Wicked in Your Arms
I so disliked this book — the second in Ms. Jordan’s inexplicably named Forgotten Princesses series – that, after reading it, I put it down, waited several weeks, then picked it up again for a re-read. I wondered if I’d initially judged it too harshly. Sadly, the second time around was an even worse experience. This book has it all: Inconsistent and annoying leads, a plot that plays like a mediocre melodrama, an obvious and unnecessary villain, and a love story one roots against rather than for. It is, as Lady Gaga would say, a bad romance.
The heroine, Grier Hadley, is the illegitimate daughter of the king of the London underworld. Her father, Jack Hadley, has brought Grier and her sisters to town to marry them off. He believes aristocratic marriages on their part will elevate his social status. Grier was raised by her now dead saintly step-father in Wales where she worked by his side as a game keeper. She loathes the social rituals demanded by the ton but believes a good marriage will give her the propriety she desires. Grier resents the upper class snobs who belittle her for her scandalous birth and her sun-speckled skin even as she longs to be one of them.
Jack keeps dragging Grier and her half-sister Cleo to society functions where, he informs them, the two will catch aristocratic mates. At one such ball, Grier is hiding behind a fern and shoving frosted biscuits in her mouth when she hears two men talking. The taller and broader of the two is clearly looking for a bride but when his companion suggests Grier or Cleo, the man dismisses the sisters as completely unsuitable. He and his friend quip that Grier and Cleo are women a man beds rather than weds. Grier, despite knowing that her pedigree does indeed make her ineligible to many, is so angered by this man’s words she dumps her glass of lemon water on his head, snaps at him, and flounces off.
The man who has raised Grier’s ire is none other than Prince Sevastian Maksimi from the faux Eastern European country of Maldania. Poor Sevastian has a heavy crown to bear. His country has recently been through a terrible war in which he fought and helped win. Many Maldanians died including his older brother — the man who should have been the next king. Sevastian is in London to find a bride: A wealthy, blue-blooded beauty worthy of the title of Queen. For him, marriage is about duty to his country not about the passions of his heart.
I am sure you can guess where this story is going. Grier finds the Prince gorgeous, arrogant, and incredibly hot. He finds Grier feisty, alluring, and wants to bed her but not wed her. The two bicker, flirt, ride horses too fast, explosively kiss, and ultimately… Well, I don’t want to spoil the dénouement for you, but if you can’t see the ending from the moment Grier douses the Prince you’ve never read a by-the-numbers historical romance.
The writing in this book is a notch below mediocre. On one page Grier is described as never losing her temper; a chapter later she’s thrown three hissy fits. Sevastian presses Grier to be his mistress almost immediately, a few pages later he tells her to stay away. Ms. Jordan repeatedly writes at great and poorly executed length exactly what her confusing characters are thinking… and they still don’t act in ways that make much sense. The sex scenes are off-putting. Even the physical descriptions of the settings in the story are confusing.
I truly disliked Grier. Time and time again in the tale, she behaves like a brat. I genuinely couldn’t see what Sevastian saw in her. I found it unbelievable (even within the constructs of this silly yarn) a wealthy, gorgeous prince with “fiery gold eyes” and hair “longer than was fashionable” would ever seriously consider a woman who behaved so tiresomely. In Sevastian’s defense, it takes him quite some time to come to care for Grier. He spends most of the book trying to get her in bed where, after slaking his lust, he still plans to unearth and wed some other more impressive female. When the two do finally end up between the sheets, he takes “what he needed, pounding into her ruthlessly.” Sevastian is more sexist pig than sexy prince. He and Grier deserve each other. I pity Maldania.
Take my advice: Don’t get caught in this bad romance.