His Wicked Reputation (Wicked Trilogy Book 1)

"His air and manner, the very way he sat on that horse, announced he would be nothing but trouble for a woman." FINAL DECISION: I absolutely loved this book. The relationship feels natural and well written. The mystery was intriguing and integral to the story without overwhelming the romance. The characters are fun and survivors and very wicked. THE STORY: Gareth Fitzallen is the bastard son of a duke. He has a good relationship with two of his half brothers and upon the death of the heir, the remaining brothers are allowed to resume their relationship and draw closer to one another. Gareth's lawyer brother Ives asks for his assistance in uncovering some missing artwork. Traveling to the house that he inherited, Gareth encounters a local spinster, Eva Russell, who intrigues him. As Gareth is drawn deeper into a relationship with Eva, what he doesn't know is that she may hold the clue to uncovering the missing artwork. OPINION: I loved the humor and sexiness of this book. Often books with wicked in the title fail to live up to that designation. Gareth is shown from the beginning to have wicked tendencies (along with his brothers) and thus the name is well placed. He is also a very good man. HIs relationship with Eva always comes from a position of equality. The two become involved with one another, but they are adults about their relationship. I loved how Gareth is confused by his reaction to Eva as he is unable to place her into a neat category in his life. There is great sensuality and humor in this book even as the mystery works its way out. This book is incredibly well paced and the pages turn effortlessly. I look forward to reading about the other brothers because they are intriguing characters themselves. WORTH MENTIONING: I absolutely loved the relationship between the three brothers who are the heroes in the three books in this trilogy. Funny and loving and very masculine, these brothers have a special relationship with one another that was enjoyable to read. CONNECTED BOOKS: HIS WICKED REPUTATION is the first book in the Wicked Trilogy. STAR RATING: I give this book 4.5 stars.

The plot was interesting, and the characters well drawn. This is part of a series, and continues in another book with different H/h. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed this story of Gareth and Eva. Both are on the fringes of society, although of good families. Gareth is an acknowledged bastard of a duke, and Eva is on the lower echelons of gentrified society, painting reproductions of paintings to maintain her and her younger sister, after the death of their only brother. The story unfolds giving bits and pieces of intrigue and the passion develops between Eva and Gareth. Eva has the sole responsibility of raising her younger sister, who is beautiful and could make a good match, if there were funds for a season, much less a dowry. Eva is an artist, who upon discovering paintings hidden in an abandoned estate, borrows them and copies them. She sells them for a small sum, but that helps keep them going. Enter Gareth, who has inherited an estate from his father, and arrives to put it in order, and to solve the mystery behind where a large number of valuable paintings have disappeared. The two meet and become involved. The story has twists and turns, which make it interesting, but the romance is stressed by the difficulties Eva and Gareth each face. Of course, love conquers all. How it does made a wonderful afternoon spent reading their story.

Honestly, after reading the first chapter, I wasn't sure I was going to like this book. But I continued on and I am very glad I did! Gareth is the bastard son of a Duke. His father passed away and left him some property, his brother the current Duke has been contesting the will for the last few years, thus leaving Gareth in limbo. Now Percy has also passed away under mysterious circumstances and Gareth returns to England He has two other half brothers Lance, the new Duke and prime suspect in Percy's demise and Ives, the barrister. Ives has been asked by the crown to find a lost treasure but he has his hands full keeping Lance in line and asked Gareth to look into the matter for him and in exchange he will convince Lance to drop the suit that Percy started and Gareth will finally get his property. He agrees and the fun begins! Eva and her sister live close to the property Gareth inherited and they meet quite by accident. She is in the process of "borrowing" something from Gareth's estate when they meet for the first time. I don't want to give too much away - but this story is one of the best MH books I have ever read. It is well written, has a hero to sigh over, a smart heroine, a great mystery, secrets, witty banter and some super hot love scenes. The secondary characters are all entertaining and likable. And it has a very unique marriage proposal :) I really loved this book and cannot wait for Ives story to be released! I highly recommend this book.

Ah why are the blurbs so interesting and the books utterly awful ? The premise of the story ( the mystery) is wonderful but the writing is a total miss. Normally enjoy Madeline Hunter but this was painful.

I think MD has some good ideas and characters, but I do have to wonder why she chooses the Regency Period in England for her stories. At no point did I feel the characters were in any way in olde England or English, because their language and behaviour were more modern American. Please, MD, stop starting sentences with ‘Hell’. That would help a lot. Maybe you could read one or two books from that particular era? She obviously knows a lot about the style, however, and her plots are quite exciting.

Not as solid as her usual fare, the impropriety of the impoverished gentlewoman heroine embarking on a spontaneous affair with the hero, acknowledged natural ducal son, bothered me far more than it did the heroine, who never hesitated or questioned its wisdom, effect on her sister's chances of making an appropriate match, or that she might end up pregnant, alone and still poor. They were not even being very subtle about their going-ons, indicating their amorous intents in front of family. He did not appear too overtly concerned about protecting her reputation and good name and future either, until the very end when he then decided to make an honest woman out of her. There should be at least some internal moral struggle experienced by either or both. I understand he was wicked from the start, but she was appropriately prudish in the beginning and outraged at her sister's suggestion of them becoming courtesans and a staunch defender of what she saw as the corruption of her sister's innocent mind by the two Neville sisters. Her incongruous subsequent behaviour just marred the story for me.

I always look forward to Madeline Hunter's books but I have to admit that I was a bit leery after the disappointment of 'The Accidental Duchess'. Fortunately, this one represents a return to form. While it is not as good as her medievals, the story is fun, and the characters are generally engaging. My only real quarrels with it were that the plot seems to end with a whimper rather than a bang, and I would have liked to have seen more of the secondary characters (hopefully at least the Neville sisters will return in the subsequent volumes).

Madeline Hunter is at the top along with very few others in her writing in this genre. Her books are a pleasure to read not just because they are entertaining, but because they are rich with history and details of life at the time. Eva Russell is an impoverished gentlewoman who meets the illegitimate son of a duke who has moved into a house not far from hers in the country. She is earning a small income from copying paintings borrowed from the house that the duke's son moved into. They gradually get to know one another while at the same time he is investigating some missing art. The story is interesting and the characters well fleshed out. I admire her for her attempts to avoid Americanisms: she does slip on occasion but I forgive her because she obviously works very hard to avoid doing that. A very good read.