BRAZEN AND THE BEAST is the take-no-prisoners book 2 in the
Bareknuckle
Bastards series by the indomitable Sarah Maclean.
This book is simultaneously a feminist romp and a touching
romance. Hip, hip, hooray for Maclean and her glorious
writing! Tongue firmly in cheek, I had a marvelous time
tumbling along in the wake of Hattie and her Beast.
The current trend in historical fiction is to write strong
feminist characters who typically are gratingly
anachronistic. While Hattie seems definitely advanced for
her time, she is portrayed so endearingly and without any
twee, making it easy to glory in her strong opinions and
desire to lead her own life without the ridiculous
constraints of the males of the time who try to band her in.
I adore her rally cry for The Year of Hattie, where she will
achieve her 4 point plan to captain her own fate: Business,
Home, Fortune, Future. Lady Henretta Sedley is the daughter
of an earl who built a shipping business. Her useless
fribble of a brother can't manage to tie his own shoes, let
alone run a shipping empire, and Hattie is salivating to run
the family business. Her hidebound father (of course)
doesn't want to pass the reins to her until Hattie comes up
with the plan to use her ill-planned brother's thefts from
Beast, the criminal king of Covent Garden, to force her
brother to abdicate the running of the company.
Enter Beast, who has his own ideas of how to use Hattie's
brother's thefts to force his own smuggling agenda and
achieve some revenge. Brazen and the Beast pits two
prodigious intellects against each other. They are closely
matched in wits, but they find themselves tripped up over
and over by the inconvenient lust that bubbles between them.
The ways that Beast champions Hattie and her wishes are
meltingly sweet, and it's grand how Hattie has the gumption
to stand up against the men arrayed around her, with Beast's
at times, but sometimes against his wishes as Beast
struggles with his own desires to keep Hattie "safe."
Maclean is a favorite historical romance author of mine, who
can consistently deliver a smoking romance along with
intelligence and witty repartee, wrapped up in a great plot.
BRAZEN AND THE BEAST is emotionally satisfying, titillating,
and delivers a feminist rally cry all at once. That's a tall
order for a romance, but Maclean delivers in spades. Huzzah.
NewYork Times Bestselling Author Sarah
MacLean returns with the next book in the Bareknuckle
Bastards series about three brothers bound by a secret that
they cannot escape—and the women who bring
them to their knees.
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.
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