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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
It was okay. I felt the hero and heroine had this disconnect too long. A decent romance for the series
After being abroad, travelling and exploring for years, Lord Alaric Wilde is finally on his way home. He's been avoiding Lindow Castle since the death of his eldest brother, Horatius, in the moss, and is wholly unsuspecting the arrival awaiting him. It seems as if his biographical books, such as Wilde Latitudes and the like, have an avid readership, and the anonymously written play, Wilde in Love, has made him into a hero that all eligible ladies want to meet, and perhaps catch. Well, that is, except for one. Miss Wilhelmina Everett Ffynche may just be one of the only women in society not to have read a single one of his books, and is quite eligible herself, with 14 proposals under her belt after her very first season. She catches Alaric's eye as soon as they meet at the house party being held by the Duke of Lindow to celebrate Lord North's betrothal to Willa's friend, Diana, and Alaric can't keep away. As much as Willa appears to be the perfect society lady though, she is a very private person, and has been since her parent's died, and being with the most talked about gentleman in society is against everything she stands for. Will their chemistry and feelings overcome it all?
I actually read the fifth book in this series, Say Yes to the Duke, first, just after I discovered my love of historical fiction, but knew that I wanted to see how Viola's step-sibling's romances took place. As soon as my local library reopened, I requested the entire series, and they all came in at once. Wilde in Love was a fantastic Georgian romance, full of powdered wigs, a lovable skunk, and a truly swoony romance. Willa is one of my favourite heroines, and I adored her snarky attitude, the banter between her and Alaric, and her true love and affection for her close friends and family. Alaric was a bit brash to start off with, but he definitely grew on you the more you read, and the more you saw him interact with the entire Wilde brood.
Plot wise, I was blown away at times. Because I'd read the fifth book first, I knew some of the main plot points, like who ended up with whom, but the nitty gritty and small interactions between the extended cast. Seeing the way the family gathered together in times of strife, or when faced with a wacky missionary's daughter was delightful, and the resolution of the angst and trouble was breathtaking. Having the main couple face danger like they did, and with added sweet interludes of Sweetpea and Hannibal, truly set this book apart, and I'm forever grateful that I have a copy of Too Wilde to Wed to dive into straight away - I need to see more of North, Diana, Parth, and Lavinia!
I actually read the fifth book in this series, Say Yes to the Duke, first, just after I discovered my love of historical fiction, but knew that I wanted to see how Viola's step-sibling's romances took place. As soon as my local library reopened, I requested the entire series, and they all came in at once. Wilde in Love was a fantastic Georgian romance, full of powdered wigs, a lovable skunk, and a truly swoony romance. Willa is one of my favourite heroines, and I adored her snarky attitude, the banter between her and Alaric, and her true love and affection for her close friends and family. Alaric was a bit brash to start off with, but he definitely grew on you the more you read, and the more you saw him interact with the entire Wilde brood.
Plot wise, I was blown away at times. Because I'd read the fifth book first, I knew some of the main plot points, like who ended up with whom, but the nitty gritty and small interactions between the extended cast. Seeing the way the family gathered together in times of strife, or when faced with a wacky missionary's daughter was delightful, and the resolution of the angst and trouble was breathtaking. Having the main couple face danger like they did, and with added sweet interludes of Sweetpea and Hannibal, truly set this book apart, and I'm forever grateful that I have a copy of Too Wilde to Wed to dive into straight away - I need to see more of North, Diana, Parth, and Lavinia!
This was reay fun. I'm looking forward to the other books. I loved Lavinia and Willa's friendship and I especially cant wait to read Lavinia's story. I hope the rest of the Wildes are just as fun.
2.5-3 stars
This was my first Eloisa James book and from everything I've heard, I don't think I started with the right book. WILDE IN LOVE just didn't hit any excitement buttons for me. In fact, I read it over a few weeks, dipping in and out, keeping up with the story but not getting truly drawn in.
The story itself has potential with a hero that felt a bit unusual to me in historical romance. Alaric Wilde was an 'Indiana Jones' of his day but as interested in people of distant countries as he was relics. I really liked the idea of Alaric but I didn't fully connect with him. Alaric returns to England and everyone is wowed by him (but me?) but I loved that Willa wasn't wowed by him either. I liked Willa most of the time and was most engaged by her out of all the characters in the book.
I can't exactly put my finger on what the problem was with this read but I think it was a combination of the story line and lack of connection with Alaric because I found myself bored. I will press on and try something else of Eloisa James as I have heard great things about her writing. Sadly, I can't enthusiastically recommend this book.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through Edelweiss, in return for a honest review.
Reviewed for Jo&IsaLoveBooks Blog.
This was my first Eloisa James book and from everything I've heard, I don't think I started with the right book. WILDE IN LOVE just didn't hit any excitement buttons for me. In fact, I read it over a few weeks, dipping in and out, keeping up with the story but not getting truly drawn in.
The story itself has potential with a hero that felt a bit unusual to me in historical romance. Alaric Wilde was an 'Indiana Jones' of his day but as interested in people of distant countries as he was relics. I really liked the idea of Alaric but I didn't fully connect with him. Alaric returns to England and everyone is wowed by him (but me?) but I loved that Willa wasn't wowed by him either. I liked Willa most of the time and was most engaged by her out of all the characters in the book.
I can't exactly put my finger on what the problem was with this read but I think it was a combination of the story line and lack of connection with Alaric because I found myself bored. I will press on and try something else of Eloisa James as I have heard great things about her writing. Sadly, I can't enthusiastically recommend this book.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through Edelweiss, in return for a honest review.
Reviewed for Jo&IsaLoveBooks Blog.
2.5 stars
Lord Alaric Wilde is the third son of the Duke of Lindow (although the eldest died in a tragic accident a few years back). He's been travelling the world for years, having adventures and while he was gone, the books about his travels have become hugely popular, particularly because of a wildly successful play, portraying him as a tragic romantic hero. Alaric is rather taken aback by his overwhelming fame when he returns home.
At a house party at his father's, there are masses of young ladies who want to meet the tragic hero of Wilde in Love (where Lord Wilde's missionary daughter love interest is eaten by missionaries), but Alaric finds himself drawn to the only woman who is completely unimpressed by him (natch!). She's never read a single one of his books, although she has listened to her best friend rave about her crush for Alaric for several years. Miss Willa Ffynch was one of the most popular young ladies of the season and has turned down countless proposals. She's a very private person and wants nothing to do with a man whose face appears on posters and exploits are written about in the newspapers. Nevertheless, she can't help but be charmed by the charismatic explorer.
When a rather unhinged young lady appears at the duke's residence, claiming to be the author of Wilde in Love, not to mention Lord Alaric's one true love, Willa is persuaded to pose as Alaric's fiancee until the madwoman can be convinced that Alaric has never had, and never will have any feeling for her. Will pretending to be Alaric's intended convince Willa that he's really the man for her?
I usually find [a:Eloisa James|86778|Eloisa James|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1375996000p2/86778.jpg]' novels at least vaguely entertaining, but this book was a total slog. I pretty much just finished it out of stubbornness. I just really didn't care about the protagonists at all and their romance developed far too quickly. Alaric pretty much falls for Willa at first sight, and they barely spend a week together before she, despite her reservations has fallen for him. There's all manner of strange plot points - he gives her a baby skunk as a gift (because random peddlers in late 18th Century England totally had baby skunks in their wagons), there's his deranged, super religious stalker who they have to deal with.
As the first book in a series, it's also pretty heavily setting up sequels. There's Alaric's older brother North, who because their eldest brother died is the heir to the dukedom. Throughout the book, it's clear that his intended, Diana, has no wish to marry him and only agreed because her mother pressured her into it. She runs away in the end, but is confronted by him in one of the final chapters (just as he's about to go to America to fight in the Revolutionary War - there's NO WAY a duke's heir would have been allowed to join the armed forces and go off to the Colonies to fight a war). I know their book is the next one, and based on their interactions in this book, I'm really not particularly bothered to find out how they eventually find their happy ending.
A couple whose book I may check out, even if I found this book tremendously underwhelming (it wasn't even so bad it's good, just completely meh) is Willa's best friend, Lady Lavinia, who spends most of this book sniping at Alaric's best friend, a super wealthy businessman. I am a sucker for a good enemies to lovers story, and have hopes that it may be more to my tastes than this rather forgettable tale. It's out at the end of July, and if that's a dud too, I think [a:Eloisa James|86778|Eloisa James|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1375996000p2/86778.jpg] is off my "to read" list. I don't know why so many of my old go-to authors are letting me down at the moment. It makes me sad. At least I got this one on sale, it certainly was not worth full price.
Judging a book by its cover: Points to the cover designer for including a scene that is actually in the book, where Lord Alaric ends up in a pond (for reasons I don't actually remember anymore). Also, way to tap into that Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in a wet clingy shirt vibe. Points deducted for using a cover model who looks uncannily like a younger version of Rob Brydon, who while frequently very funny, isn't really anyone's idea of a romance hero, as far as I know.
Lord Alaric Wilde is the third son of the Duke of Lindow (although the eldest died in a tragic accident a few years back). He's been travelling the world for years, having adventures and while he was gone, the books about his travels have become hugely popular, particularly because of a wildly successful play, portraying him as a tragic romantic hero. Alaric is rather taken aback by his overwhelming fame when he returns home.
At a house party at his father's, there are masses of young ladies who want to meet the tragic hero of Wilde in Love (where Lord Wilde's missionary daughter love interest is eaten by missionaries), but Alaric finds himself drawn to the only woman who is completely unimpressed by him (natch!). She's never read a single one of his books, although she has listened to her best friend rave about her crush for Alaric for several years. Miss Willa Ffynch was one of the most popular young ladies of the season and has turned down countless proposals. She's a very private person and wants nothing to do with a man whose face appears on posters and exploits are written about in the newspapers. Nevertheless, she can't help but be charmed by the charismatic explorer.
When a rather unhinged young lady appears at the duke's residence, claiming to be the author of Wilde in Love, not to mention Lord Alaric's one true love, Willa is persuaded to pose as Alaric's fiancee until the madwoman can be convinced that Alaric has never had, and never will have any feeling for her. Will pretending to be Alaric's intended convince Willa that he's really the man for her?
I usually find [a:Eloisa James|86778|Eloisa James|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1375996000p2/86778.jpg]' novels at least vaguely entertaining, but this book was a total slog. I pretty much just finished it out of stubbornness. I just really didn't care about the protagonists at all and their romance developed far too quickly. Alaric pretty much falls for Willa at first sight, and they barely spend a week together before she, despite her reservations has fallen for him. There's all manner of strange plot points - he gives her a baby skunk as a gift (because random peddlers in late 18th Century England totally had baby skunks in their wagons), there's his deranged, super religious stalker who they have to deal with.
As the first book in a series, it's also pretty heavily setting up sequels. There's Alaric's older brother North, who because their eldest brother died is the heir to the dukedom. Throughout the book, it's clear that his intended, Diana, has no wish to marry him and only agreed because her mother pressured her into it. She runs away in the end, but is confronted by him in one of the final chapters (just as he's about to go to America to fight in the Revolutionary War - there's NO WAY a duke's heir would have been allowed to join the armed forces and go off to the Colonies to fight a war). I know their book is the next one, and based on their interactions in this book, I'm really not particularly bothered to find out how they eventually find their happy ending.
A couple whose book I may check out, even if I found this book tremendously underwhelming (it wasn't even so bad it's good, just completely meh) is Willa's best friend, Lady Lavinia, who spends most of this book sniping at Alaric's best friend, a super wealthy businessman. I am a sucker for a good enemies to lovers story, and have hopes that it may be more to my tastes than this rather forgettable tale. It's out at the end of July, and if that's a dud too, I think [a:Eloisa James|86778|Eloisa James|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1375996000p2/86778.jpg] is off my "to read" list. I don't know why so many of my old go-to authors are letting me down at the moment. It makes me sad. At least I got this one on sale, it certainly was not worth full price.
Judging a book by its cover: Points to the cover designer for including a scene that is actually in the book, where Lord Alaric ends up in a pond (for reasons I don't actually remember anymore). Also, way to tap into that Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in a wet clingy shirt vibe. Points deducted for using a cover model who looks uncannily like a younger version of Rob Brydon, who while frequently very funny, isn't really anyone's idea of a romance hero, as far as I know.
Meh :-/ This book just didn't do it for me. I wasn't very interested in the characters and it seemed too long for how little actually happened. If there's a future book about Parth Sterling and Lavinia I may read that, because I found them much more interesting
Pretty fun romance I liked their banter and the whole play stuff was funny – a bit over the top and ridiculous with the whole conflict with the girl from Africa whose name I cannot remember. Overall, a decent read, but nothing special.
I loved this book.
A well-written story. No strange out of the blue plot twists. Likeable, no loveable characters.
I'm looking forward to meeting the Wildes again in the next novel.
A well-written story. No strange out of the blue plot twists. Likeable, no loveable characters.
I'm looking forward to meeting the Wildes again in the next novel.