Wicked All Day (Lorimer Family & Clan Cameron #5) in Alpha Heroes & Spitfire Heroines

Sep 12, 2009 Eastofoz rated it it was ok

Shelves: historical-regency, books-with-cooties, 2010

Does this book ever suck the big one from start to finish and god knows I really tried to like it because it came well-recommended and seems to have made some best of 2009 lists. I don’t know how that could happen when everything and the kitchen sink appear to have been thrown in and the h/h are barely together throughout the novel. Maybe the reader is more forgiving if they read the other books in the series I don’t know.

Stuart and Zoë have known each other since childhood. She’s good friends w Does this book ever suck the big one from start to finish and god knows I really tried to like it because it came well-recommended and seems to have made some best of 2009 lists. I don’t know how that could happen when everything and the kitchen sink appear to have been thrown in and the h/h are barely together throughout the novel. Maybe the reader is more forgiving if they read the other books in the series I don’t know.

Stuart and Zoë have known each other since childhood. She’s good friends with his brother Robin. Stuart tries to “fix” a bit of a “mishap” between the two and eventually realizes that he’s really loved Zoë all these years. Sounds good right? Well you’re wrong. It’s so convoluted with this that and the other that when you’re done reading you’re mighty glad it’s finished.

This is supposed to be a love/hate story and it is to a certain point, but it’s hard to get a feel for this romance when you’re 150 pages in and the h/h have barely said boo to each other and nothing really happens until around page 190. That’s some serious filler there. It’s presented as background info but you keep wondering when the story is going to start. The tension building is a complete mess, so much so that when the h/h do get together (which is only sporadically) it’s not believable and I for one wasn’t feeling the “love”. The steam is steamy in some parts but the emotion is missing.

None of the main characters are likable which makes this book drag and drag right to the bitter end. Zöe is TSTL one time too many. Really she’s just a flighty spaz that the author tried to make look like someone who’s carefree but she does one stupid thing after another and rarely thinks before she acts. You can have an adventurous, risk taking heroine but she can’t be an idiot and Zoë is unfortunately just that :-/ Carlyle tried to make her appear like she’d matured at the end of the book but it’s tough to buy because it was all so sudden. As for Stuart, he’s so stuffy it’s suffocating. Yeah opposites attract and all but there’s no way these two could’ve believably gotten together. He puts her down way too much and some parts I thought were unforgivable. He needed to be kicked to the curb and she needed to move on. She also keeps trying to change him which got old. Then there’s dumbass whiny Robin. Yet another one who needed a wake up call. His friendship with Zoë is light and fun but then became tiresome.

If infidelity in romance novels bothers you then steer clear of this book because it happens more than once and between different characters. I can’t say that it bothered me but it made the heroine look cheap that she could fall in and out of bed just like that. I can accept that in a contemporary but it doesn’t seem to work as well in a historical. One of the secondary characters also does some cheating even though he regrets it big time but again it just doesn’t work the way it’s presented because he was going on and on about his great love for his mistress –so why cheat then buddy? This just seemed more like an attitude for a modern day read than a historical. The hate between the h/h feels very forced especially from the hero. I can see a hero who fights against his feelings but here the author was trying too hard to get the message across that he didn’t like the heroine.

There are too many sub-stories in this novel which is frustrating and the author takes too long to get back to the main story. The men are also criers, a bit too emotionally fragile for me.

I can’t say I liked the writing style either. The sentence structure is unnatural at times as if the author is trying to insist that she’s writing a regency –get it slow reader (!) Some sentences just didn’t flow properly because of the weird syntax or choice of vocabulary. If the reader starts noticing something like that then there’s a problem.

A lot of patience is needed to get through this book. The print is tiny, the narration is dense at times and the plot just doesn’t move. 2.5 stars is about all I can give it and Liz Carlyle gets crossed off my list of authors for good. Complete waste of time :-/
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Nov 13, 2009 Karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2009-reads

Wicked All Day tells the story of Zoë Armstrong and Stuart Rowland, the Marquess of Mercer. Zoe is the illegitimate daughter of Elliott Armstrong, the Marquess of Rannoch and Stuart's parents are Jonet Rowland and Cole Amherst of A Woman Scorned. You can read Elliott's story in My False Heart.

Zoë Armstrong is resigned to her fate as an "unmarriagable" woman because of her illegitimacy. At 23, she has had marriage proposals, but mostly from men looking to cash in on her dowry. Caught in a compro Wicked All Day tells the story of Zoë Armstrong and Stuart Rowland, the Marquess of Mercer. Zoe is the illegitimate daughter of Elliott Armstrong, the Marquess of Rannoch and Stuart's parents are Jonet Rowland and Cole Amherst of A Woman Scorned. You can read Elliott's story in My False Heart.

Zoë Armstrong is resigned to her fate as an "unmarriagable" woman because of her illegitimacy. At 23, she has had marriage proposals, but mostly from men looking to cash in on her dowry. Caught in a compromising position, Zoë finds herself engaged to be married to a distant cousin, Robert Rowland. She and Robert (Robin) have been best friends for much of their lives, but they don't have romantic feelings for each other. Not only that, but Robert's brother Stuart (Mercer) finds himself in the difficult position of admitting that he does have feelings for Zoë but he waited too late to express them. To further complicate matters Robin is in love with someone else. Talk about a love triangle! Or maybe this would be a love square? Not sure...anyway...

Zoë was a spoiled, coddled little rich girl who had been given everything that she had ever wanted. Even so, I couldn't help but like her. She had always dreamed that she would marry for love, but no matter what she did, her father wouldn't let her ruin herself by refusing to marry Robin. As the book progresses, we see that there's much more to Zoë than first thought. Her character develops throughout the book until even she is surprised at the compassion and strength that she finds within herself.

Mercer was a great hero. Strong, dependable, and steadfast, he was the exact opposite of his brother Robin. Mercer was always looking out for those around him, so it was exciting to see when he decided to throw caution to the wind and take what he wanted. In this case, that was Zoë. I love watching the strong, silent type crack! It might be a bit off-putting to see Mercer and Zoë together in light of the fact that she was engaged to his brother, but in the context of the story, it wasn't that big a deal to me.

This was a really enjoyable read from an author who is quickly becoming one of my favorites. ...more

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Jan 23, 2010 Anne OK rated it really liked it

"WAD" was my first book by this author to read. Thought it was a good story and the characters kept me interested. I always enjoy characters who have grown up together and deeper relationship progress. ...more

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Jun 17, 2010 Keri rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance-historical, 2010s-read

This was a great little book. I liked Zoe at first and felt sorry for her and then I didn't like her and thought she was as selfish and spoiled as heck. Then she grew up a little and became self-aware that she wasn't the only person on the planet and I liked her again. She and distant cousin Robin got into trouble, now he has to offer marriage. Is this who Zoe wants or why does solid, staid Mercer, Robin's brother, make her heart beat faster and remember that secret long ago deep kiss? Fun read! ...more

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May 21, 2009 Danielle The Book Huntress marked it as to-read

Shelves: owned-copy, historical-romance

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Shelves: romance-erotica-tbr-mountzilla, historical-romance-regency, historical-romance, childhood-ties-friends-sweethearts, i-own-tbr, author-liz-carlyle, format-print

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Sep 04, 2009 Sheri Delgado rated it it was amazing

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Shelves: historical-romance

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Shelves: published-2009, steam-hot, genre-historical, read-2009

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