His Wicked Promise Book

1.75 stars

I found this so weak. This book had me feeling all kinds of up and down that I'm not even sure how to rate this, the urge to give this a 1 star is strong. The first half I wanted to strangle the heroine. Glenda was cold, unreasonable, selfish and a complete shrew. The author for some reason wanted to write a grieving widow in the depths of debilitating mourning over her husband and newborn child and make it deliverable as a romantic lead. Like...seriously? Not the best time frame. A woman sobbing and crying over her dead husband (after 3 years) does not make for great romantic angst. It's a set up for misery. Especially when it takes up more than half of the story. 😕 In the second half it was the hero's turn to be an insufferable uninspiring ass. Egan was a stubborn, selfish, unfeeling jerk whose reactions to certain things were so misfired, mean, confusing AF and underwhelming that it just undermined the supposed love and yearning these two kept fighting to tamp down. For one, you supposedly have been secretly in love with this woman for years and pining away for her, so then how about don't mindlessly flirt with a servant girl and kiss her on the lips to "make her feel better" in front of your wife. Seriously dude?


And second:
"No!" she screeched. "You will not do this!" She raised her fists high to pummel him. Once again she failed. He caught her wrists and jammed them against her sides. He wedged his weight between her thighs and ground himself against her; Glenda was suddenly certain he did not care that her woman's flesh was still swollen and tender and healing from the rigors of childbirth. He panted against her throat. "You're mine'"
"Nay, Simon, she's mine, and I grow weary of this battle. What say we settle this here and now?"
That voice, coolly imperious…It was Egan! Even as joy bounded high, she wondered how he had delivered himself so silently that neither she nor Simon had heard him.
Your wife is 2 seconds away from. getting. raped. by your enemy and THIS is your reaction? You grow weary of this battle?

His complete lack of urgency & emotions when it came to the woman he supposedly loved from afar for years wasn't really a great selling point. I just didn't understand this guy at all. I was expecting a brooding quiet gruff hero who gets all tender, soft and protective AF whenever he is around the object of his affection. Not this nonsense. It just made everything fall flat. And I'm not even going to touch on the extremely purple prose and heavy handed exclamations! in the dialogue. It made the characters come off more 2 dimensional than anything. So yeah this had all kinds of potential of a yummy angsty story, instead it flopped. Badly.