#saviour whittington

[sarah-maclean-completist]

72 Shelton Street A Rogue By Any Other Name A Scot in the Dark Adelaide Frampton Alec Stuart, Duke of Warnick Allendale House Aloysius Kingscote, Marquess of Eversley Benedick Hartwell Bombshell Brazen and the Beast Brook's Businesses Caleb Calhoun Coleford House Daring and the Duke Devon Culm Duncan West Eben James Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke's Heart Ewan Felicity Faircloth Georgiana Pearson Grace Condry Greek Mythology Heartbreaker Hell's Belles Henrietta Sedley Henry Carrington, Duke of Clayborn Heroes Heroines Homes Jacqueline Mosby James Talbott Jane Whitacre Jasper Arlesey, Earl Harlow Juliana Fiori Lady Calpurnia (Callie) Hartwell Lady Isabel Townsend Lillian Hargrove Locations Lord Gabriel St. John, Marquess of Ralston Lord Nicholas St. John Love By Numbers MacLeaniverse Wiki Madame Hebert Madame Hebert's Main Page Malcolm Bevingstoke, Duke of Haven Mara Lowe Mariana Hartwell Michael Lawler, Marquess of Bourne Minerva House Nastasia Kritikos Never Judge a Lady By Her Cover Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake No Good Duke Goes Unpunished Number Two, Wesley Street One Good Earl Deserves a Lover Penelope Marbury Philippa Marbury Punch Ralston House Rules of Scoundrels Saviour Whittington Scandal & Scoundrel Seraphina Talbot Sesily Talbot Simon Pearson, Duke of Leighton Somerset House Sophie Talbot Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord The Bareknuckle Bastards The Day of the Duchess The Dog and the Dove The Duke of Christmas Present The Fallen Angel The Place The Rogue Not Taken The Singing Sparrow Theatre Royal Timeline Trevescan House Wicked and the Wallflower William Harrow, Duke of Lamont Worthington House

[readtilyoudie]

“You’ve never seen a fighter like Gracie. She could take down a string of brutes and not break a sweat, and when she stepped into the ring, her opponents quaked. The world thinks us Kings of Covent Garden? It’s all bollocks. We’d be nowhere without Grace. She was born to rule it.” He smiled, small and private. “She gave me my first knife. Taught me to throw it--a weapon that didn’t require me to be the biggest or the strongest.”

Admiration flared in her violet eyes. “I rescind my earlier remarks about meeting your brother. I should much prefer to meet your sister.”

“Devil would be deeply offended to hear that.” He met Hattie’s gaze. “But Grace would enjoy meeting you. Of that I have no doubt.”

- Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean

[lilithsaur]

Grace and her brothers

[maddie-grove]

Little Book Review: Brazen and the Beast

Author: Sarah MacLean.

Publication Date: 2019.

Genre: Historical romance.

Premise: In 1830s England, business-minded nouveau riche Lady Henrietta “Hattie” Sedley yearns to take over her father’s shipping concern, but he seems determined to leave it to her ne’er-do-well brother. Now that it’s her twenty-ninth birthday, though, she’s resolved to take control of her life. The first step is losing her virginity at a discreet brothel that caters to ladies, but unfortunately Saviour Whittington, an underworld smuggler, disrupts those plans by turning up bound and unconscious in her carriage. Hattie releases him, yet she can’t untangle the bonds between them (which are made of lust and shady deals).

Thoughts: This is a very likable romance, yet I didn’t connect with it. The story never really kicks off; there’s a lot of talk about What Hattie Will Do to Change Her Dad’s Mind, or What Whit’s Evil Brother Will Do, but these issues are resolved in an anti-climatic way, or else put off until the next book in the series. The protagonists also have a kind of broken-record quality. It’s like they have mental catchphrases (Hattie’s is “No man will ever want me that way,” while Whit’s is “I am not good enough for a lady”) and have to use them in every scene. It’s great for characters to have consistent motives throughout a story, of course, but this is a rather literal way of accomplishing that. 

