Customer Reviews

Wicked All Day

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Liz Carlyle has written some fine - dark and rich, original and intriguing - romances. "Wicked All Day" isn't one of them. And that's too bad, because if, like me, you've read her oeuvre, you were probably waiting for Zoë's story too.

Poor Zoë deserved better. After all, as the illegitimate daughter of the infamous Rannoch, she lived a lonely life till his marriage to an unconventional artist and the introduction of her large and friendly family changed Zoë's life. But now poor Zoë is lonely again. Her `cousins' have moved on with their lives, but despite her fortune, Zoë's illegitimacy limits her marriage choices. So to prove that she doesn't give a flip, Zoë....ten to one you can finish this plot outline without me.

Carlyle's novels are seldom plot driven, her characterization and originality are her strong points. But there's almost nothing here to work with. We know that Zoë's hastily acquired fiancée doesn't love her, and we know who does. We also know whom Zoë loves. And nothing much really stands in the way of their happiness.

I'm not saying this is a Bad Book. I'm saying that reading Carlyle can sometimes be Godiva chocolate and this is closer to a Snickers bar. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. But it's not to die for.

Zoe Armstrong and her cousin Robin Rowland are good friends--but things get out of hand when they start canoodling in his brother's study during a party and they are seen. Social pressure brought to bear, they become engaged. This makes them dreadfully unhappy because they are really wrong for each other in personality and other ways. Robin loves another, and his brother Stuart is in love with Zoe. Carlyle could have gone for the funny in this mismatch of partners, but instead she brings out the depth in the characters: Robin's immaturity and acting-out, his careless treatment of both his cousin and the woman he loves, and the semi-tragic consequences; Zoe's hard choices and eventual willingness to self-sacrifice; and Stuart himself in his role as protector of both Robin and Zoe, also attempting a redemption of his own past mistakes. No one is heroic in this romance; this is problem-solving done by flawed and very human characters, which I think makes it a more interesting book.

I adore Liz Carlyle's books and was greatly looking forward to hearing the story about these particular characters from previous novels. While Ms. Carlyle is not above the occasional misfire, I have to admit that Wicked All Day was not exactly what I was expecting. The primary relationship is well-developed and convincing, even moving, but painted with much bolder strokes of reality than one usually finds in the genre. Beloved characters from previous books make pretty extensive appearances here, not only adding to the story, but also remaining true to their original characterizations -- no mean feat, considering it's been close to two decades on the author's timeline since their stories were told (My False Heart, A Woman Scorned). There's enough intrigue in a few of the subplots (particularly that of Mercer's former mistress) to keep things interesting. At the book's close, I found myself not only liking both Mercer and Zoe Armstrong more than I had before (from previous appearances), but also really rooting for a HEA for them.

That said, I think this book is about a 100 pages too long. The intense melodrama imposed by the love triangle (or quad as it were) between Zoe and both Rowland brothers goes on and on (and on), becoming overwhelming about mid-book. And all the main characterizations suffer for it. This is particularly true of Robert, whom I found to be completely unsympathetic (even hateful) at points. Frankly, the secondary romance surrounding him ended up being difficult to credit with any real feeling or empathy because of his behavior throughout the novel. While Carlyle uses the tragedy that ensues toward the end of Mercer/Zoe/Robert's journey together to force a resolution, the resulting pathos turns into an emotional sinkhole for the novel as a whole.

Still, this is worth reading for Mercer and Zoe alone. Both characters are developed marvelously from start to finish, with a depth and richness that is distinctive to Carlyle's work. I adored both of them in the end when I didn't expect to at the beginning. Robert and his issues I could readily have done without, or in much smaller doses, but this was worth putting up with for the reward of the main payoff between Zoe and Mercer. A flawed book, but probably one of Carlyle's better ones.

