Publisher: Avon BooksRelease Date: July 30, 2019
Source of my copy: publisher
Series: The Barenuckle Bastards #2
My rating:
Synopsis
The Lady’s Plan
When Lady Henrietta Sedley declares her twenty-ninth year her own, she has plans to inherit her father’s business, to make her own fortune, and to live her own life. But first, she intends to experience a taste of the pleasure she’ll forgo as a confirmed spinster. Everything is going perfectly…until she discovers the most beautiful man she’s ever seen tied up in her carriage and threatening to ruin the Year of Hattie before it’s even begun.
The Bastard’s Proposal
When he wakes in a carriage at Hattie’s feet, Whit, a king of Covent Garden known to all the world as Beast, can’t help but wonder about the strange woman who frees him—especially when he discovers she’s headed for a night of pleasure . . . on his turf. He is more than happy to offer Hattie all she desires…for a price.
An Unexpected Passion
Soon, Hattie and Whit find themselves rivals in business and pleasure. She won’t give up her plans; he won’t give up his power . . . and neither of them sees that if they’re not careful, they’ll have no choice but to give up everything . . . including their hearts.
A Caveat before I discuss Brazen and the Beast:
I had fully intended to read the books in order, but unfortunately time wasn't on my side and I jumped right into Whit's book, Brazen and the Beast without reading Devil's book and the first in the series, Wicked and the Wallflower. This series definitely has an overarching storyline involving each of the brothers and their "sister" Grace that builds in each of the books, and since I didn't read Wicked I was missing a whole chunk of that pervading storyline and I wasn't as invested in the story as I could've been. So, take my rating of 3.5 stars with a grain of salt--I strongly believe that if I had read Wicked, my rating would've been higher but as of right now having only read Brazen, this is the rating I'm giving this book.
****
Brazen and the Beast is the second book in The Barenuckle Bastards series, which revolves around the Duke of Marwick's illegitimate sons--Devil, Whit, and Ewan--who he pitted against each other when they were young boys to see which one of deserved to inherit the dukedom. Now men in their early 30s, Ewan ended up inheriting, Devil and Whit became very powerful and wealthy businessmen on their own right, ruling the Covent Garden district and styling themselves as the fearsome "Barenuckle Bastards," and Grace had disappeared for reasons.
The story opens on the eve of Lady Henrietta "Hattie" Sedley's 29th birthday and the start of the "Year of Hattie," where she's finally going to take control of her life and convince her father to let her inherit his shipping business. The first part of her plan was to get rid of her pesky virginity thereby making completely unmarriageable. But, on her way to a brothel that caters specially to women, she finds a man tied up and out cold on the floor of her carriage. This man is our hero, Beast aka Whit aka Mr. Saviour Whittington, and when he woke up he was surprised to find a woman helping him get to his feet. Before Hattie pushed him out of her carriage (because there's no stopping her plan to start Year of Hattie--not even the most handsome and intriguing man Hattie had ever seen), they share a very hot kiss and the story takes off from there...
My favorite part of Brazen and the Beast was definitely Hattie--a smart, plus-sized, feminist heroine I rooted for throughout the book. I was cheering her on right from the start--from her bold plan to inherit her dad's business and take control of her life, to her not demurring away from sex and the pleasure she knew she'd find in Whit's hands, to her never giving up and still fighting for what she wants even after circumstances have changed and her father's business became even more unattainable. Hattie was boss and I loved her! I also love her friendship with Nora, who's an interesting character on her own being a carriage-racing, lesbian daughter of a duke and the self-proclaimed reckless one in the duo. Nora needs her own book!
Hattie was the shining star in the book for me because I found myself not really connecting to Whit. His character had a lot to do with the overarching storyline that started in Wicked and the Wallflower, and while the author did give us an abridged version of what happened previously that I was able to get the gist of it and we do eventually learn of events from his childhood, I still didn't feel that invested in his character as I was with Hattie. With that being said, I did like Whit a lot. He had his own inner demons (not surprising considering how he grew up and his daddy issues, and the problems Ewan brings to the table), but he was well-matched with Hattie. He let her shine and he understood her need to accomplished her goals by her own merit even though his alpha tendencies did get in the way. The two of them had great chemistry too, which helped because everything happened in a very short amount of time.
Overall, great characters, the pacing was on-point with never a dull moment, and even though I haven't read a lot of the author's other works, I find her writing very readable and I want to read more by her. I am definitely picking up Wicked so that I can fill myself in on what occurred previously, and I may come back to this review once I do and maybe reevaluate my rating. In any case, I'm excited for the next book in the series, which will be about the mysterious Grace (I'm dying to know more about her after getting very intriguing hints in this book) and the (villainous) Ewan.
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