The Importance of Being Wicked by Miranda Neville (The Wild Quartet #1)
November 27, 2012
Historical Romance
Avon

Reviewed by Mandi

This book gives us two unlikely people to fall in love – a Duke, nicknamed Lord Stuffy, who while is no means desolate, would prefer to marry a rich heiress. And a widowed heroine who parties, doesn’t care for the rules of the ton, and because of her late husband’s debts, owes many people money. My main problem with this book is that by the end, I still wasn’t’ convinced these two had a love match or that they would live happily ever after…forever and ever.

Caroline Townsend, or Caro to her friends ran off at the age of 17 and married a wild ‘bad boy’ of the ton. After he dies and leaves her with debt, Caro consolidates and tries to live a fiscally careful life. She surrounds herself with good friends, including Oliver Breams, a struggling artist who falls in love every two days with a different woman. Caro is estranged from her own family, due to her running away to get married, so she considers her crazy, rambunctious friends her adopted family. Her cousin Anne is a rich heiress who has been good friends with Caro since she was young. When Anne’s guardians leave for business, Anne slyly arranges a stay with Caro in London.

Anne is being courted by Thomas, Duke of Castleton. Every Duke in this line has married well, as the Dukedom didn’t start with a lot of money. Thomas sees it as his duty to marry Anne, and same with her. But the problem is, Thomas and Anne don’t mesh. At all. Anne loves ancient history and artifacts. Thomas…doesn’t. He can’t keep his eyes off the vibrant Caro. He knows his duty should be pointing him in the other direction, but he can’t help himself.  When another debt of her late husband’s gets brought up, Caro starts to truly worry about her financial situation. She has a priceless painting hidden deep within her house, that her beloved husband gave to her, and many are sniffing out that she might still have it. This painting is a reminder that her husband really loved her,before he became consumed with gambling and desperate not to part with it, she must find a way to keep the creditors at bay.

Thomas is dull. Lord Stuffy. The Duke of Stuffiness. He had a mistress before he met Caro and he didn’t even realize women could orgasm. Nor has he ever had oral pleasure. (apparently his mistress was dull too!). He is not really social nor light-hearted. He is a simple man, and he knows this. But he follows the rules of society, and never shirks his duty. But he meets Caro and he demands fun. She puts him into situations that makes him feel alive again. Which is all very good and dandy. Except as I said at the beginning, I was never fully convinced these two are a love match. I liked seeing Caro liven up Thomas’s life and Thomas be a solid rock for Caro. But, I just didn’t feel the chemistry between them. Eventually, there is lots of in the sheets action for these two, and while it was sexy, and I could understand the two of them being physically attracted to each other, the ‘forever in love’ part didn’t come through for me.

This book has cute moments. Especially moments between Caro and her friends. But overall, it is slow. I got tired of the painting storyline, as everyone keeps asking Caro if she has it and snooping around. While the book starts with Thomas trying to court Anne, they both quickly realize they don’t fit, and I liked that there wasn’t massive drama with this decision.

This has a cute start and I individually enjoyed Caro and Thomas. Just didn’t love them together.

Rating: C+

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