A
Genre: Historical: European, Romance
Well, that was just delightful. I loved every single minute of Brazen and the Beast, even the melodramatic bits. This historical is Book 2 in the Bareknuckle Bastards series and although I had no trouble starting here, I do plan to read the first book since they are closely connected.
Lady Henrietta Sedley (Hattie) is still single at twenty-nine and determined to make this The Year of Hattie. It’s a four stage plan: Business, Home, Fortune, Future. Step One is to lose her virginity, thus sealing her unmarriagibility. She and her fabulous best friend Nora, who deserves her own book and possibly an entire series, head to a high class brothel that caters to women so she can get that pesky step taken care of. It’s very practical. Allow me to say, for what will not be the last time in this review, that I adore Hattie and I adore Nora and the fact that they are not the stars of a television series about pirate queens is a crime.
Anyway, when Hattie gets in her carriage she discovers that there’s a stunningly handsome man in it who is unconscious and tied up. She makes sure he’s not dead, kicks him out of the carriage, and goes on her way. He shows up at the brothel and explains that he wants the name of the person who stole from him, attacked him and put him in the carriage, and he has reason to believe that Hattie knows this name. Hattie suspects it was her idiotic brother, Augie, but of course she’s not going to tell this strange man that fact. Eventually the guy, whose real name is Whit, tells Hattie that his name is Beast, which she finds duly ridiculous, and they make an arrangement that Whit will “relieve” Hattie of her virginity after she returns what was stolen. A battle of wits and sexual attraction is on.
There’s plenty of plot here but basically what we have is Hattie vs. the Patriarchy and Hattie vs. Whit but also Hattie allied with Whit, who is the only person who is both wildly attracted to Hattie and also truly respectful of her – not in the sense of manners but in the sense that he respects and appreciates her intelligence, her business acumen, her drive, and her autonomy. Hattie grew up learning every detail of her father’s shipping business, but her father is set against leaving the business to Hattie because Hattie is a woman. No amount of evidence that Hattie is more capable than her brother changes his mind.
Meanwhile, Whit’s biggest enemy is his own past, plus a brother who wants to kill him. Whit has tons of brooding angsty baggage about his abusive upbringing which means that he is very protective of his own people (employees and family). It also means that the reader, and Hattie, constantly want to hug him despite the fact that he prides himself on being terrifying. All Whit wants to do is protect his business, protect the people who work for him, and protect Hattie. Hattie will have none of it. She’s not TSTL, she knows she has some limits, but Hattie in a towering rage is a sight to see. Have I mentioned that I adore her? I adore her.
It’s hard not to spoil Hattie’s reaction to finally meeting a man who has, for all intents and purposes, been described as the boogeyman. It’s hard not to spoil her answer to what seems like a business coup de grace. All I can say is that while Whit is a glorious character (brooding, protective, emotionally wounded yet sensitive, and appreciative of Hattie’s smarts) this is Hattie’s book.
This book is funny, sexy, and empathetic towards its characters. It does tend towards the melodramatic so readers will have to decide if melodrama is a feature or a bug. The supporting characters are wonderful (or infuriating, depending on which character we are speaking of). The ambience is flawless. It’s also notable that neither Hattie nor Whit are members of the aristocracy. Hattie’s family is rich, but her father is a businessman, after all, and Whit’s background is best referred to as “complicated.” I will re-read this book many times, but first I have to read the previous book in the series!
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YAY! I have been waiting for this since I read the first book and latched on to Whit. I liked the first book, but the hero kept referring to the heroine by her full name “Felicity Faircloth” which i found annoying as crap. This one i’ve been living for.
I read the first one and although I love love love Sarah MacLean, i just wasn’t feeling the love for the plot. But I will happily give this one a while since it sounds so delightful. Thanks for the review!
Ah, good! I read the first book in this series (“Wicked & the Wallflower”) because of Felicity Faircloth – she’s a minor, & memorable, character in “Day of the Duchess”, so I was interested in seeing what happened to her. I wasn’t bowled over by “Wicked”, but this one sounds interesting. Good thing I apparently already have it on preorder!
At library 1, I’m #64 on 1 copy. Library 2 is marginally better at #55 on 1 copy. Library #3 simply isn’t responding. Carrie S, your wonderful review just makes it that much worse. Sigh.
I started reading romance in the 70s, melodrama is my jam.
Finally a good HR to look forward to.
I planned to read it because its Sarah MacLean and that cover (inside cover is fantastic too though I never remember what those are called). So happy to know that this book is as good as I wanted it to be.
A while back, I DNF’d a Sarah McLean book, don’t remember which one, and haven’t read anything else by her since. Carrie S’s review and the follow up comments have sold me on giving her another try. I am lucky number 13 in the queue at my local library and am ready for some melodrama.
If Hattie is not an aristocrat, why is she Lady Henrietta Sedley?
Number 3 on 18 copies at the library. Squee!
I really didn’t like Wicked and the Wallflower, so I didn’t preorder this one, and now I kind of regret that. But I’m on hold at the library, so if it’s that good, I can always buy it later. I’ve enjoyed a lot of Sarah’s books (and I *adored* The Rogue Not Taken), but I think I’ve decided that she’s a library author for me and not a pre-order/purchase author. I do love the list of romance recommendations on her website, though. I’ve found some amazing stories that way.
This one was pretty good, but I felt like a lot of Hattie’s accomplishments as a businesswomen were informed attributes instead of explored, developed traits in my opinion.
OK, I’m still at work but while the paychecks printed, I read the first few pages.
“She’d learned, for example, that if a lady could not get away with wearing trousers (an unfortunate reality for the daughter of an earl, even one who had begun life without title or fortune), then she should absolutely ensure that her skirts included pockets.”
I think I’m a little bit in love with Hattie already. (And yes, all my trousers have pockets. I haven’t worn a skirt since my wedding in 1993, but if I did, by god, it would have pockets too!)
MacLean baffles me why she writes historical romances and then completely disregards the vernacular and mien of the era she’s writing about. It’s been years since I finished one of her books.
I am Team Hattie for life! I adored this book from start to finish. And you’re in for a treat with the first book!
I’m starting my library copy this afternoon, huzzah! The Year of Hattie gives me major Seinfeld “I declare this the Summer of George!” vibes, and the crossover in my head greatly amuses me..
@ Ms M – Hattie’s father became an earl for bravery at sea, so they didn’t start out titled, and it’s not hereditary.
@Vivi2 I’ll be damned. I had thought life peers were a recent thing (and could only be barons/baronesses). Learn something new everynday!
I AGREE! I loved this book!
HATTIE IS A PHENOMENAL CHARACTER! I would love, love, love to read something about Nora too. She is just amazing.
Hattie was relentless, bold, and damn well amazing. It was so nice to read such a brilliant character, and her insecurity or rather self-doubt regarding her appearance was interesting considering how she is quite confident in every other aspect of her life. And Whit to appreciate everything about her was just swoon-worthy. Whit overall was 110% swoon-worthy. I can’t get enough of him. And boy, can that man talk dirty.
Side note: I would love to read more books where the heroine is confident in her looks and everything about herself. I know we don’t have that in real life but it would be nice.
Having read the first book in the series, I highly recommend reading that. Super good! Devil and Felicity are a great pair. I would rate Brazen and the Beast 5 stars and book 1 a 4. But still quite nice.
I am looking forward to the third book!
Sadly,no, I didn’t care for this book. Too much lust without character development. Convoluted plot, w peculiar twists. Why doesn’t Ewan attack Felicity to hurt Devil? Why does he not follow thru on threat to hurt Hattie? And while I love a plucky female, this one was so far out of bounds I couldn’t believe in her enough to care. Now Nik and Nora (love the Fitzgerald nod) had potential, left unexplored. Sigh.
@me M – once again learning about history from fiction! (Of course I almost never fact check…)
I liked this one better than Felicity and Devil’s story, but I am not really looking forward to the next book. Ewan is a Very Bad Man and I do not think there is any level of redemption and groveling that will make hm ok. Grace may forgive him, but will his brothers? They shouldn’t. I was rereading the good parts (aka the parts without Malcolm) from Day of the Duchess recently and it just reminded me of how disappointing that book was. Sera deserved better! So does Grace.
At the very least we deserve a Nik and Nora novella.
Super-late to the party here – just finished B&tB a few nights ago and really enjoyed it (though I was stunned at how much both the brothers end up TALKING towards the end of both Book 1 and Book 2. I am Team Hattie all the way.
I do have a few ‘record scratch’ moments with MacLean’s writing style, where contemporary references just… land… in the midst of a period piece. But they are minor.
Really looking forward to reading Ewan’s and Grace’s story – giving myself a break so I don’t burn out. But he’s been the bete noire through both Book 1 and Book 2 and his damaged psyche is even more compelling and interesting than Devil’s and Beast’s. We’ll see how it’s managed. Hope springs that he gets some version of HEA.