I've fell in love with Delle Jacobs's writing ever since I've read her Loki's Daughters (a viking romance) so when I got a whiff that one of her books went on promotion on Amazon's Kindle for only 99c I was quick to snap it up! This book is Lady Wicked and I recommend, no I tell you to go and get it if you like Regency romance! It won't stay that cheap for very long!
When the Ton's most infamous rake, Thomas Steynes, Viscount Savoury, is forced to retreat to his ancient, abandoned, family manor to redeem his wasted life, he comes upon a woman being tormented by village boys. Rushing to the rescue, he discovers his damsel in distress is instead the viper-tongued harpy who hates him more than anyone else on earth.
Cast aside by her violent husband, the last thing Davina, Lady Wyckham, needs is an irkingly handsome knight in tarnished armor hell bent to rescue her. After her brutal marriage, all she wants is to be left alone, to support herself raising herbs to sell to apothecaries. As if she weren't ruined enough, Savoury's attention can only bring more disaster.
Despite their intentions, true friendship and trust grow between them, and the attraction they had long denied begins to deepen. But behind their backs lurks a dark mystery that threatens them both. Only by uncovering and thwarting the sinister plot can they have a chance for survival and love.
Cast aside by her violent husband, the last thing Davina, Lady Wyckham, needs is an irkingly handsome knight in tarnished armor hell bent to rescue her. After her brutal marriage, all she wants is to be left alone, to support herself raising herbs to sell to apothecaries. As if she weren't ruined enough, Savoury's attention can only bring more disaster.
Despite their intentions, true friendship and trust grow between them, and the attraction they had long denied begins to deepen. But behind their backs lurks a dark mystery that threatens them both. Only by uncovering and thwarting the sinister plot can they have a chance for survival and love.
~*~*~*~*~
I am not a big fan of Regency romances, about the only thing that appeals to me from that time is the fashion. But I am a fan of Delle Jackobs and good deals, so as soon as she posted on her blog that this book is 99c I had to pick it up. However when I started reading it, I was hooked. And I was hooked not only because it was a good romance novel, but also because it satisfied my women studies cravings, in a romance novel!
The main character is cast away by her husband and wrongly accused of adultery, which at that time meant a complete and total ruin for the woman. Regardless of her being accused falsely or not, a woman during Regency could not even go to court to speak for herself. The husband on the other hand, has all the rights to divorce his wife and probably (have to check my books on that) keep her dowry. And if he gets accused of adultery, all he would get is a slap on the hands. But enough of the history lesson, lets just say women in England during this time did not even dream about gender equality becoming possible.
So Davina gets accused of adultery, but her desire to get away from her abusive husband is so strong that she happily accepts near starvation and the social stigma just to be free from him. Enter Viscount Savoury, who apparently had a thing for Davina before she got married but because this is a romance novel, there was a misunderstanding between them and they end up "hating" each other. One thing I love about Delle's books is that her characters always work out their misunderstandings, and not at the end of the book either. Lady Wicked is not an exception. Davina and Thomas figure out that hey, maybe they were wrong about each other and set out to figure out what to do about Davina's crazy husband.
The story flows amazingly, and the romance is very believable. I also love the secondary characters, good and "bad" (reformed) ones because they add to the general greatness of the story. Here Delle Jacobs also touches on another kind of discrimination, the one towards people with mental disabilities. My heart went out to Jimmy and his struggle to find work and just fit in the same way my heart went out to Davina and her struggle to survive under the stigma of adulteress.
Overall it is a great book and I recommend it to all Regency romances lovers as well as women studies AND romance lovers (like me). In this book you will get a great dose of romance in addition of subtle (and not so subtle) attention to the discriminations and injustices that women faced and some ways on how they got around them.
5 out of 5
P.S. I wanted to punch Viscount Savoury at the beginning for all his talk about hiding Davina away in his "castle" and protecting her from the world, and how inappropriate it was for a lady to walk, blah blah blah. This is the type of thinking that made it so hard for women to be equal with men then.
~ Lyuba
