Holly’s review of Wickedly Ever After (Pleasure Emporium, Book 3) by Michelle Marcos.
After discovering her fiancé in the arms of a parlor maid, Lady Athena McAlister comes to a frightful realization: Most men prefer the company of their mistresses to their wives. How can she, and other brides-to-be, become both wife and mistress to a man? In her quest for knowledge, she begs her wealthy grandfather for money to start a finishing school for marriageable young ladies. There she and her friends discreetly invite London’s most notorious rakes to educate them on the art of seducing a man.
Marshall Hawkesworth’s sister has become far too knowledgeable about the ways of sex, and he suspects that her new finishing school is to blame. Marshall poses as a lecturer on several topics, including sensual kissing, and he soon finds Lady Athena to be a most apt pupil. But before he has her school shut down for good, he’s determined to give her a few private lessons she won’t soon forget…
Lady Athena McAlister is fed up with men. For years she’s been on the shelf, passed over for more beautiful girls. Twice she’s been close to marriage, and both times they chose someone else over her. The last time she actually caught her fiance in the act at Vauxhall Garden’s. She realizes then that men don’t want innocent women. They want wanton women who know the art of seduction. So she decides to take matters into her own hands and opens a school for “spinsters”. By day they will learn the arts of being a lady. By night they’ll learn the arts of seduction.
Captain Marshall Hawkesworth is frustrated when he’s called home from war. His father has just passed away and he needs to get family matters settled. As the heir to the estate, he’s responsible for his mother and younger sister. He takes leave expecting that he’ll have matters settled in short order and be back at sea. He gets his sister – who was a student of Athena’s – engaged to a very conservative man, but is furious when the engagement is broken because his sister was too forward. He knows it’s because of the school she attended and is determined to get to the bottom of it.
When he arrives at the school Athena mistakes him for someone coming to apply for employment. She’d placed an ad asking for a male model and she assumes Marshall is it. Though he’s furious at the way she treats him, he decides to hold is tongue until he figures out exactly what’s going on. He’s outraged when he realizes what Athena’s been up to, but he’s also humbled by some of the women and their reasons for being there.
I really liked Marshall. Right from the beginning he was willing to admit his mistakes and look at problems from a different perspective. When Athena shows him that his way of thinking isn’t necessarily the best way, he’s willing to consider her point of view – and even revise his. It isn’t often a man – especially an alpha-hero – is willing to do that. Not only does he change his way of thinking, but he changes his actions to suit his words, which was very refreshing.
Athena I’m not as sure about. Unlike Marshall, she wasn’t willing to bend. She’s convinced her way is the right way and refuses to consider other possibilities. For much of the book her attitude annoyed me. While I understood that she’d been hurt and was mostly acting out as a way to protect herself, I think she went too far with it. Her only saving grace is that she realized her mistakes on her own and fully committed herself once she had.Even so, it wasn’t enough to save her completely.
The lightly secondary romance featuring Marshall’s younger sister bothered me somewhat. She becomes attracted to a servant – the stable boy – and eventually wants to marry him. While I understood the author was trying to drive home the point that love can conquer all, I don’t feel the problems a Marquises sister marrying a stable boy were sufficiently addressed. I was also frustrated by the brief glimpses we got into Athena’s best friend’s marriage. I thought Marcos was setting her up for her own book, but judging by the way it ended I think I was mistaken. Which is too bad, because I enjoyed her more than I did Athena.
Overall this fell somewhat flat. I adored Marshall and the basic premise behind the story, but those weren’t enough to save it for me. I would be willing to try another book by her, and may even look up the other books in this series.
3.25 out of 5
The series:
This book is available from St. Martin’s. You can buy it here.
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