Tracy’s review of Not Wicked Enough (Seducing the Scoundrels #1) by Carolyn Jewel
When Lily Wellstone heads to the Bitterward Estate to comfort her widowed friend Eugenia, she certainly does not have romance in mind. In fact, the playful but level-headed Lily is amused to no end when, en route, a Gypsy gifts her with a beautiful medallion, claiming it will ensnare the romantic desires of a stranger.
But fate has other plans in the form of Eugenia’s ruggedly handsome brother, the Duke of Mountjoy. One day at Bitterward and Lily can’t deny the sizzling attraction between her and the roguish duke. Nothing can come of it, of course. She’s not looking for entanglements and he’s practically engaged. But whether it’s her outgoing nature and the duke’s outlandish ways sparking off one another; or the mysterious gypsy medallion working “magic,”—hearts are stirring in the most unexpected and wicked ways. . .
Lily is visiting her friend Ginny when she meets Ginny’s brother, Mountjoy. He is the Duke of Mountjoy and Lily is instantly entranced by the man. Not because he is a duke but because he is a beautiful, vibrant man who can match wits with her any day of the week.
Lily and Mountjoy soon start a sexual relationship with the knowledge that their partnership will end when Lily heads home. Now you may be thinking that it’s unusual for Lily to be so free with her body but she wasn’t a virgin when she started the relationship. You see she was in love once before but the man had died in battle. She has sworn that she will never love again the way she loved her Greer, but Mountjoy is an amazing man and she finds herself getting emotionally closer to him despite her better judgment.
From the beginning of the book until the end Mountjoy and Lily have an incredible connection. They both give as well as they get in the witty repartee department and can talk and share ideas without fear that they be judged by the other. Lily is really an unusual woman. She has lived on her own since she was very young and has not lived a proper life. When she fell in love with Greer it was, to her, for forever and she didn’t plan on falling in love again. Mountjoy is a very compelling man, however, and she finds that he makes her want to stay with him.
This book, for me, was almost perfect. Yes, there were things about it that I didn’t care for:
**The fact that we never knew Mountjoy’s given name I found to be annoying. I know that it was common in those times to just use the title name but I thought his sister would use it as a more familiar term – or he would at least let Lily know what it was.
**Part of the story line included a medallion that Lily received from a gypsy. Supposedly it was supposed to bring the wearer of the medallion to their true love. The medallion is mentioned quite a bit throughout the story but more as an accessory to Lily’s fashion. I’m not sure if we were supposed to believe that it worked or not but I just thought it a bit silly. The couple had such chemistry that it just wasn’t needed.
**Then there’s Lord Fenris who is actually Lily’s cousin. He shows up and Lily is afraid that he and his portion of the family will try to take her inheritance away. While this was a good way to bring Lord Fenris into the story (I believe for future books) it was a bit rushed on Fenris’s part for my liking. He proposes to Lily at one point and says they’ll suit well – how can he know that when he doesn’t know her at all?
You’d think that those points would bring the score down further for this book but really, the other parts of the book were so damned good I just didn’t care about the niggles.
Lily and Mountjoy are simply amazing together. The romance, the passion, the intelligence in the book just had me turning pages as fast as I could. In fact when I finished the book I turned back to the first page and read it all over again. It’s a strong compelling story that truly makes you believe in the love between the hero and heroine.
I highly recommend this book and I will definitely be reading more in this series.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place
This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
While the writing was sound, I just didn’t quite buy the plot. Lily came across as too worldly for only having one lover. I just didn’t think the “friends with benefits” aspect of the story was believable in that era.