The Wicked Lover

Georgian #2

by Julia Ross

It was the last thing he expected...to catch a beautiful intruder disguised as a man, rummaging through his bedroom. The fair lady claimed she was stealing one of his cravats for a wager, but Robert Sinclair Dovenby—known throughout fashionable London as Dove—suspects there is far more to "George" than meets the eye.

Little does Dove imagine, however, that Sylvie Georgiana, Countess of Montevrain, is an agent hired to determine whether he's guilty of treason. To uncover his well-guarded secrets, Sylvie finds herself having to stay dangerously close to her mischievous adversary. But when the masquerade comes undone, will she be able to betray the one man she thinks she could love?

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Historical, Georgian, Mystery, Suspense, Espionage

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 3, 2004

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

See Julia Ross for health subjects.

Reviews

[Aneca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those books that sat in my TBR pile for so long that I totally forgot why I put it there. Continuing my attempt to reduce the mentioned pile last week decided to pick it up. It is a spy story with a twist.


The story opens with the hero's mistress, Lady Grenham, setting his clothes on fire and so kicking him out of her life. Dove, the hero, is a bit surprised but takes it in stride after he finds out that she had found another woman in his bedchamber. The woman in the bedchamber, supposedly his other lover is accompanied by a manservant that Dove soon realises is a woman. The woman is Sylvie, the widow countess of Montevrain who has been helping the Duke of Yveshire by finding information that more orthodox spies cannot. The fact is that the Duke blames Dove for the death of his brother and wants Sylvie to uncover information that can ruin him.


The plot sounded interesting although one could predictably guess that Dove wouldn't be the villain that Sylvie believed him to be. Unfortunately, in the end, the story did not work for me... The thing is that Sylvie and Dove were not that interesting to me and I found myself thinking of giving up their story several times. There wasn't enough tension between them and Sylvie wasn't anguished enough by her decision of spying on the man she was falling for. There's a mystery for most of the book about what really happened between Dove and Yveshire's brother and when all is revealed I was sorry that that was not a part of the story also. It would have provided the angst that I felt the story needed. And I must say I would have loved to know more about Iveshire and Lady Grenham's relationship.

Grade: 3.5/5

[Tim Covell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great opening scene, and a good setup, if a little over the top: the heroine, disguised as a man, works her way into the household of a murder, through very convoluted means, to gather evidence against him. He immediately sees through the disguise, but is curious as to who is spying on him, and plays along.

It's a change to go back to the Georgian era, there are some fun set pieces (I love masquerade scenes), and the woman in disguise trope allows for conversations about the respective social roles of women and men. The heroine is relatively strong and liberated, having slept with several men to get information from them in her career as a spy, but much is made of her being equivalent to a virgin, since she's never had a decent lover, and I found that dodge tiresome.

There's good sexual tension, but a little too much intrigue and misdirection, with the truth about the murder taking far too long to be revealed, for increasingly thin reasons. When the truth finally comes out, in a decidedly anti-climactic manner, there's a flurry of rapid apologies, relationship resolutions, and a last minute crisis that comes out of left field and feels unnecessary.

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel is a slow burn. Sylvie Georgiana has been hired by the Duke of Yveshire to find evidence to lead to the downfall of Robert Dovenby aka Dove, for the death of his younger brother. Disguised as a boy, she attempts to infiltrate his household and gather evidence. However, Dove already sees through her disguise and attempts to uncover her true purpose in a long cat and mouse chase that takes up the majority of the novel.

The explanations and action happen late in the novel. In fact, compared to the excruciatingly long slow burn of the intrigue between Dove and Sylvie, everything just gets wrapped up too quick and perhaps a bit too tidy. The plot very much runs like a gothic novel minus the dark castle and evil guardian. The twists and turns are very convoluted. The reveal at the end comes out of nowhere and the development falls very short compared to the beginning. In spite of it, it still is a very engaging story.

[Susan Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about sex. Yes, there's also a story, but the main plot is the H and h lusting after each other with lots of imagery and then having sex continuously.

Dove is brilliant, charasmatic, drop dead gorgeous and an excellent lover. He's also kind, honorable and generous. And wrongly thought by a Duke to be a monster who killed the Duke's brother.

Sylvie works for the Duke. In spite of seeing that Dove is constantly thinking of others, she still doubts his innocence for most of the book. In the end, everything ties up, although I found some of these gross or unnecessary.

*****************************Spoilers*******************************

Berthe shoots Dove and gets off with no consequences. And Tanner ends up marrying this deceitful, unpleasant girl. Tanner is old enough to be her father as she's supposed be in her mid teens. Ugh!

