Reviewed for Wit and Sin

A lusty artist meets his match in a confident printer’s daughter in Willful Depravity. Ingrid Hahn has delivered an erotic historical romance with a lot of potential and mixed results.

One of my favorite things about this story was Patience’s self-love. She’s spent her whole life hearing that she should lose weight, that she’d be pretty if only she did, but Patience is happy with how she looks and I loved that. Her confidence only grows over the course of the story and the positivity in this book was one of its best features. Giles, the depraved marquess, is immediately captivated by Patience. It’s lust at first sight for both of them and there is plenty of enjoyable, steamy scenes throughout the book. Yet while the attraction between them is undeniable and I had no problem believing they would risk plenty to have a lusty holiday, I had a bit harder time believing in the love story part of it. There isn’t much romantic development in Willful Depravity, which is a pity. The characters tell us they’re in love, but there’s no real indication of why, aside from a physical attraction. The romance element rang false, and perhaps if the characters had been a bit more layered the actual romance would have worked better.

The road to happily ever after is not an easy one for Patience and Giles. The main obstacle is Giles’s father, whose sneering contempt definitely comes alive on the page. But the man is such a black-hatted villain that he fell flat and I didn’t really buy the somewhat clunky resolution to his plotline. There’s a lot of potential to Willful Depravity, but it did fall short on a couple of fronts. That being said, it’s not a bad book and I really liked a lot of the elements. Patience is a likeable, relatable heroine and Giles is a sexy, fun hero. With characters like that, it’s impossible not to like their story, flaws and all.


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

Grace’s family was a noble family and Ava was a commoner but Ava had been taken in by in by Grace’s family. Ava and Grace are like sisters. After Grace’s mom died there was only the girls and Grace’s sickly father and her step brother Vincent. Vincent had tried to force himself on Grace and he had also made advances to Grace.  Vincent was a vile man. Ava comes up with a plan so she and Grace can escape. Grace is to marry Tor her father’s business partner and Ava will be her maid/companion. Then they are off to Scotland but Grace got cold cold feet so Ava pretended to be her.  But Tir won’t let them in  and told them to go back home but that is not an option for the two women so Ava talks Tor into letting them in and getting to know her. R Tor had been tricked into marriage before and his first wife had lied to him so he kicked her out but when she died he felt guilty about her death. Tor wanted nothing to do with marriage and a wife who may be another liar. Tor’s father had recently died but had asked Tor to marry Grace his business partner’s daughter to keep his clan safe from the English. Then a previous lover of Tor’s is widowed and returns to the castle as she still wants Tor. Ava sees Tor but not him pushing the woman away.  

I loved this book. I loved the plot and pace and I felt it was well written. I loved Grace’s and Ava’s relationship; I chuckled at times while reading this book. I loved how Tor changed as the book went on. A lot of emotions come through in this book. I loved the mystery and suspense in this book also. There  was also some hot love scenes. I hated Vincent and was glad he got what was coming to him. I loved Tor’s loyalty to his clan. I loved the characters and the ins and outs to this book and I highly recommend.

George/Max’s is the Earl of Maxfield and his  mom is raising his sister’s son Thomas who is a rambunctious five year old. Max’s sister had been dead more than a year now and the death had affected his mom badly. Not only her health but her ability to watch an active five year old. So Max wants to take Thomas and raise him. But his mother fears Max’s reputation and being wild does not show he’s a good guardian. So Max comes up with a plan to have a fake fiance to show his mother he has changed and is responsible. Max felt Phoebe would be the perfect choice.  Max knows something about Phoebe's sister Isobel and will use it to blackmail Phoebe if he has to. Phoebe doesn’t ever want to marry. Phoebe is shocked when Max asks her to go along with a fake engagement. Phoebe refuses until Max uses blackmail then she has some rules of her own. So Max and Phoebe goes on with the fake engagement. Phoebe ends up blackmailing Max back. Max never wanted to marry because his father was mad and how he treated his mom and family. Max was afraid he would end up like his dad Phoebe is wary of gossip and scandal especially since her father’s gambling habit had left his family broke and their place in society taken away.

I had mixed feelings on this story. I did enjoy a lot of it. I did like the plot. I also liked the interaction between Max and Phoebe.. I liked them together for the most part. But I didn’t see a lot of chemistry between Phoebe and Max. Alos why is Max so worried he will go mad and he won’t take the chance of treating a wife and his child like his dad had yet he would have Thomas and could be bad for Thomas who would be raised as Max’s for all intents and purposes. I thought Phoebe was too pushy about marriage and what happened to never getting married. I liked this but it just wasn’t a favorite of mine. As I said I had mixed feelings on this book.