It’s also a romance that’s rather overwhelmed by the hero’s elaborate back-story; he’s one of three illegitimate sons fathered by an evil duke who found himself without legitimate male issue, just a daughter (also not biologically his) whom he passed off as a son. Then he located his natural children and forced them to compete, often violently, for the chance to inherit the dukedom. Whit, his half-brother Devon, and the duke’s stepdaughter Grace escaped as young teens and made their way on the streets of London, leaving behind the most ruthless son, Ewan, to inherit the dukedom. Now Ewan is their enemy, but he and Grace kind of have a romantic vibe going on? That’s a lot for the protagonists’ self-esteem issues and business rivalry to compete with. Notably, some of the strongest moments in the romance involved Whit’s processing of his past--the lemon candies that he always carries with him, for example, or the memories of his mother.

Again, there’s plenty to like about this novel--Whit is a sweetheart, I appreciate that Hattie is a fat heroine, there’s a nice lesbian subplot, and the sex scenes are pretty hot--but it needed some refocusing and tightening up.

Hot Goodreads Take: Most of the criticisms of this book are pretty reasonable (repetitive, slow-paced, a little bit too much like its predecessors Wicked and the Wallflower), but I rolled my eyes at one reviewer’s comment that it wasn’t believable for someone as “fat and ugly” as Hattie to attract a handsome man. First of all, I doubt that Hattie’s supposed to be totally hideous even according to rigid standards of conventional beauty; sure, she has a running mental commentary of “I’m too fat and I’m too tall and I have a weird nose,” but Whit has a running mental commentary of “honey got a booty like pow, pow, pow/honey got a booty like wow, oh, wow” and “how inconvenient, even this woman’s nose gives me a boner.” Second, call me a hopeless romantic, but is a handsome man falling for an ugly woman really that high on the list of “unrealistic things that happen in historical romance”? I once read a Regency romance that implied douching was a reliable form of birth control as long as you didn’t fall in love. In contrast, a hot dude falling for even a truly weird-looking lady is (at most) uncommon, not impossible or a socially irresponsible trope. Third, call me a hopeless cynic, but I have met plenty of odd-looking guys who will only date stunningly beautiful women and see all other women as furniture. That’s not the sole province of the good-looking. 

[songedunenuitdete]

 L’amazone aux yeux verts de Sarah MacLean

Mon #avis sur ma dernière lecture : L’amazone aux yeux verts de @sarahmaclean - @Jailupourelle 🥰 Autant le dire, j’ai vraiment adoré replonger dans l'univers sombre de Covent Garden🙏. Et je suis "total in love " de Beast/Whitt et Hattie 😍💖

Bon, j’ai eu du mal, non pas à lire le roman, mais à le trouver dans le commerce le jour de sa sortie ou même le lendemain. Du coup, c’est mal, je sais, j’ai péché en me rabattant sur les enfers en commandant chez Satan ma dose mensuelle de romance historique.

Le souci avec ces bestioles, c’est qu’aussitôt acheté aussitôt dévoré !

J’avais adoré le premier tome avec Devil, l’un des bâtardsde…

[of-quills-and-scrolls]

Book Title: Brazen and the Beast (The Bareknuckle Bastards #2)

Author: Sarah MacLean

Pub Date: July 30, 2019

Where to buy: Amazon Barnes and Noble

***ARC  was provided to me by Net Galley and the Publisher for a fair and honest review***

Overall rating: 5/5 I loved this story of a lady and her dark king and would definitely read it again.

Heroine (Lady Henrietta “Hattie” Sedley): 5/5 Hattie, the daughter of an earl, is celebrating her 29th birthday making her life entirely her own. She believes herself undesirable to the men of the ton and due to her full figure and so she speaks her mind and is unafraid to show off her head for business. 

Hero (Saviour “Whit” Whittington): 5/5 Whit is the king of working class and they all know him as Beast. He believes the  job of protecting those around him falls squarely on his shoulders and so he could never find an equal. 

