When it is Elizabeth Hoyt's new romance, Wicked Intentions. I was very excited when I first started reading that EH had a new book coming out. I love her stuff. I think she is one of the best romance writers around and to make a good thing even better, I was hearing that this one would be a Gothic romance! I love me some Gothic romance. I love all of the cliches involved in Gothic romances, love everything about Gothic romances. I even love the covers with the heroine in appropriate period dress fleeing from the castle, mansion, etc. So you can imagine my excitement at the idea of one of my favorite writers writing in one of my favorite genres? So, I pre-ordered that baby for my Kindle and waited with anticipation for the release. Sadly, the reality did not live up to the hype, as is often the case.
Wicked Intentions looks a lot like a Gothic. It has the heroine in appropriate period dress, fleeing down a dark and foggy London street. In the beginning it sounds like a Gothic, with the heroine and her loyal servant hurrying through the dark, foggy London night. And that's about where the Gothic stuff ends. OK, so I don't have a Gothic written by one of my favorite romance writers, I still have a new book by EH and you know that will be excellent. Right? Um, not so fast...
I really do respect EH's talent and it hurts my heart to say that Wicked Intentions was not very good. The story had promise, a young widow, Temperance Dews is trying desperately to keep the orphanage her family runs afloat. She meets the mysterious and dangerously attractive Lazarus, Lord Caire and he offers to introduce her to possible patrons for her good works, if she will agree to guide him through the murky streets of the St. Giles area. Lazarus suffers from a rather odd and fascinating condition in which physical contact causes him pain. To alleviate his sexual needs and avoid too much contact he has a habit of binding his paramours during sex. In fact, the reason that he needs to snoop around St. Giles is because his former mistress was murdered and he wants to avenge her death. At this point, I'm thinking that EH is entering some pretty interesting territory. I'm still trying to piece together why it just didn't work.
For one thing, I think that EH tried to do way too much with this book. It is the first in a new series and she introduced a million characters that you know will be featured in her future work. On top of the cast of thousands, she tried to explore a complex psychological condition and flirt with the concept of bondage and alternative sexual practices, as well as write a compelling mystery. Just too much stuff going on here. Her attempt to cover all of this territory meant that the relationship between the hero and the heroine just wasn't very well-developed. Oh the witty dialogue that is a trademark of EH books was there, but there wasn't much substance to it. The depth of attraction and connection that you see in so many other EH books just wasn't there in Wicked Intentions. Also, the whole no touching thing was treated sort of inconsistently. We never really get a good explanation of why Lazarus has developed this condition and it seems to weaken and almost disappear by the end of the book. Yes, he had a withdrawn and distant father, but is that all it took for him to develop this debilitating condition? By the end of the novel, he has made this major transformation, however it is never really explored in any depth.
I think there was great potential here but unfortunately it just didn't pan out. That said, I would encourage you to read Wicked Intentions if the description interests you. Just because it isn't as strong as her previous work, doesn't mean that it is not worth checking out. I'm sure that I will read the next in the series as well, because a weak Elizabeth Hoyt book is still better than most. After all, this is the author that created Jasper, Viscount Vale from To Seduce a Sinner and I owe her a debt of gratitude for bringing that amazing creature to life. Vale made my top ten Romance Heroes list. Curious as to who else is on the list? Stay tuned, I'll be featuring it soon...
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