What do you think?
Rate this book
Carlisle Family #1
Wicked Under the Covers
Handsome, ambitious, and newly wealthy, Maccus Brawley has severed ties with his dangerous past and is close to securing his place in polite society. All he requires is some guidance in fashionable manners--and who better to instruct him than a young lady with breeding, brains, wealth…and a scandalous reputation? Lady Fayre Carlisle needs his help as much as he needs hers, but their scheme soon gives way to unbridled bliss. And although Maccus is known for his daring, dallying with the fiery, vulnerable beauty might be his riskiest venture yet.
With one false step, Fayre lost both her honor and her heart, thanks to her father's scheming ex-mistress. Others might retreat in shame from the ton 's gossipmongers, but Fayre is determined to pay back those who humiliated her, and Maccus Brawley is proving to be an unexpected and seductive ally. With all that Fayre has learned about temptation, how can she risk her heart a second time? Yet with every illicit encounter reaching new heights of passion, how can she resist?
With one false step, Fayre lost both her honor and her heart, thanks to her father's scheming ex-mistress. Others might retreat in shame from the ton 's gossipmongers, but Fayre is determined to pay back those who humiliated her, and Maccus Brawley is proving to be an unexpected and seductive ally. With all that Fayre has learned about temptation, how can she risk her heart a second time? Yet with every illicit encounter reaching new heights of passion, how can she resist?
338 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
1 person is currently reading
180 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Pierce
28 books59 followersHaving a rich English ancestry that can be traced back to the 1500s, BARBARA PIERCE credits her grandmother and the romantic family tales she was told as a child for inspiring her early fascination with English history.
Striving to balance her love of history with the need to tell a compelling story, she debuted in 2000 with A Desperate Game. Since then, she has created two successful family series, the Bedegraynes and the Carlisles.
In 2006, the first book in the Carlisle series, Wicked Under the Covers was nominated by Romantic Times for their prestigious Reviewer's Choice Award for Most Sensual Historical. In 2007, Sinful Between the Sheets received the same nomination, and went on to win the award.
Barbara also writes Regency historicals under the pseudonym, Alexandra Hawkins. Her popular Lords of Vice series continues to hit the USA Today Bestseller lists. To learn more about this series, visit her website at: www.alexandrahawkins.com
Striving to balance her love of history with the need to tell a compelling story, she debuted in 2000 with A Desperate Game. Since then, she has created two successful family series, the Bedegraynes and the Carlisles.
In 2006, the first book in the Carlisle series, Wicked Under the Covers was nominated by Romantic Times for their prestigious Reviewer's Choice Award for Most Sensual Historical. In 2007, Sinful Between the Sheets received the same nomination, and went on to win the award.
Barbara also writes Regency historicals under the pseudonym, Alexandra Hawkins. Her popular Lords of Vice series continues to hit the USA Today Bestseller lists. To learn more about this series, visit her website at: www.alexandrahawkins.com
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 28, 2009
Not your typical insipid Regency romance, this first chapter in the saga of the Carlisle family features Lady Fayre who disgraces herself by falling in love with the deceitful Lord Standish and allowing him to deflower her at the behest of Fayre's father's scorned ex-mistress. Fayre's mother takes time out from her own dalliances to grieve over her daughter's lost innocence and Fayre's brother Fayne vows to avenge her but Fayre plans to exact her own revenge, as soon as she figures out a plan. Add to this bewildering mixture one newly wealthy Maccus Brawley (former smuggler) who is attempting to gain respectability and sees Fayre as his ticket to acceptance. Fayre and Maccus join forces with entirely different goals in mind but reluctantly succumb to their mutual attraction which alters their stated goals into a tumultuous relationship. The ending is a bit stilted and the pace a bit frenetic but the overall story is enjoyable.
April 10, 2009
This book had such an unsympathetic heroine that I couldn't care about anything that happened to her.
May 12, 2009
This was my first book by this author, as well as being the first in her Carlisle Family series.
