Lawson’s review of Wicked as Sin (Boscastle Series) by Jillian Hunter (no author site found)
Historical Romance released by Ballantine 24 Jun 08
This is one in the many Boscastle family stories. I remember reading a couple of the first of the series, so it was like stepping into a Soap Opera after a year or so absence. There are characters there that I recognize and a new set for the romance to come along. Throw in some intrigue, a thief in London and a couple of other things and it plays well into Hunter’s Boscastle family.
Sir Gabriel Boscastle is rather restless after coming home from the war. He entertains himself by gambling and winning things he really doesn’t want. One of these thing is Helbourne Hall, in the town where he spent his childhood. Gabriel plans to go to the Hall and see if it is good enough to sell then head back to London. What he doesn’t realize is his neighbor next door, Lady Althea Claridge, and the rest of the town, want him to stay.
Helbourne Hall is full of tricksters, drunks and thieves and how they got hired as servants is explained by the curse on the Hall and the Hall having 3 previous owners in the past two years. Those masters didn’t stay and the servants ended up doing what they wanted. Gabriel stays to clean up the Hall, but more so that he can be near Althea, since she had been kind to him in his wild youth.
The path to true love, of course doesn’t run smooth. Althea isn’t married, though she’s well on the shelf, is the fact that it’s assumed that she’s pining for her lost love who died at Waterloo. It’s actually because he raped her the night she left and she feels she can’t ever make any man a good wife. The fact that these thoughts of hers get repeated over and over just make her seem more pitiful. She’s ready to be Gabriel’s mistress, but she doesn’t want to be his wife due to the shame she feels.
Gabriel’s no better with his idea of his wild ways and vices repeated over and over. The country view of London the town and Althea have make him think that his life as a Regency gentleman isn’t what he should have. It’s a rather conservative, the country is better than the wild city, point of view that I didn’t really like. It really was a fear of Althea to leave her home and go back to a life where she had been abused, but unfortunately that idea was overshadowed by the first.
As much as Althea’s problem was over repeated, it’s hard not to sympathize with a woman who’s been raped. How she feels about herself and hiding would be a natural response of anyone and the care Gabriel takes with her, even though he doesn’t know, is admirable and helps the story rise above the mire of the repetition of the hero and heroine’s issues.
The next story is started at the end of this one, and so the Boscastle family adventures continue on, with more appearances by the many cousins to come.
Grade: C-
Handsome cavalry officer Sir Gabriel Boscastle returns from Waterloo a hero, only to resume his pursuit of forbidden pleasures in London. There is no bet this cynical gentleman will not take–and no woman he cannot seduce. But when he travels to the country manor he wins during a card game, he discovers there is one gamble he has never risked and that he may have met his match. His opponent and neighbor is none other than Alethea Claridge, the only person who stood by him during his wildest years and the only woman ever to captivate his heart.
The beautiful and solitary Lady Alethea is seemingly still mourning for her fiancé, who died in battle. But beneath her shield of feigned sorrow, she hides an unspeakable secret–one that could destroy her reputation forever. So when this dark horseman thunders back into her life one night, she is understandably wary of him. She had defended Gabriel once when he was a wicked boy. But now, as a beguiling man, he makes his sensual desires well known even as he swears he will reform. Will the irresistible scoundrel redeem himself and restore her trust in love or ruin her completely? She will soon have her answer as Gabriel challenges everything she believes about love, about herself, and about what it takes to be a hero.
Excerpt (click on book cover).
