His Wicked Reputation (Wicked Trilogy Book 1) Kindle Edition

This book was very bland and was a chore to finish. The writer spent a great deal of time laying the foundation for later books when se should have focused more on developing the story at hand and the relationship between the characters.I was turned off by the opening scene that found our hero in bed in an explicit embrace with his current lady love. Was that really necessary? What did that have to do with the story at hand? We know he had a wicked reputation, there was not need to go there. The reader would have picked that up from the far too many references made through the book..The romance between the Eva and Gareth did not work. Their too-soon-in-the narrative encounters were frequent and sexual, but not at all romantic. There was no tension or obstacles to their relationship. There was not inherent conflict. Just lots of sex with a mystery (more on that later) as a backdrop. I find that many writers in the genre inject a lot of sex when the story is lacking. Never more true than here.The mystery was week. When Gareth first met Eva, she was carrying something that should have been an unmistakable shape to someone in Gareth line of business. Yet, he did not recognize it or make connections to people and events that were hiding in plane sight. If the writer could not come up with a better mystery than this, why bother?This book is not indicative of Madeline Hunter's work. Her narrative, character development and story development and usually compelling, complex and a cut about most others in the genre. I guess even the best strikes out occasionally.

"His air and manner, the very way he sat on that horse, announced he would be nothing but trouble for a woman."FINAL DECISION: I absolutely loved this book. The relationship feels natural and well written. The mystery was intriguing and integral to the story without overwhelming the romance. The characters are fun and survivors and very wicked.THE STORY: Gareth Fitzallen is the bastard son of a duke. He has a good relationship with two of his half brothers and upon the death of the heir, the remaining brothers are allowed to resume their relationship and draw closer to one another. Gareth's lawyer brother Ives asks for his assistance in uncovering some missing artwork. Traveling to the house that he inherited, Gareth encounters a local spinster, Eva Russell, who intrigues him. As Gareth is drawn deeper into a relationship with Eva, what he doesn't know is that she may hold the clue to uncovering the missing artwork.OPINION: I loved the humor and sexiness of this book. Often books with wicked in the title fail to live up to that designation. Gareth is shown from the beginning to have wicked tendencies (along with his brothers) and thus the name is well placed. He is also a very good man. HIs relationship with Eva always comes from a position of equality. The two become involved with one another, but they are adults about their relationship. I loved how Gareth is confused by his reaction to Eva as he is unable to place her into a neat category in his life. There is great sensuality and humor in this book even as the mystery works its way out. This book is incredibly well paced and the pages turn effortlessly. I look forward to reading about the other brothers because they are intriguing characters themselves.WORTH MENTIONING: I absolutely loved the relationship between the three brothers who are the heroes in the three books in this trilogy. Funny and loving and very masculine, these brothers have a special relationship with one another that was enjoyable to read.CONNECTED BOOKS: HIS WICKED REPUTATION is the first book in the Wicked Trilogy.STAR RATING: I give this book 4.5 stars.

Though 'His Wicked Reputation' starts a bit slow it builds to a decent, if abrupt ending. I suppose that since this is the first book in the Wicked Trilogy, the author did not feel compelled to tie up certain loose ends like who killed the oldest brother, whether or not all the missing art work was found and whether or not Eva, the heroine, will face legal consequences for art forgery. All that said, the H/h of this story do have enough of a HEA that you may find yourself on the fence about buying the next book in the series.Be advised that the sensuality rating on this book would run about a seven on a scale of ten. While I don't mind sex in the books I read, I prefer it to be a bit more 'organic' as they say these days...a natural consequence of building sexual tension. There was one time in particular that the sex felt more crude than romantic which is a substantial turn off for me.Bottom line: this book is not bad, but neither is it great. The jury is out as to my decision on buying the next in the series.

Madeline Hunter is at the top along with very few others in her writing in this genre. Her books are a pleasure to read not just because they are entertaining, but because they are rich with history and details of life at the time.Eva Russell is an impoverished gentlewoman who meets the illegitimate son of a duke who has moved into a house not far from hers in the country. She is earning a small income from copying paintings borrowed from the house that the duke's son moved into.They gradually get to know one another while at the same time he is investigating some missing art. The story is interesting and the characters well fleshed out. I admire her for her attempts to avoid Americanisms: she does slip on occasion but I forgive her because she obviously works very hard to avoid doing that. A very good read.

...... but although I liked the well drawn characters and a plot that was a little bit different, the storyline simply got bogged down with too many sex scenes and then simply petered out. The denoument did become predictable too.

I think MD has some good ideas and characters, butI do have to wonder why she chooses the Regency Period in England for her stories. At no point did I feel the characters were in any way in olde England or English, because their language and behaviour were more modern American.Please, MD, stop starting sentences with ‘Hell’. That would help a lot. Maybe you could read one or two books from that particular era?She obviously knows a lot about the style, however, and her plots are quite exciting.

Not as solid as her usual fare, the impropriety of the impoverished gentlewoman heroine embarking on a spontaneous affair with the hero, acknowledged natural ducal son, bothered me far more than it did the heroine, who never hesitated or questioned its wisdom, effect on her sister's chances of making an appropriate match, or that she might end up pregnant, alone and still poor. They were not even being very subtle about their going-ons, indicating their amorous intents in front of family. He did not appear too overtly concerned about protecting her reputation and good name and future either, until the very end when he then decided to make an honest woman out of her. There should be at least some internal moral struggle experienced by either or both. I understand he was wicked from the start, but she was appropriately prudish in the beginning and outraged at her sister's suggestion of them becoming courtesans and a staunch defender of what she saw as the corruption of her sister's innocent mind by the two Neville sisters. Her incongruous subsequent behaviour just marred the story for me.

I always look forward to Madeline Hunter's books but I have to admit that I was a bit leery after the disappointment of 'The Accidental Duchess'. Fortunately, this one represents a return to form. While it is not as good as her medievals, the story is fun, and the characters are generally engaging. My only real quarrels with it were that the plot seems to end with a whimper rather than a bang, and I would have liked to have seen more of the secondary characters (hopefully at least the Neville sisters will return in the subsequent volumes).