of that goal.  Not to mention totally hot.  And very, very in to making sure that sex is not just consensual but absolutely welcome.  I think I love him.  I know that I love Sarah MacLean.  I can't wait to read more of her books. 

 

Note from Jasmine Gold: As the name of this blog indicates, I write erotica. Check out my dark, dystopian novel about naked sex slaves, Mindgames. Your darkest fantasies, with a phenomenal plot and characters you will come to think of as beloved friends. Available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited  and in paperback.  Or read my book of short stories about hot, consensual sex, The Mature Woman's Guide to Desire, available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.