Review: Too Wicked to Wed by Cara Elliott

Outspoken and independent, Lady Alexa Bingham enjoys the heady freedom of making all her own decisions, even though the challenges of overseeing her family’s country estate are daunting. But when a chance encounter with London’s most notorious rake awakens a secret longing for adventure, she accepts her aunt’s invitation for a Season in Town . . . only to find that breaking the rules of the ton has serious consequences.

The Earl of Killingworth uses his rakehell reputation to hide the fact that poverty has forced him to work for a living. As the owner of a gambling den and brothel, Connor has no time for glittering ballrooms or innocent young ladies. But after a reckless wager leaves him with a new business partner, he is forced to take a risky gamble . . . Will the cards fall in their favor? Alexa and Connor begin to play a dangerous game of intrigue and deception as they seek to outwit a cunning adversary who wants to put them permanently out of business. But if they are not careful, it is the flames of their own fiery attraction that may destroy them.

No one knows that the Earl of Killingworth is the owner of the Wolf’s Lair – a gambling hell and brothel in London. When Alexa is looking for her brother she manages to talk the brother’s best friend into taking her there to seek him out. Instead she finds herself face to face with Connor Linsley who is not happy to see a lady in his place of ill repute. That doesn’t stop him from stealing a kiss from her and then sending her away.

Four months later Alexa is in London for the Season and who does she run into but the very man who had seared her lips and she had thought of him ever since. When Connor seeks her out and once again rains kisses on her she’s a bit stunned. She knows she’s not a diamond of the first water but this big beautiful man keeps kissing her!

Alexa is a bit out of the ordinary. She was raised in the country and has run an estate. Her father allowed her to be educated and she’s not one to sit and do needlepoint. When her cousin talks her into heading to a bawdy party so that they can play cards Alexa is all for it. She dresses as a man and ends up winning! But what she wins is not what she expects. She ends up as half owner of Connor’s brothel! The truth comes out and Connor tries to talk her into giving the up her ownership but she won’t be swayed. She understands that the reason Connor’s friend had the note in the first place was because of Connor’s financial difficulties due to someone who is after him but she feels she can help him. Connor wants nothing to do with her help but when he’s shot outside his brothel Alexa is the one to get him to safety.

The pair end up at Connor’s ancestral home – which he hates – so that he can recuperate. During the time that they are in residence they manage to become closer and they both start to look at life a bit differently. For Connor that means slowing down and realizing that the brothel isn’t everything in life – and for Alexa it means that she’s finding love, which she never thought she would. When they return to London, however, can they figure out who is after Connor and why? And what will happen if Alexa’s reputation is ruined?

This is my first foray into Ms. Elliot’s work and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. She managed to grab my attention right from start which kept me reading. Things did slow down for me during the middle of the book but there was still a good enough story to keep turning pages.

The time that Alexa and Connor spend in London is quite interesting. I enjoyed that part even though I was a bit stumped as to how Alexa managed to sneak out of her aunt’s home so often. Then during the time that the couple spends at Connor’s ancestral home the story took on a slower pace. I’m sure that it was meant to in order to emphasize the differences in the lifestyles between London and the country but the story itself lacked a bit of umphf at this point. Connor and Alexa really spent quite a bit apart when I would think that this would be the perfect opportunity to pull them together. As I’ve said it did give them both the time to look at life differently and that was a bonus. I think there was just not as much interaction between the hero and heroine as I would have liked.

The intrigue/mystery that is a running plot throughout the book really comes to a head near the end when the story picks up again and the couple returns to London. It was a good way to drive home those feelings that Connor has toward Alexa but the reasons behind the plot, again, didn’t have that extra something that made me believe it. I won’t tell you who’s behind the plot to ruin Connor but because we didn’t get more information about the person throughout the book I found myself not caring all that much about who it was. They were evil – let’s just say that. lol

Overall I really liked the love story in the book. It was sweet and a bit angsty and definitely worth reading. Though I didn’t care for the mystery plot all that much I still liked the book and will definitely read the other two books in this series that have to do with Connor’s friends.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5

Cara Elliot
Forever Publishing (Hachette Book Group)

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