Although enjoyable, it's not a story I would be likely to pick up again. Early on in the book, the hero sees the heroine meet her mother in a restaurant - historical blunder there, as that type of establishment didn't exisit in that period.
I did like the hero, but felt that the ending was unsatisfactory. There were plenty of loose threads to tie up, but I felt it could have been handled better; I wanted to revel in the satisfaction of the villain and villainess getting their comeuppance but didn't quite get that, and the reunion of the hero and heroine pretty much decended into farce! It was too much.
Enjoyable enough, but I'm not tempted enough to pick up the sequel.
Although enjoyable, it's not a story I would be likely to pick up again. Early on in the book, the hero sees the heroine meet her mother in a restaurant - historical blunder there, as that type of establishment didn't exisit in that period.
I did like the hero, but felt that the ending was unsatisfactory. There were plenty of loose threads to tie up, but I felt it could have been handled better; I wanted to revel in the satisfaction of the villain and villainess getting their comeuppance but didn't quite get that, and the reunion of the hero and heroine pretty much decended into farce! It was too much.
Enjoyable enough, but I'm not tempted enough to pick up the sequel.
March 25, 2013
Maccus Brawley is a wealthy ex-smuggler wanting to gain a footing in the ton with the help of Lady Fayre, who is fighting a scandal following her seduction by another gentleman and desires nothing more than revenge on the two people behind her humiliation. Maccus and Fayre form an unlikely alliance to help each other and in the process discover the hidden depths in each other. Can their mutual passion translate into something more lasting or will they go their separate ways?
BP’s writing style is patchy-some parts flow well whereas others seem repetitive. Also she seems to time and again slip from keeping true to the norms and mores of behaviour of the time. In Maccus and Fayre, BP has created two characters with promise, only a little of which is realised.
BP’s writing style is patchy-some parts flow well whereas others seem repetitive. Also she seems to time and again slip from keeping true to the norms and mores of behaviour of the time. In Maccus and Fayre, BP has created two characters with promise, only a little of which is realised.
September 16, 2010
Nothing I'm prepared to rave about but I've read worse and Barbara kept me interested. London ton Society was presented in a new light compared to what I typically find. Her's was a society of degenerates. Still the premise was intriguing but the ending fell flat. What the author tried for as a climax didn't work at all. Not for me anyway.
May 28, 2015
This one took too long to get started. The first half of the book drug and by the time the action really started I wasn't all that interested, which is a shame because the end would have been way more satisfying if I has been.
July 9, 2016
Have it in paperback by Barbara pierce/Alexandra Hawkins . Regency. 1809. Hero is Marcus . Heroine is Fayne . Marcus was a smuggler . Fayne is a dukes daughter . This story is about love , betrayal and revenge .
May 4, 2008
Book 3 by Pierce. Good.
May 8, 2008
Readable, but not the greatest example of the genre.
June 6, 2016
A good solid historical romance. Marcus is a good hero, but Fayre is a little too stiff at times. It was a good story and definitely kept my attention. I am looking forward to book 2.
October 15, 2020
Fell in love with this book, this author again!!!
July 15, 2018
Handsome, ambitious, and newly wealthy, Maccus Brawley has severed ties with his dangerous past and is close to securing his place in polite society. All he requires is some guidance in fashionable manners--and who better to instruct him than a young lady with breeding, brains, wealth…and a scandalous reputation? Lady Fayre Carlisle needs his help as much as he needs hers, but their scheme soon gives way to unbridled bliss. And although Maccus is known for his daring, dallying with the fiery, vulnerable beauty might be his riskiest venture yet.
With one false step, Fayre lost both her honor and her heart, thanks to her father's scheming ex-mistress. Others might retreat in shame from the ton's gossipmongers, but Fayre is determined to pay back those who humiliated her, and Maccus Brawley is proving to be an unexpected and seductive ally. With all that Fayre has learned about temptation, how can she risk her heart a second time? Yet with every illicit encounter reaching new heights of passion, how can she resist?
**
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews