Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt

 

This book is the epitome of "I cured your sad dick with my magic vajayjay" and if that is triggering in any way to you, you will not enjoy this book.

WICKED INTENTIONS has been on my to-read list for a while and I put off reading it because I started with DUKE OF SIN and none of the other Maiden Lane books I picked up after it could match my love for Val. But I've been on a morally grey historical romance kick lately and a negative review for this book describing it as too dark and too smutty had me thinking that I had better read this asap.*

*Anyone who tells you that negative reviews hurt sales is lying

Lazarus is a lord who is searching the dark streets of London for the man who murdered his mistress. For help, he goes to Temperence Makepeace, who runs a children's home for orphans. After the death of their only benefactor, the home is on its last legs and all of the inhabitants are in danger of returning to the streets, so Lazarus offers to pay Temperance the money she needs for her help with the investigation.

***WARNING: SPOILERS TO COME***

This book is darker than the pastel cover would lead you to expect, which is perhaps another reason why some people don't like this book. It's not quite gothic, but it is gothic-adjacent, and doesn't whitewash the hardscrabble life of the Georgian poor in London. Filthy streets, prostitution, and exploitation of minors. No, this is a historical-romance that did not have me thinking, "Ah, what a delightful escape." So those who prefer their regency romances to be wallpaper historicals set mostly in clean ballrooms and little parlors are going to be pissed off, reading this. Also, the names are SO EXTRA. Temperance. Winter. Lazarus. Mother Heart's-Ease. Silence.

Silence.

...I think... I like it?

*cue kombucha girl meme*

I also liked the darker elements. I also LOVED the hero, who gives off tortured, dangerous vibes-- in the beginning. About halfway through the book, though, he undergoes a weird character transformation, where suddenly he doesn't provoke Temperance anymore, he just kind of worships her. Mindlessly. Which is totally fun, but also didn't really feel like it suited his character. His emotional disconnect and touch-aversion initially made me think he was a victim of child abuse, but when that did not prove to be the case, I wondered if maybe he was autistic or perhaps alexithymic (like the character in Sohn Won-Pyung's ALMOND). But it's never really revealed what his deal is, and sex with the heroine (and love for the heroine) "cures" him. He even says as much. Talk about restorative powers.

Temperance was a decent heroine. We learn from the beginning of the book that she likes to punish herself out of guilt for something unspecified. It turns out that something unspecified is that she cheated on her husband. It turns out she had a high sex drive and he had a low one, so she cheated on him because he gaslit her about being morally weak for wanting to sleep with him. Which I'm torn about. On the one hand, emotional abuse is super gross and women should be able to ask for sex. On the other hand, I hate cheating, and twenty-first century sex positivity doesn't really fit in Georgian England.

My favorite part of the book was actually between Temperance's sister, Silence, and the pirate guy. The way he sexually humiliated her without even touching her was fucked-up hot, although I felt SO BAD for her and what the outcome of that event was. Actually, I own pirate guy's romance and I was initially not excited for it at all (his name is Mickey lol) but now I kind of am. Kinky pirates, am I right?

So in the end, I ended up torn. The gothic vibes and dreary atmosphere were excellent. It actually had just the right amount of sex scenes for a smutty historical romance, in my opinion, and most of them developed the characters and their relationships. I wish the characters' traumas had been better integrated, though, and I'm still not entirely sure what Lazarus's deal was. It made me think about how psychological trauma is often milked for drama in gothic (or gothic adjacent!) novels but never fully explored. Authors just wiggle their fingers and give their characters symptoms that are easy to cure.*

*But only with monogamous love-sex

Also the fairytale story at the beginning of each chapter was ridiculous. "I loved you from the moment you had your guards drag me up to you and you threatened me with death?" Lmao, what.

I know it sounds like I didn't like this but I actually did. I read it in a single day. Brilliant.

3.5 to 4 out of 5 stars