I have been a fan since I discovered Liz Carlyle. I've read every book she's written, and most of them are in my keepers shelf.I put Wicked All Day on my wish list here at Amazon, long before it was published and pre-ordered a month early. So you can imagine my surprise and disappointment as I began reading and realized there wasn't going to be the usual spark of pleasure or desire to read straight through.

The whole problem is the heroine. The father and step-mother, nice people though they are, just exist to serve, suffer, and pick up the pieces. The two male leads are not particularly endearing to say the least. But Zoe is just too irritating to be heroine material. Who wants to read a whole book about a spoiled, self-pitying, ungrateful, and resentful girl who just happens to be incredibly lucky. The odds of an illegitimate daughter being loved and cared for by her father (and later step-mother) and growing up in comfort and luxury, getting an education and all the benefits of being (almost) part of the aristocracy in the 19th century were almost non-existent. Zoe, instead of appreciating her incredible good fortune, reacts negatively and immaturely and creates one scandal after the other. I, frankly, don't care about all the psycho-babble of why she acts as she does. I just found her too annoying to care about, and only made it through about 1/3 of the book.

If she eventually matured later on in the book, I never found out about it because frankly, I figured I'd wasted enough time on Zoe.

I've read a bunch of romance novels in recent months and perhaps a quarter of them were to my liking. Yet I see many of those I disliked have 4- or 5-star average ratings. Many of the reviewers here are critical of this new novel by Liz Carlyle because its story does not appeal to them as much as some of her previous romances. OK, I can see that I would not want to BE this heroine and I don't find some of the actions taken by the hero to be what I would want him to do. But, for gosh's sake, it's a novel. I'm reading it, not living it. The thing is that even if these people are doing things we don't want them to do, their actions are plausible and this author has decided that this is what her characters are going to do. The story is well written, the characters (although only minimally for Robin) grow and mature, the love and affection the family members feel for each other is pleasant, especially since they are characters we have met in other Liz Carlyle romances. The slow development of the story (which I did not feel was overly long) was needed so that the characters could grow and develop. That takes years in real life and in the book only required 400 pages. I enjoyed reading a character-driven novel, rather than having the usual villains trying to kill the hero or abduct the heroine. So I liked this book. Perhaps not 5 stars worth, but that's my attempt to counteract one or two low ratings by other reviewers.

I won't go into some of the details that other reviewers have already mentioned, but suffice it to say that there were very few characters in this story that were particularly likable. By the end of the book (actually, about midway), I was ready to write out all of them in a horrible carriage accident.

Zoë was a childish, impetuous, inconstant, and selfish brat. Robin was a bitter drunk, and his brother Mercer was a wimp.

There was also a lot of back-and-forth in the plot that was nearly exhausting. Zoë wanted Robin, who also wanted her. But Mercer wanted her too, except he never let on. Then Zoë wanted Mercer but felt obligated to Robin, who was in love with someone else. Are you dizzy yet? And the sex scenes were the same way. Robin and Zoë (kind of), then Zoë and Mercer, who both realized it was a mistake, then they got together again, then they realize again it was a mistake, and so forth.

I've enjoyed most of Liz Carlyle's books, but I think in the future, I'll buy them from the bargain bin.

I agree in part with most of the reviewers below. On the one hand, all Liz Carlyle books are better than most of the books filling the Romance aisles in the store. And even this one is a good book among those books. I was, however, disappointed with the development of three of my favorite Carlyle characters. It's not a bad problem for a writer to have: creating just real "minor" characters that readers look forward to their stories. Yet, when the characters' stories fail to fulfill their potential, it is even a bigger disappointment.

In this case, it is not surprising that Zoe Armstrong (really headstrong!) winds up in an embarrasing situation. Or that the Mercer boys grow up to have some issues with love, given their father's murder and the subsequent tense times until their mother Jonet was rescued by the love of the lovely Cole. Flirtacious and intense Zoe caught in a scandal with rakish Robin before recognizing stern and steamy Stuart as her true love? This is classic Carlyle and had great potential.

