Fair warning: I read maybe 25% of this book before putting it down. The reason I didn't go 1-star is because it wasn't plain awful and there was no hard put-down moment. (By which I mean an absolute dealbreaker, such as a rape.) Instead, I gradually came to realize that the premise was absurd, the characters unlikable, and that there was nor could there ever be (thanks to the setup) any chemistry between these two character. The book opens with the hero going to a ball with the express purpose of finding a new mistress. Fine. But he does nothing towards that end. Instead, he chats with a couple of buddies, spots the heroine for a moment, goes outside to smoke, sees some boys up to no good, and leaves. He proceeds to take it upon himself to inform the heroine that her teenaged stepson is misbehaving and gets caught up in a whopper of a lie when the villain coincidentally walks in at just that moment -- the villain being the boy's legal guardian who has come to take him away from his loving stepmother. She panics and says they're going to get married. Hmmm. I've read similar fake marriage scenarios before. Heck, it was in the blurb so I knew it was coming. So that's not the moment I set things down, although I did find this particular fake marriage more dubious than usual and since I'm willing to suspend a great deal of disbelief, that's saying something.What follows are some stolen kisses and some strong-arming on the part of the hero to take the stepson in hand. And here's where/why I put it down: I cannot figure out what the hero's stake is in all this. Why would he keep pursuing an uninterested woman? Why would he care about the actions of one teenager? Why would he think he could manage the boy? I understood her side of things a *little* better -- she loved her stepson and was desperate to keep him. But even so nothing but lust was driving the plot, and not even OVERWHELMING LUST. It was frankly UNDERWHELMING LUST, which is not something I've said about a book before. :) Bottom line: NO chemistry at all, and because I didn't even buy the reason for these two to cross paths in the first place, I didn't see how the situation would improve and didn't care to find out. There are too many books in the world! The title is pretty misleading. After all, Bell isn't really wicked; in fact, he's rather noble and actually a really good guy. Yes, he likes the ladies, and yes he starts off the book looking for a mistress, but that seems pretty par for the course with men of the ton, no? While at first I didn't really like Laura, she grew on me and by the end of the book I was really looking forward to them getting together. I normally hate books where a pregnancy makes the hero come up to snuff, but in this case I think it worked given how he never wanted a family. I felt like the ending was rather abrupt, however, and would have liked more around the revelation and the ultimate conclusion. It all seemed a little quick after it took so long for them to get there. Regarding the writing of the story ... at times (okay, a lot of times) I found the actual prose and descriptions rudimentary. He did this, then she did this, then he did this. There was a lot of telling us what the characters were doing, and it didn't seem like very nuanced writing. One scene in particular that drove me mad was toward the beginning when Bell smoked three cheroots in a row. I wish an editor had paid more attention to this type of writing throughout the book. On the flip side, one thing I did appreciate was how at the beginning of every chapter the author told us how much time had elapsed between scenes. It made the pacing feel like things were unfolding in real time, versus some romances where it seems like they meet, fall in love, have drama, and get married all within a week's time.
What do You think about What A Wicked Earl Wants (2013)?
Very slow towards the end and then too quickly resolved but the characters were endearing.
—Mano
Loved Andrew and Laura as well as the minor characters.
—Caro
