Lawson’s review of Wicked Little Game by Christine Wells
Historical Romance published by Berkley Sensation 7 Jul 09
Original Review posted 7 Jul 09
If you’ve seen the movie “Indecent Proposal“, the first few chapters of this book are going to seem a bit familiar. When I read the excerpt, I wanted to read this book to see how Wells would work things out. Just the idea of a man wanting to pay an overly large amount of money to spend the night with another man’s wife is an intriguing concept. What happens after the night is over is where this story diverges from Hollywood.
Lucas Morrow, Marquis of Vane, has been lusting after Lady Sarah Cole for a number of years. Though she’d rebuffed his offer years ago, that never stopped him from wanting her. One night he’s at a disreputable establishment when Sarah’s husband comes to him with an offer: Ten thousand pounds for one night with his wife. Vane is horrified that any man would treat his wife that way and leaves in disgust.
When Sarah arrives at his townhouse later that night, he’s shocked and does his best to be a gentleman in the face of her obvious distress. What transpires is magical and passionate to Vane, but he can see in the morning that Sarah has regretted what happened. Sarah does her best to distance herself from Vane after a wonderful night and runs home to find her husband murdered. There’s only one choice that Sarah has: marry Vane or face ruin for the rest of her life.
There’s, of course, more going on than meets the eye. With Brinsley Cole’s death, Sarah is the prime suspect first, as he was her husband, and then Vane, as his carriage conveyed Sarah home the night of the murder. Since Sarah’s father is a prominent politician, there’s a small government cover-up to make sure there’s no scandal. Through all this Sarah is desperately seeking Brinsley’s illegitimate child, because she’s barren and it’s a last ditch effort to exercise her maternal instincts.
Sarah is such a sympathetic character in the beginning. She obviously wants to do right by the child, Tom, since she’s never had any children of her own. When her husband tells her of the proposal, and a skewed and completely untrue retelling at that, she wants to confront Vane. The next morning and for the rest of the book Sarah just spirals downward into self-pity, wrapping her pride and martyrdom around her and never seems to let it go until it’s almost too late. Her moment of realization leads her to do a 180 and doesn’t ring true with the way she’d been portrayed for the rest of the book.
With Sarah the way she is, it’s amazing that Vane sees anything worthwhile in what she does. He’s loving, caring, supportive, and does his best to make her happy. When she rejects all of that time and again and can’t face facts, he acts in the best way possible. Is it hurtful? Yes, but if he really wants to keep her, he has to shock her to get her to face reality, rather than her selfish inclinations disguised as good deeds.
The murder seems to be thrown in so that the marriage could take place rather than as a valid event that propelled the plot. It provided another reason for Sarah to try to play the martyr rather than trying to move on with her life. The murder also forced her to go back to her parents and apologize about running off with an unsuitable man (and he is really unsuitable, though it doesn’t come about until much later).
Sarah, in fact, has to face a lot of facts and truths that she didn’t acknowledge before. Through it all, that martyrdom and pride is what she clings to rather than anything that Vane may offer. If she had been a bit more open to the turn her life had taken rather than thinking she needed to be constantly punished for running off at the age of 17. Her constant judgment of herself as well as others doesn’t make the romance seem believable and Vane suffers for it, as he’s a superb leading man.
Grade: C+
Summary:
“You want my wife. You always have…”
For years, the Marquis of Vane has hungered for Lady Sarah from afar, watching the beauty brave a cruel marriage. When Sarah’s wastrel husband makes Vane a shocking proposal – one night with Sarah for 10,000 pounds – the temptation is almost too great. Tricked by her husband into fulfilling his wicked bargain, Sarah can’t refuse a night of exquisite pleasure with the devastating man who haunts her dreams. But neither she nor Vane imagined their passionate encounter would set the stage for murder, or that a deadly twist of fate could spell a love to last all time…
Read an excerpt
