Customer Reviews

Some Like It Wicked

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Catriona Kincaid has spent the better part of her life living with her uncle's family in England. Having been sent to them as a young girl, Catriona has never really felt welcome, especially since her uncle refuses to allow her to even think about going home to Scotland.

To her uncle, their clan name and their Scottish kin mean less than nothing. But to Catriona, they mean everything. For years she has strived to not forget anything about her childhood before the Red Coats came and shattered her entire world. Upon her arrival at her uncle's home years ago, Catriona vowed to one day return to Scotland and find her brother - she had no idea that she would have to follow through with her plans so suddenly and without much planning. Evidently her abusive cousin's ex-fiancé is suddenly desirous of a union with Catriona. A union Catriona neither wants nor needs given the way the purported groom feels about the Scots. Escaping her uncle's watchful eyes for an afternoon, she travels to Newgate Prison to make the deal of a lifetime with whom she thinks to be the devil himself.

Simon Wescott is the illegitimate son of a nobleman. Dishonored and disreputable for his romantic exploits alone, he is also held in the public eye as a war hero. Thrown into Newgate Prison for supposedly running up debts, he is actually there because of an angry father. When Catriona Kincaid comes to him with her plans and offers him half of her dowry in exchange for his help, Simon doesn't hesitate to negotiate the terms to his best advantage. Two days and one seduction later, Simon and Catriona are headed to Scotland to be wed.

Simon and Catriona wed at Gretna Green and while Simon wants nothing more than to leave Catriona in Scotland, he IS a rake after all, he can't make himself leave her. More than once he has to play hero to her damsel when enemies show themselves and threaten Catriona. Passionate by nature, Simon does not understand how or why Catriona affects him. And affects him she does.

SOME LIKE IT WICKED gave me several hours of reading pleasure. From the first scene where Simon and Catriona meet when she is young girl to the last scene of the epilogue, I found myself more than once in stitches and laughing out loud at Catriona's and Simon's witty repertoire with each other. Simon fully intended to leave Catriona in Scotland alone and while I knew in my heart he wouldn't do it, I liked reading about his fight with his conscience over his plans. Catriona was a strong heroine and while innocent in body, her heart belonged to Simon. Their passion was heady and sensual and I loved seeing the love between them grow.

Teresa Medeiros has written a highly entertaining and passionate novel with SOME LIKE IT WICKED. I was swept away to the highlands of Scotland and I cherished every word. Now my wait begins for the next installment, Some Like It Wild, set for release spring of 2009. *** Natalie for Wild on Books***

Catriona raised in Scotland but sent to England at age 11 when her parents died, has a dream. And in that dream, she returns to Scotland to reunite with her brother and help lead the clan Kincaid in reclaiming their land. Later at 16 she adds Simon to that dream as her white knight, prince charming, etc. after interrupting him as he attempted to have a little fun with her annoying selfish cousin. He of course mistakes her for a "lad" until looking a bit closer and seeing she's just an awkward teenage girl.

At 21 she approaches her white knight (aka Simon) while he's in debtors prison. Still starry eyed (and of course now a ravishing beauty) she recruits him to help her travel to Scotland to find her brother before the old mean Englishman who threatened to marry her kills all the remaining Kincaids so they cannot challenge his ownership of their land that he now owns. And by recruit I mean pay him with half her dowry. Oh and her virginity.

What? Don't all princes charge the same rate?

Yep she takes naiveté to a whole new level. But it didn't really annoy me, sure I wanted to shake her a few times but her endless hope and optimism was touching. Her dream kept her going, through her parent's death, the separation from the place she considered home and the brother she loved, during her time living as a dependent on her Uncle and his annoying wife and mean-spirited daughter. She NEEDED that dream, it had become who she was and I admired her for taking the steps necessary to see it through even if she did go about it in a rather odd way.

Watching that dream slowly wither and die was heartbreaking.

Simon a war hero, who of course views himself as a worthless waste of space, sees his chance to line his pockets and have a little fun (wink. wink). Later he begins to suffocate in Catriona's constant show of faith in him. He doesn't want to be her hero. End of story as far as he's concerned.

