I finally got my hands on Wicked (see review below) and read it first out of the new stack.
A late Victorian romance, it’s a spin on the old beauty and beast fable, with an Egyptology twist.
Drake packs it full of historical nuances, some which I fact checked and found to be in error. That was a bit disappointing. And unlike her other books that I had enjoyed so much, I found myself skimming a lot of what seemed like gratuitous action scenes.
Plus, I think I counted four times the heroine stormed out of the room during dinner with “The Beast.” By the third time, it just got silly. How many times can two people fight about the same thing over and over? And while we all love the hooker with the heart of gold (Pretty Woman!) and the peasant marries the prince, its just not believable here. Okay, so the heroine isn’t a prostitute. Perhaps that would have been more interesting.
I definitely won’t reach for Wicked again. Because the truth of the matter is, there was really nothing wicked about it, except maybe the excessive use of the word asp.