What is surprising is that Carlyle develops this situation not with wit and panache and the growth of her characters, but by letting all three act in ways more characteristic of villains, sinking deeper and deeper into the mess they have made. And the ultimate resolution depends on a periphral character barely developed.

I hope that, whichever characters she chooses for the next novel, Carlyle will return to her remarkable storytelling and character development.

Liz Carlyle is an auto-buy for me, but this is one of her very best, reminiscent of some of her earliest in how character-driven it is.

It's a very simple, classic storyline -- girl gets herself into scandalous situation with a good friend, tries to make the best of it, but discovers she's being forced into marriage with the wrong brother. There are no gimmicks or big plot hooks, like an exotic background for the H/H or a sadistic villain or a terrible secret. No action/suspense or heroic rescues or Big Misunderstandings. No big external plot drivers or deus ex machina solutions.

Rather, it's all about the choices of a number of complex, flawed but attractive characters -- choices that have been impulsive or thoughtless or based on wishful thinking -- whether from immaturity or as a way of dealing with repressed anxieties, or overcompensating for unhappiness or constraints of early 19th century society. Even the external "villainess" of the piece is only in a position to do harm because of choices made by the hero. And then all of the main characters (not only the H/H) have to face the consequences of their choices -- consequences not just for one's self but others. In the process, each of the main characters learns about him or herself, about what's really important, and how to reconcile their fears and desires, come to terms with their internal contradictions, and make better choices.

Part of what makes Wicked All Day special is that much of it deals with how the families of Zoë and the brothers, Stuart and Robert, handle the situation. Key family members are as well-developed and important characters as the leads. Zoë and her parents, Evie and Rannoch, are from the very early novel, My False Heart (Sonnet Books). Carlyle readers also know the other family well -- they're Jonet and Cole Amherst, and Jonet's sons, from another early Carlyle, A Woman Scorned (Sonnet Books).

The boys in A Woman Scorned are two of my favorite child characters in romance fiction. We are now meeting them almost twenty years later (which places the new story in the mid 1830s). The adult Stuart and Robert are clearly recognizable personalities, both in behavior and speech patterns, as the boys from twenty years before. Carlyle has quite realistically made them into plausible adult characters, adjusted for the experiences each would have had after the end of A Woman Scorned, with Jonet as their brilliant, fiercely protective but demanding mother, and Cole as a beloved, intelligent, stabilizing step-father. Some of the scenes with Jonet, Cole, their butler Charlie Donaldson, their nurse Nanna, and the two sons are particularly amusing or poignant if you've read the earlier novel.

The centrality of the families in the story is one of the ways Carlyle deals with what is a frequent theme in her writing -- love in all its myriad forms, not just romantic love. Here, the possibility of true, deep, abiding friendship between a man and a woman is one of the central drivers of the story. But also the love and loyalty between two very different brothers; intense, passionate maternal (Jonet) and paternal (Rannoch) love; marriage as companionship and partnership; the acceptance of half-siblings and step-children and other forms of extended family; and the importance of clan.

It's all packaged with Carlyle's trademark dry comedy, entertaining dialogue, strongly evocative sense of place, and deep affection for her characters.

Love Liz Carlyle! Wicked all day had some great ideas; elitism, snobbery, sibling rilvery, illegitimacy, and a true friendship between a male and female. These themes were left a bit flat, I think it would have been interesting to see the characters more fully developed with these real issues. Liz Carlyle is not one to shy away from the realness of human nature and that is what I enjoy about her writing. The story was frustrating because it went on and on repetitvely over the same old stuff. Mercer was too wishy-washy and Robin's charater was unclear as well - what did he want? Move on Zoe - you can do better than a couple of spoiled rich kids.

Liz Carlyle is one of my favorite romance authors and I always look forward to her books. I was disappointed with this book, the pacing and the characters. Hope her next one will be better.