Guest Review: Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt

Posted December 29, 2010 by Ames in Reviews | 4 Comments

Guest Review: Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth HoytReviewer: Ames
Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt
Series: Maiden Lane #1
Also in this series: Wicked Intentions, Lord of Darkness, Darling Beast, Dearest Rogue, Sweetest Scoundrel, Duke of Sin, Once Upon a Moonlit Night (Maiden Lane #10.5), Duke of Pleasure, Duke of Desire, Once Upon a Maiden Lane, Once Upon a Christmas Eve (Maiden Lane #12.6), Duke of Sin (Maiden Lane, #10)
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: August 1st 2010
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 416
Add It: Goodreads
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Series Rating: four-stars

From the New York Times bestselling author of To Desire a Devil comes this thrilling tale of danger, desire, and dark passions.
A MAN CONTROLLED BY HIS DESIRES . . .
Infamous for his wild, sensual needs, Lazarus Huntington, Lord Caire, is searching for a savage killer in St. Giles, London's most notorious slum. Widowed Temperance Dews knows St. Giles like the back of her hand-she's spent a lifetime caring for its inhabitants at the foundling home her family established. Now that home is at risk . . .
A WOMAN HAUNTED BY HER PAST . . .
Caire makes a simple offer-in return for Temperance's help navigating the perilous alleys of St. Giles, he will introduce her to London's high society so that she can find a benefactor for the home. But Temperance may not be the innocent she seems, and what begins as cold calculation soon falls prey to a passion that neither can control-one that may well destroy them both.
A BARGAIN NEITHER COULD REFUSE

 

I really enjoyed Wicked Intentions. The characters were different and this book had a very dark feel to it.

Temperance is a widow who runs a school for orphans in the worst part of London, St. Giles. Wicked Intentions opens up with Temperance returning to the orphanage with a sick newborn in the middle of the night. On the way, she runs into Lord Caire looking like he’s beating a man in the middle of the street. Temperance puts her head down and moves on. Once she’s dropped the baby off with the wet nurse, Temperance decides to relax with a cup of tea before bed. Waiting for her in her little sitting room is Lord Caire. He propositions Temperance…but not in the way you would think. He’s looking for a murderer and he wants Temperance’s help maneuvering the streets of St. Giles and speaking to the locals. They’ll divulge information to her they won’t to others. Temperance agrees, but only if Lord Caire introduces her to some potential backers for the orphanage. Their patron died suddenly and he didn’t leave any stipulations for the orphanage in his will, they’re barely making ends meet.

I found the beginning of Wicked Intentions a bit slow. But it definitely picks up once Temperance and Lord Caire spend more time in each other’s company. You see, Temperance is a widow and she felt some affection for her husband, but she had some desires and she feels like those desires led to her husband’s death. Ever since the events leading up to her husband’s death, she’s put a pretty strong stranglehold on her libido, and she refuses to give into her primal nature. And Lord Caire, Lazarus, is infamous for his dark desires. So while Laz and Temperance are running around the seedier underbelly of St. Giles looking for a murderer, Temperance has to come face to face with her desires, which match up perfectly with those of Lazarus. It created a delicious tension.

I liked these two characters. Temperance is a widow who chooses to cloister herself (basically) and she’s also not nobility. The set up of the novel was perfect to cross her path with Lord Caire’s because besides being a mistress, how else is a non-noble woman going to be in the circle of a Lord? Temperance is strong and even though she’s not totally confident in herself, she shoulders those burdens (like the broke orphanage) and has come up with some interesting walls to keep herself invulnerable. And there’s Lord Caire to create little cracks in her defenses and that’s what I liked. Here the man is the pursuer and the woman is the woman who is holding herself back. Add to that the interesting setting (London’s worst neighborhood and not so much the glittering ballrooms of the ton) and throw in some spicy sex scenes (how hot was that voyeur scene? HOT I tell you!!) and Elizabeth Hoyt has written herself a winner. I can’t wait to read the next book in the Maiden Lane series.

4 out of 5!

The series:

Wicked Intentions
Notorious Pleasures
Scandalous Desires
Thief of Shadows
Lord of Darkness
Duke of Midnight
Darling Beast
Dearest Rogue
Sweetest Scoundrel
Duke of Sin
Duke of Pleasure
Duke of Desire

This book is available from Grand Central Publishing. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

You can read more from ~ames~ at Thrifty Reader.


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4 responses to “Guest Review: Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt

  1. Hils-I still have yet to finish her Prince trilogy. LOL I did read the first one though. 😛 She’s a good author and I can see why this is one of your favorite historicals.

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