To Wed A Wicked Earlby Olivia Parkerreviewed by Cybil SolynSeptember 2009, 384 pages, Publisher: Avon, ISBN: 0061712787 Back Cover Blurb: Adam Faramond, Earl of Rothbury, needs to find a wife - immediately! - or his beloved grandmother will leave him penniless. But Adam, an unrepentant rake, would reform for only one woman, the woman he's lusted after - and loved - for years. It's rather unfortunate, then, that Miss Charlotte Greene would never consent to be the blushing bride of a rogue . . . or so he thinks.
Charlotte believes that the earl, the only man whose touch leaves her trembling, would never want a woman like her. Weary of her wallflower ways, Charlotte decides that a friendship with the earl just might give her the excitement she desires. Keeping their true feelings hidden, she and Adam plan a sham ceremony to placate the dowager. But when the "marriage of convenience" takes an unexpected turn, will Charlotte and her wicked earl finally reveal their irresistible, unforgettable love - and delight in a lifetime of passion?
Olivia Parker surprised me with her debut book At the Bride Hunt Ball where she took the premise of reality TV and put it in Regency context. I was excited to read her next book, but I wasn't prepared to be so enamored of it and of our hero Lord Rothbury.
Miss Charlotte Greene is a shy wallflower who loved and lost the man she has been infatuated with for the past six years. But she hasn't given up yet. Deciding to befriend his best friend and renowned Rakehell, Lord Rothbury, she hatches a plan to win back her love by making him jealous. What Charlotte doesn't know is that Lord Rothbury has loved Charlotte from afar and plans on using this newfound friendship to prove to Charlotte that he's the man she wants, not his fickle friend.
Look out ladies because this book has one of the hottest rakes I've read in a long while. He's sexy. He's powerful. He's rich. He's titled. Oh, and he's been hiding his love for a wallflower for six years now. It takes a special kind of hero to give me butterflies in my stomach and Lord Rothbury makes the list. His hidden desire and love for Charlotte is the stuff of every girl's dreams. He loves her for all her quirks an oddities. He loves her just as she is and wouldn't change a thing.
Both Charlotte and Rothbury have a rocky relationship based on hidden feelings, fear, and miscommunications. But I felt this was all well written. Unlike many books that use the Big Misunderstanding as a plot device, the relationship problems hold true. I could very easily understand how two people who have formed their own opinions about the other person's feelings would miss signs of what was really going on. Parker did an excellent job portraying a realistic relationship with real problems.
Best of all though, is the reformation of our Rakehell hero Rothbury. His deeply rooted need to sin and be wicked is simple and honest without any major complexities. Once you know his back story you understand why he is who he is, and that the Rakehell persona has always been a facade for the sweet, tender man he can only be with someone as sweet and honest as Charlotte. The same things that make her a wallflower are what make her the only one who Rothbury can love.
The sexual tension was fantastic! It's so rare these days for our hero and heroine not to just jump into bed with one another, or - even worse - not jump into bed with one another but have next to no sexual tension. As I said before, I had butterflies in my tummy on more than one occasion while reading this book. Parker knew just what buttons to push. I was so wrapped up by the two characters that I was experiencing all the symptoms of new love along with them. You know the part where you are all jittery and hypersensitive and just the thought of the other person gets you hot and bothered? It was wonderful and made the characters finally getting together extra special.
Bottom Line: You'd be foolish to miss this book!
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Cybil Solyn, csolyn@rakehell.com
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