Near the end of the book, Simon and Catriona go through a role reversal that was both sad and sweet to see. They seriously need each other, the reader is left no doubt about that.

Catriona's Uncle was a nice change. He honestly loves his niece and tries to protect her. I really ended up liking him, when I was set to hate him. (No comment on his wife or daughter though...)

Catriona's brother Conner apparently gets his story told in the next book, don't hold your breath waiting for the family reunion in this book 'cause it doesn't happen. That was disappointing but I'm looking forward to seeing what's been going with him.

Overall I enjoyed this book! And before I forget Catriona's cat Robert the Bruce was great!

I have a few of Teresa Medeiros books, though I am not a huge fan of her work. I've been trying to read other authors to get a feel for different styles of romance writing. I found the concept of this story to be intriguing and the layout of the beginning interesting (characters not meeting for long periods of time). To be honest, I typically do not like it when characters meet, then meet again many years later, however this worked well.

Catriona is a character you can certainly empathize with, though later you find out that she is harboring a box of "mementos" and you begin to wonder if she is stalking Simon, versus being in love with him. I found Simon's character to be as one would expect a rogue and "bastard" of that time to be in a romance novel, ruthless with the underlying note of him being a decent human being, so his character was no surprise to me.

I found some moments to be sweet, and some I found to be a bit disturbing. And I am not referring to the love scenes, I am more referring to the outside story going on, such as Scotland being invaded by English? I didn't quite understand that at all, as that did not happen in 1805 or 1825...

The story towards the end did feel a bit rushed as though she wasn't quite sure how to end it well. There were also some scenes that left questions as to how and why, those pieces drove me a little crazy as there was no definitive answer for important impacts to the story. I don't want to say too much to give it away, but it has to do family relationships. Do not misunderstand, I get that there are some plots that you need to be able to derive for yourself and fill in the blanks, but the pieces she made that way were parts that would have made the story richer and more enjoyable.

This is my first Teresa Medeiros novel, because I thought (wrongly) that she wrote only vampire/paranormal romances. While I like an occasional bite on the neck, I prefer my heroes and heroines undead (as in "alive"). So this lovely, lively romance set in the Regency period, about two very live and very three-dimensional people was a surprise.

The story concerns a lovely Scottish orphan who is being pressured by her horrible Uncle Ross to marry the evil Lord Eddingham. All our heroine, Catriona, really wants to do is journey to Scotland, find her brother, Connor, and restore the Kincaid family's lands and fortunes. So she's "holding out for a hero." Suddenly she remembers that she met a hero once -- he was attempting to seduce her slutty cousin, Alice, in the barn five years earlier.

Catriona tracks down Simon Westcott in Newgate Prison. He no longer looks so hero-like, but he agrees to her devil's bargain. He will marry her, and take half of her enormous dowery, in exchange for taking her to Scotland to find her brother. Oh, and it has to be a "real" marriage -- no marriages in name only for Simon. Reluctantly Catriona agrees, and thereby hangs a tale.

Reading about the evolution of Simon and Catriona's rowdy relationship, through the initial bickering, then attraction and finally love while enduring the hardships of the trip to Scotland, keep the reader interested and turning the pages. The ending to the story of the pairing of this unlikely duo is most satisfying.

This is sexy, fun romp -- and I'm glad that I have "discovered" Mederios at last.

I have enjoyed all of Medeiros books in the past. She is one of my favorite historical writers. But I must admit that this book was lacking depth and very predictable.

The hero and heroine had tremendous disconnection and even though they were great by themselves they lacked the connection of the characters in her other books.

The tenderness in her novels and marvelous prose has you mesmerized - which is why she is one of my favorites. This book was a poor reflection of her writing abilty and I was hard pressed to finish it. The story was disjointed and seemed Medeiros rushed to get to the finish. All in all it was an okay read. If you are a true fan of her books you might want to give it a try... if not skip it.

Catriona Kidcaid is a loyal Scot's women who wants to return to Scotland to find her brother. She was shipped off to England after her parents were killed to live with her Uncle the Earl. She talks Sir Simon Wescott (born on other side blanket to Duke) into helping her with plan to save her Kidcaid Scottish Land.... I like the connection between the main chacaters.

Looking forward to Connor Kidcaid's (Catriona's sister) story Some Like It Wild.

