Sunday 1 May 2022

Book Review: Irretrievably Wicked by Constance Kersaint (Historical Romance)

Title: Irretrievably Wicked
Author: Constance Kersaint
Publisher: Evernight Publishing
Publication Date: 27 April 2022
Pages: 277
Format: eBook - EPUB
Genre: Historical Romance
Source: ARC via NetGalley

Cressida Darewood Lindquist has spent ten years putting her family before herself, and now, finally, she is able to indulge in life as a widowed viscountess. That is, until a highwayman interrupts her plans, accosting her in the dark of the night.

Deverell Havelock is done with his life of crime, ready to sail to America. He only needs one more robbery, then he can quit England forever. But he cannot forget the stubborn lady who saves his life on a midnight road to London.

When Cress’s brother is arrested, she turns to Dev, the only man who can break her brother out of prison and save the Darewood family from ruination. But does she want him to rescue her or run away with her?

 

Irretrievably Wicked drew me in with its blurb, as I do enjoy a story featuring highwaymen. I requested this book knowing from the cover design it would be of the 'bodice-ripper' variety of historical romance, so I was ready to suspend disbelief a little over the characters' actions; however, I had to do so more often than I would have liked, and it became hard to accept anything going on. This was unfortunately not helped by the constant inclusion of anachronistic language, including words that were not first used until more than 100 years after the time in which the story was set, and issues with the correct use of titles etc. Finally, there were several glaring inconsistencies. For example, in one scene Dev pulls down Cressida's stays. This would be fine, except we had been told, only five lines earlier, that she wasn't wearing her stays on that occasion. On the plus side, the premise of the book was interesting and the pacing was fine. If you are not worried about historical accuracy in this steamier type of historical romance, you'll probably find something to like in Irretrievably Wicked, but for me, the problems sadly outweighed any enjoyment I could derive from the tale. Therefore, I can only give it two stars.

I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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