YOUR WICKED WAYS

Author: Eloisa James ISBN: 0060560789 4/2004 HISTORICAL Publisher: HarperCollins/Avon
Time Period: Regency - 1816

Helene, the Countess Godwin, knows there is nothing more unbearably tedious than a virtuous woman. After all, she's been one for ten long years while her scoundrel of a husband lives with strumpets and causes scandal after scandal. So she decides it's time for a change -- she styles her hair in the newest, daring mode, puts on a shockingly transparent gown, and goes to a ball like Cinderella, hoping to find a prince charming to sweep her off her feet…and into his bed. But instead of a prince, she finds only her own volatile, infuriatingly handsome...husband, Rees, the Earl Godwin. They'd eloped to Gretna Green in a fiery passion, but passion can sometimes burn too hot to last. But now, Rees makes her a brazen offer, and Helene decides to become his wife again...but not in name only. No, this time she decides to be very, very wicked indeed.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

What can I say? Eloisa James' novels just do it for me. We visit with some old friends from stories gone by, without being bored to death about their history. And, we meet some new friends that we like, then don't, then like again!

Since aspiring musician/composer Helene, The Countess Godwin, is very deserving of her own story, I am so glad she gets exactly what she needs here. Mainly, her husband! A philandering, disrespectful man who once told Helene she wasn't cut out for the intimacies of marriage. He, in fact, isn't too good between the sheets himself!

Who can forget the crazy life Rees, the Earl of Godwin leads? There are live-in opera singers (with surprising ladylike qualities) and Russian dancers parading around his house while Helene lives with her mother. Only when Helene decides to have a child does Rees begin to pay attention to her. I suppose I should mention Helene has gone to drastic measures to insure that someone will want to give her a child. Naturally, her friend Esme is helping with her ugly-duckling-to-swan scheme.

With a mutual interest (namely a legal heir and help with their musical endeavors) Rees and Helene find themselves entwined in a real marriage. Neither of them expect such a partnership, since they were apart for many years, but both find so much more when they take the time to listen to one another. The passion then comes the way it should have in the first place.

Again, bravo to Eloisa James on continuing to raise the bar on good romance books. YOUR WICKED WAYS proves that some people are just born storytellers, as well as wonderfully imaginative writers.

Shannon Johnson