Honestly, it wasn't a terrible read. It was quite good and sweet compared to like stories. I loved both characters and thought they had well written chemistry. My only complaint is that I didn't care too much about Cat's troubles with her clan. But other than that good book.

Absolutely no one has a way with romance like Ms. Medeiros. Just like all her others, SLIW is playful, tender, sexy . . . I can really feel the love between Catriona and Simon, and believe in their happily-ever-after. So few authors get the right balance between humor and romance, but Ms. Medeiros always does!

At the age of ten, Catriona Kincaid had been sent to England to live with her wealthy uncle and his family after her parents brutal deaths during the Scottish Cause. For the next ten years Catriona couldn't wait for the day her brother Connor would come and she would be able to return to Scotland. Unfortunately, a cruel man lord, her cousins former fiancé, professed he would be back within a week to ask for Catriona's hand in marriage. It was then Catriona decided to take matters into her own hands and return to the Highlands on her terms.

Making a deal with the imprisoned Sir Simon Wescott, former war hero turned rakish gambler and womanizer, Catriona promised him one half her impressive dowry and an annulment if he would marry her and escort her to Scotland. No matter that his reputation was in shatters, Catriona had lost her heart to him a long time ago. He'd been her hero then and she felt he could be her hero again. Unfortunately, her good opinion of Simon and her arrival in Scotland to meet the last members of the Kincaid clan were not at all what she had hoped for.

*** I really was expecting this latest book by Ms. Medeiros to have a lot of her trademark witty humor, and a really sweet sensual romance. For some reason, my expectations were not met. The opening set in 1805 with Catriona as of an impressionable fifteen year old, who fell in love with Simon as a young dashing officer in the British Royal navy and was an amusing introduction to both parties, especially the barn scene. Unfortunately, when they met again neither of the leads were terribly impressive and were rather annoying. In fact, Simon was at times, very difficult to like - he protested too much. I thought at the very least, when Catriona was reunited with her brother Connor, there would be more action and some liveliness to this story. Again, I was disappointed.

Catriona, who professed to have loved Simon forever, did not exactly act like she was very much in love, and Simon, with his propensity to drink was not a very romantic lead or even what I would have considered as a reliable escort. I really could not even call this very sensual, as I couldn't "feel" the love here. There were some moments of levity but overall, outside of the Robert the Bruce cat scenes, I found this to be a bit on the slow side and not until very near the end did I even think there was any hope for this couple.

Bottom line: Reading this from cover to cover, I did not feel invested in Simon and Catriona's romance nor did I feel depth, or excitement. Unfortunately, this was just an average read for me.

Marilyn Rondeau, for www.ck2skwipandkritiques.com

Almost sixteen year old Catriona Kincaid meets Sir Simon Wescott when she was reading Sir Walter Scott in a loft while he is seducing her cousin Alice. Whereas her vile cousin calls her a monster, he thinks nothing of her being there beyond coincidence. Although he calls her a lad and then a little girl, even his rakish actions fail to deter her from worshipping the rogue.

Five years later in 1810, Lord Eddingham informs Catriona and her Uncle Ross that he purchased land in Scotland once owned by the Kincaids; he plans to end the raids led by the outlaw Kincaid. Catriona fears that might be her brother so she decides to go home to the Highlands where her family was once head of a clan until her grandfather chose otherwise. Realistically she knows she needs an escort and is resolute that her "hero" takes her to Scotland. Simon resides in Newgate so she visits him there with an enticing proposition. She will pay off his debts, which will free him from prison if he marries her and takes her home. He agrees and once he is released he honors his new debt by marrying Catriona. The journey north is dangerous as someone apparently wants to prevent her from coming home while her beloved proves to be a real hero risking his life to keep her safe.

This entertaining Regency romance is fun to follow as Catriona's puppy love turns into an adult love; while Simon finds himself falling in love with the courageous woman whose terms he agreed to as he no longer thinks of her as a little girl. Whereas her uncle, her cousin and Eddingham display no positive attributes, fans will still enjoy this fine historical as Catriona and her hero fall in love while waiting anxiously for the sequel to see what happens with the hanging thread.

Harriet Klausner