Tracy’s review of When She Was Wicked (Honeycote #1) by Anne Barton.
Some rules simply beg to be broken…
A dressmaker in London’s busiest shop, Miss Anabelle Honeycote overhears the ton’s steamiest secrets—and (occasionally) uses them to her advantage. It isn’t something she’s proud of, but the reluctant blackmailer needs the money to care for her gravely ill mother. To make up for her misdeeds, Anabelle keeps to a firm set of rules:
• Never request payment from someone who cannot afford it.
• Never reveal the secrets of a paying client.
• Never enter into any form of social interaction with a client.
Her list keeps her (somewhat) honest—until she encounters Owen Sherbourne, the Duke of Huntford. Not only does Owen nip Anabelle’s extortion plans in the bud, the devilishly handsome Duke soon has the sexy seamstress dreaming of more than silks and satins. With Owen, Anabelle enjoys pleasures she never imagined . . . until a scandal from the past resurfaces. Now her rules could mean his family’s ruin. Owen’s searing kisses carry the promise of passion, but how will he react when Anabelle’s most devastating secret is finally revealed?
Anabelle Honeycote works as a seamstress to provide for her mother and sister. Her mother is very ill and money that would go toward food is being spent on the doctor and the apothecary. Anabelle has been desperate for money so on several occasions has written extortion letters to aristos that have secrets that need to be kept hidden. She hears these secrets while working on the ladies at the dressmakers and uses them to her advantage. She doesn’t feel good about doing this but can’t come up with any other way to make ends meet.
Her fourth foray into extortion puts her into contact with the Duke of Huntford. She writes him a letter letting him know that she has information on one of his sisters that he needs to pay to keep quiet (she says it much more eloquently than I do). Owen, the duke, is beyond mad that someone would try to take advantage of his family, especially one of his sisters, and sets out to catch the thief. He catches Anabelle but instead of taking her straight to jail he listens to her reasons for doing what she did. Owen ends up hiring Anabelle to make gowns for his sisters, while living in his home, to make sure that she doesn’t do this again. While living there the duke and Anabelle become close and start a clandestine relationship, but Anabelle know that she can never marry Owen as they are from very different stations in life.
I was very interested in the whole premise of this book when I went in to it but I quickly became confused with Owen and Anabelle and that whole initial situation. I guess it seemed so far fetched that I just couldn’t wrap my mind around it. Here’s Anabelle extorting money from Owen and while he feels bad for her and her family I couldn’t understand why he would not only not take her to the law but actually invite the criminal into his home. Whaaaaa? I didn’t get that at all. In fact as Anabelle is becoming friends with Owen’s sisters, Olivia and Rose, I kept thinking, now why did Owen put her there? It was just…odd.
Owen’s attraction to Anabelle was understandable, but I also had an issue with the suddenness of it. After finishing a book I like being able to think back on when the hero and heroine became aware of their attraction to each other – that moment when the light bulb goes on over their heads. This one was a mystery to me. Now despite that muddle I really liked Owen and Anabelle together. They didn’t spend a great deal of time alone together in the book but what time they spend together was really pretty great.
I liked Rose and Olivia a lot as well and thought they added a lovely aspect to the story. Rose had been traumatized a couple of years earlier and had stopped speaking. I felt this was a nice secondary issue in the book but the way it was resolved was too perfect, imho, just too…timely.
Anyway, the story was cute and it was an enjoyable read with a few issues. It looks like this is Barton’s first published novel (if I’m reading her website correctly) so I’ll keep my eye on her and see what happens in the future.
Rating: 3 out of 5
You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place.
This book is available from Forever Publishing. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.
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