Towards the end of the book, radical propaganda is found in Dove's print shop, put there by machinations of the Duke. When the Duke finds out the true nature of his brother and Dove's involvement, there's a problem. He doesn't want Dove hanged. But someone needs to take the fall. Who better than George White, who doesn't actually exist? So here's where I have a problem. Sylvie overhears this. Sylvie is supposed to be extremely intelligent. So why does she think Dove is going to let her hang instead of realizing her alter-ego is the perfect fall guy. She's so upset she tries to kill Dove. It just made no sense.

The last bit of info about Dove's birth parents was also odd as it changed absolutely nothing about Dove's past or future aside from the rattle he was left with as a baby actually belonged to the Duke. It seemed superfluous.

[PoligirlReads · Rating 2 out of 5]

Awww, man. The second book in the Georgian series falls squarely within the category of "it was okay." Which is a real disappointment considering how good the first book, The Seduction, was. The quality of the writing was there, but that was about it.

The biggest issue is that there are no stakes here. None at all. There's no tension, nothing that makes you want to flip the page. Lots of telling and not enough showing. The lover isn't even that wicked. That's a title you have to earn, sir! The thing is, given the context--spy determined to destroy a perceived murderer--is good. You could do a lot with that...but Ross doesn't. The book just kind of drifts along, rather repetitively, until it just sort of ends with a lame and unearned happily ever after. George/Sylvie has an interesting background in theory, but you just don't feel that invested in her. And don't get me started on Berthe...

I'm really bummed about this, because Dove seemed so interesting and intriguing in the previous book. And in terms of a resume, I suppose he still is, it's just this isn't fully conveyed in this book.

[Debby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sylvie Georgiana, Countess of Montevrain became a spy for England after being widowed and impoverished in Italy. Her latest mission is to infiltrate Robert Sinclair Dovenby's household - as a man, to try and get something on him for the Duke of Yveshire. Yveshire thinks Dove deliberately ruined his brother, Edward Vane. In fact, Edward was involved in an operation that drugged young girls and then sexually abused them. When he kidnapped and raped Lady Margaret, Countess of Grenham's young daughter when she rejected Edward in favor of his brother, she enlists Dove to get revenge. Dove pretends to befriend him and slowly bankrupts him and uses the money to pay back those he's defrauded. Edward is finally killed in a duel but Yveshire blames Dove, not knowing what Edward was doing. George falls in love with Dove but doesn't understand the whole story. When Margaret finally releases him from his vow of secrecy it's almost too late, but they do finally pull off a happy ending.

[penelopewanders]

This has been on my TBR shelves for a number of years - ten! - and now I put it in the bag of books to bring down to Mallorca.
This is described by some as a sort of spy story, but the spying is not the usual type of spying in this type of historical novel -on the French or the English. Granted the character in question has spied for the English in the past... but it's unrelated to this story.
I'm a bit on the fence with this - on one level I enjoyed it, but felt it dragged a lot of the time, and the relationship between Sylvie and her "puppet master" was very strange.
Likewise Berthe's role was unusual - relatively important in some ways but treated like a parenthesis.
An interesting read, but not a favorite.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I choose to read this book because of woman wearing a breech and have a freedom as a man.

I enjoyed this read. It was exciting, sadness, vulnerability and love all thru the jorney. I'm so glad Dove and Sylvia are finally together and in love! ♥️

[Erika wickwire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, plenty of romance, suspense and steaminess. I mean, with a title like The Wicked Lover, I expected nothing less.

[Tanu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why would you use American spellings in a British regency romance!? Totally ruined the flow every time

[Valerie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring

[Michael K · Rating 4 out of 5]

All I can really say is that the writing is particularly elegant and beautiful. The sentences are almost flawless and there's a beauty in the phrasing that isn't seen often within romance books.
To some, that can be more dramatic and fun, to other readers, however, that can be a pain in the butt.

While it took me a little while to get into the story, and appreciate the plot, I never quite got over the wording. Ms Ross is a talented lady, and she has a unique turn of phrase that just makes the story seem superfluous. The dialogue is witty, charming, and oftentimes brilliantly paced. However at some points, the action is almost an afterthought.

Regardless, this was a good tale. Even if the focus is more on the storytelling rather than the story.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Historical romance. A woman disguises herself as a man to get at the truth behind the rogue who will become her lover. Okay, not one of Ross' best.

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

“very entertaining, and actually pretty well written, even with a fair amount of writing being devoted to sexual encounters.”