The Absolutely Positively Worst Man in England, Scotland and Wales by Anne Stuart

THE ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY WORST MAN IN ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND WALES is pure camp, in case you couldn't guess from the title. Anne Stuart was writing dark romances before dark romances were even really a thing, and people used to refer to her morally grey heroes as "gamma heroes," which, in the romance reader parlance, used to refer to brainy, scheming, morally ambiguous men who operated on the same continuum as a high-functioning sociopath.

She's been writing these sorts of books for decades and has it down to an artform at this point, although now that she's gone the self-publishing/small press route, I have noticed that her overusage of certain words has skyrocketed and the banter between characters has become circuitous. I'm a fan of her work so this was more amusing than annoying, but because of this I would recommend that people who are new to this author don't start with her newer books; they have, in essence, almost become endearing parodies of themselves.

THE ABSOLUTELY is about a man named Kit, who is frenemies with an old roue named George. George is engaged to an heiress named Bryony, whose freckles are basically her whole personality. Her companion is her cousin, Cecelia, a renowned beauty. Both of these girls are kidnapped by the men for nefarious purposes; George because he wants the money and Kit, simply because he's bored and figures it might be a good time. Kit is literally the worst, but his encounters with Bryony stymie him because he's unprepared for her blend of headstrong and combative innocence. A lot of this author's books follow this formula but I fucking LOVE it.

3.5 out of 5 stars