Christi Caldwell: The Wolf of Mayfair

USA Today bestselling author Christi Caldwell weaves a sensuous tale of innocence lost in this blistering romance about a young woman on the run and the lecherous cad she can't seem to resist.

I don't want visitors. But when the butler says the caller is a she, I spring to attention. The night just got a lot more interesting.

Turns out the recently orphaned Helia Wallace has come to see my mother, her godmother, for help with a dastardly, dowry-chasing cousin. A likely story. But there's a snowstorm brewing, and she begs me to let her stay the night. I reluctantly agree.

It's her reputation at stake, not mine.

With the duke and duchess wintering elsewhere, Horace House is all mine. I'm free to do whatever I want. And what I want is Helia. The Marquess of Wingrave and virgins don't typically mix, but this one's different--too bad I could ruin her forever.

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

CW: domestic violence, assault, grief, accidental death, serious illness

This is a book that is as much a tense character study of falling in love than it is anything else.  On a stormy winter night, a young waif shows up at the beastly future Duke’s family home in London and what unfolds is both a tribute to Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast.  I was never sure which was the author’s goal, but I think there are similarities that if either of these archaetypes are your jam, you will be loving the flavor.

The MC is a tortured and mean as hell rake, recently left to his own devices in the family London home to stalk the halls like a wounded animal.  He is at first a monster, snarling and snapping and terrifying to all but the intrepid heroine MC. She is a wisp of a thing, hailing from Scotland in search of a last connection to save her from a terrible fate.

If it sounds a touch gothic and melodramatic, well it is.  But for readers who love an alpha-hole felled by the love of a pure hearted woman, this one is for you.

I have provided a content warning due to many mature themes and content that is not a light holiday read.  Its as moody and broody as its hero, and although there is action, the real tension is between the two MCs.  There is also a fair amount of consensual pre-marital intimacy on page, that I found alternatively sensual and uninteresting. I did read this book quickly, finding it captured my interest, but I have long sense realized that a hero with an imposing nature is not really my cup of tea. Loathe to tinge this review with too much of my preference, I will only say that this is not a read for laughs or swoony gestures, at least not until the end. Cat and mouse, Red and Wolf, or Beauty and Beast, we have a struggle for power, intimacy, and love.

Winter storms, Frost Fair on the Thames, and steamy scenes make this a moody read for December, when you want something between a gothic story and a respun fairy tale.  I recommend for mature readers who love an alpha-hole hero and a fiesty heroine who battle against love, only to find it is the very thing that saves them.