A Hint of Wicked Book

A steady, slightly above-average historical mass-market debut from Haymore (who also writes erotic romances as Dawn Halliday). This looks to be the first of at least a Trilogy and the author leaves some storylines dangling so that they can be explored further in the next two books.

I have read two of the Dawn Halliday ebooks and for the most part enjoyed them but I am unsure whether I will continue reading this Regency trilogy as I have higher standards when reading historicals.

I didnt care for a lot of the writing decisions made in the book. This was a Love Triangle where the Losing Point (so to speak) was arguably the most vivid character in the book, which I think is a mistake. It made me NOT care about the more sedate, boring, thinly-drawn other characters and I didnt even particular LIKE the Losing Point Man. The "My Favorite Husband" situation could have been used to ratchet up the Angst but the author chose not too. The focus on the Triangle itself was diffused in the second half of the book with the manipulations of the one-dimensional villain. I wouldnt even call this a particularly STEAMY historical since I found most of the love scenes clinical and lacking in foreplay.

All this done in rather stilted prose that took me several days to wallow through.

Oh, almost forgot to mention: some more conventional readers might be offended by the Heroine's probably too modern open sexuality (like most historicals today, this IS a wallpaper one) and her actions with her two husbands but as a jaded, degenerate reader, I didnt have a problem with it :-)

Veteran romance readers would be aware that Mary Balogh's 1994 Victorian romance - Tangled - pretty much had exactly the same set-up as in AHOW. I much preferred how Balogh gave the messy situation much more angst and I even found the Balogh book HOTTER since the sex in TANGLED beautifully illustrated the growth in the principle relationship in classic Balogh fashion.

Grade: B-