Plot: 5/5 Hattie endeavors to have her 29th birthday kick off the ‘the year of Hattie’ and sets off to start her four point plan at a brothel. But before the carriage can begin its journey she finds a man tied up and unconscious inside. Whit wakes to find he’s tied up and at the mercy of a beautiful woman, and finds she’s headed straight into his domain to take her pleasure. He is happy to oblige her but it comes at a price. They find themselves rivals in business yet possible partners in bed. Both want to keep their secrets, but if they do they could lose more than their hearts along the way. 

Personal Review: Sarah MacLean is one of my favorite romance authors and she does not disappoint with Brazen and the Beast. I absolutely love Hattie and her unwillingness to accept less than what she set out for. I love Whit’s story and  his protective nature and how it is used against him. I would love to see how Nik and Nora are faring in the next installment. 

Hattie is a true heroine, she is not simpering, she doesn’t wait for Whit to come to her she’ll march right to his door if need be. I loved the feminine bravery she exhibits and how she rarely minzes words. I will probably read the story again at some point and eagerly await the next installment.

[dry-valleys]

“Now, when the flame they watch not towers      About the soil they trod, Lads, we'll remember friends of ours      Who shared the work with God. ” AE Housman.

The church of St John the Baptist, Whittington, Shropshire, where I last week visited the castle, was begun in 1747 and completed in 1806-7, its architecht Thomas Harrison who was best known for his industrial work and bridge-building, and is an excellent neoclassical building which is now Grade II listed.

Although the site has been worshipped on since medieval times, joined to the castle, the present site is largely from the early 19th century, with refurbishment by Eustace Frere in 1898.

When I went there it was, of course, the 100th anniversary of World War 1 and the church was very reverently dressed with the soldiers for the There But Not There campaign being especially moving; there is a lot to remember as the war memorial will tell you of the 26 Whittington men who died in World War 1 and the 12 who died in World War 2.

To skies that knit their heartstrings right,     To fields that bred them brave, The saviours come not home to-night:     Themselves they could not save

[booksnunicorns]

Les mauvais garçons, Tome 2 : L’amazone aux yeux verts — Sarah MacLean

À vingt-neuf ans, lady Henrietta a renoncé au mariage. Désormais, il est temps de s'affranchir des convenances pour prendre en main son destin. Et pourquoi ne pas s'occuper de la compagnie maritime que son père n'est plus apte à diriger? Oui, cette année, elle va enfin réaliser ses désirs. Elle en est persuadée. Mais elle n'avait pas prévu de devoir affronter, sur les docks de Covent Garden, Saviour Whittington, dit La Bête, roi des bas-fonds de Londres. Un homme dangereux, un homme sans honneur. Et si fascinant qu'elle a très envie d'être déshonorée...

De Sarah MacLean publié en Août chez J’ai Lu [ Amazon ] pages

Le premier tome n'était pas mémorable, en relisant mon court avis, c'était même hyper long. Je n'avais pas été convaincue mais l'intérêt portait avant tout sur Ewan/Grace et ça le reste encore avec ce deuxième tome. Même s'il se révèle meilleur et que j'ai eu plaisir à le lire, donc j’attends encore plus le prochain au tournant ! Enfin ! 

J'ai beaucoup aimé Beast et Henrietta. Leur rencontre est hyper rapide et c'est dommage, mais l'autrice se rattrape avec une lente séduction, et surtout avec une héroïne qui sait ce qu'elle veut, une femme avant-gardiste. Qui en a marre d'être sous la coupe des hommes, d'être dévalorisée et surtout incapable de faire ce qu'elle veut car c'est une femme et non un homme. Tout l'enjeu va venir en faite de là, même si Beast se révèle touchant et charismatique. L'intrigue continue avec ce passé de vengeance entre Ewan et ses frères, ces non-dits et ces mensonges sont assez lourds et assez compliqué à comprendre. Tant qu'on n'aura pas le tome suivant, on ne parviendra pas à saisir tous l'enjeu et pourquoi tant de rancoeur, les quiproquos sont le point noir à mes yeux. C'est un suspense un peu bancal et frustrant, voire rageant. La plume est quant à elle vraiment sympa, avec des dialogues bien rythmés et surtout de très belles déclarations vers la fin, j'ai eu mon petit moment de larmichettes... ce qui est important de noter tant je suis rarement touchée. Maintenant, je ne veux que la suite et j'espère qu'elle ne sera pas dans un an !

[readtilyoudie]

Devil:

Beast:

Dahlia:

[readtilyoudie]

“Truly, it is a miracle you two lived to adulthood. And found women to marry you,” she said softly. “It’s a good thing they’re brilliant, else I would dearly fear for your progeny. What sort of punishment is this? You’ve got him hauling ice? Has he seen the cargo that came packed in it? Because letting a duke near your smuggled goods is truly, madly stupid.”

“He’s not anywhere near the true cargo,” Devil said.

“No?”

“Nah. He’s just hauling the last of the ice.”

“How much is the last of it?”

Devil looked to Beast. “What, eighty?”

Beast shrugged. “One hundred.”

- Daring and the Duke by Sarah MacLean

[readtilyoudie]

“Cheadle,” Devil said, as though he understood.

He didn’t. Whit barely understood why he was here in Mayfair, in formalwear, watching Hattie’s father. Not that he’d admit that. “I told you I’d take care of it, didn’t I?”

“Indeed you did. Are you here for the father or the son? You know you cannot knife them in a Mayfair ballroom, don’t you?”

“Don’t see why not,” Whit responded.

Devil grinned wide and tapped his walking stick against his boot. “You should have told me you were planning a show; I would have searched out formalwear, as well.”

- Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean

[readtilyoudie]

Beast (out of nowhere to no one): I can’t believe I have to fuck Hattie, it’s the only way.

Devil (eyebrow raised and a sly smirk): No one said you had to, bruv.

Beast (rolling up his sleeve, ready for a fight): I can’t believe I have to fuck Hattie. 

[readtilyoudie]

Nora and Felicity sniffled in the background, but still, Hattie slept.

After flattery, he tried bribery. “I’ll buy you one of Rebecca’s pups. I’ll buy you the whole lot of them. They can follow you along the docks during the day and sleep at your feet at night.” He’d join them. “I found the French bean seller at the market--there’s a standing order for fresh beans for you. You only need tell him Beast sent you.”

“That’s not an order, Beast, it’s fearmongering,” Devil said from the place he’d taken up against the far wall, as sentry. “Hattie, you should wake for no reason other than to keep Beast from shaking down every shopkeep in the Gardens for you.” He paused, “Also, because I’d like very much to know the woman who has my brother tracking down sellers of French beans.”

- Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean

[readtilyoudie]

“If he’s well enough to take a door off the wall, he’s well enough to fight.”

“He’s strong enough for it; gave the lads a good bout.”

She nodded. “Then I get my bout, too. This ends tonight.” She crossed the room toward her private chamber, already untying the scarf at her waist.

Devil’s words followed her. “I almost feel sorry for the bastard. He won’t know what’s hit him.”

And then, Whit’s reply. “Almost.”

- Daring and the Duke by Sarah MacLean

[readtilyoudie]

“Take them off.”

The growl sizzled through her, and for a wild, mad moment she thought he meant something other than the knives. Something like her clothes.

For a wild moment, she almost did it.

Thankfully--thankfully?--she returned to her senses.

Or did she?

“Not yet.” The reply didn’t seem sensible at all.

- Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean

[readtilyoudie]

She opened the fabric, revealing the dress beneath, the perfect moss green now gray in the twilight, a quiet color befitting a spinster doing a market shop.

But it was not the pale color of the frock that sent want thrumming through Whit, stealing his breath; it was the black leather overlaid on it in thick, sturdy straps. Leather he knew like second skin, because it was his second skin.

Christ.

The woman was wearing his holster. Filled with the rest of his knives, gleaming in the twilight as though they belonged with her--a warrior queen.

And the sight of her, proud and strong and stunning, threatened to put him to his knees.

-Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean