Fabulous! | Wicked Promise

It Did Have Some Wickedly Good Love Scenes... | Wicked Promise | Kat Martin

books:


	• Wicked Promise Kat Martin St. Martin's Paperbacks, 2004 - 344 pages average customer review:based on 25 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Unusual

The fact that the hero is married (though estranged) makes this romance a little different; it's an impossible love, and Nicholas realizes that att he same time that he can't stay away from Elizabeth. His self sacrifices near the end are wonderfully emotional and compelling. She's a little naive, but very likeable. She certainly has a warm, gentle heart. The murder mystery is very well done. It's not the best Kat Martin that I've read, but it's one of the more enjoyable books I've read lately. The adultery is tough to swallow, but if you can do that, the rest is a pleasure. I definitely need to go back and read Rand's story.

for more information click here

Fabulous!

I love Kat Martin and this book was no disappointment. Wonderful heroine, amazing hero, and sizzle...what more could you ask for?!

Five stars!

It Did Have Some Wickedly Good Love Scenes...

I have read two other novels by Kat Martin in the past year - "Innocence Undone" (fair) and "The Devil's Necklace" (so-so at best). I found them only to be average and thought about giving up on this author but, I had already bought other books at the same time so...I read them too. "Wicked Promise" ended up being a pleasant surprise! I really enjoyed this book from beginning, middle and end. It had a moving plot line, interesting and appealing characters and was full of emotion - things I felt were missing sometimes in the earlier books I read by this author.

I really liked the main characters in this story - Elizabeth and Nick. They had appealing traits that made them believable and likeable. I especially liked that Elizabeth allowed her emotions to come out and she gave to those she cared for with her whole heart and soul. She did not hold back and that allowed her to blossom as a woman. I thought she took a huge chance being with Nicholas as his lover when she knew he was married and his estranged wife had no intention of divorcing him. What she did was against all the rules and what she had learned growing up but, without Nick she didn't feel complete. So...it would have to be married man and mistress for them to be together. I would have preferred Elizabeth not take this position if she could help it but, clearly her love and devotion to Nick made her accept the best she could get at the time. It was a mistress or nothing. She did stand up for herself and she never regretted giving herself out of joy and love. She was a soft yet strong spirited woman beyond her time. She fought for what she believed in and who she believed it and that made her an appealing heroine.

Nick had his naughty ways and clouded past but, even with so many mistakes in his past, he was clearly a kind and loving man. The few friends and employees who stayed with him over the years saw the kind of man he was and they gave him their complete devotion and trust regardless of what society thought. I didn't care for Nick's drinking and gaming and womanizing in the beginning but, it was understood he was trying to blot out a very difficult and ugly past - the murder, the imprisonment, the loss of friends and the loss of his less than loyal first wife. Plus...you could tell his heart was never in being truly bad and as Elizabeth came into his life and showed him other ways...he developed into the man he was always meant to be. He was even willing to endure society looking down on him further if he got a divorce and giving up a family treasure - the Ravenworth rubies to gain his freedom so, he could be with the woman he adored above all else. He was a magnificent man in the making. It was a pleasure to watch his development.

There was a lot going on in this story - Elizabeth coming to stay with him and be his ward, Elizabeth and Nick's growing fascination and attraction for one another, Nick's need to marry her off to please his family and friends and do what was right, Nick trying to clear his bad past and get a divorce from his first wife and then...dealing with the murder of his first wife. Busy, busy, busy but, still all interesting. There was also lots of side characters. But...everyone seemed to have a role to play and it was not so deep and complex that you couldn't follow the changing scenes and roles everyone played. Obviously, friends like Rand were important, sister Maggie and her future beau Andrew, friend and solicitor Sydney, and f course the evil villain Bascomb who was out to bed and harm Elizabeth. There's plenty going on in this story to appeal to all readers.

The love scenes were tastefully written and powerful. You could feel the blossoming attraction between Nick and Elizabeth from the first. I liked that the author gave time for their interest to grow and the attraction to become intense and powerful. That always make the eventual getting together that much more appealing and satisfying. Their passion and joy in being together was apparent from the first coupling until the end of the book. I especially liked that the friendship they had grew along with their desire and eventual love for one another. They didn't stay the same people in the beginning, middle and end. Instead, their emotions and feelings grew leaps and bounds as the story progressed and the ending was highly fulfilling. Elizabeth loved with her whole heart and soul from the start. Nick learned the power of love the hard way - first as attraction, then as deep desire and then...he finally caved in to the greatest gift of all - true love. A partner for all time.

Of course, like all love stories, it would be easy to get carried away with nit-picking parts of the book that either weren't developed well (such as Nick's marriage to his first wife, Nick's leaving after murder, being in prison, getting set free and coming back to society again and how the world dealt with this) or parts that were a bit far fetched (such as Elizabeth being ok with adultery because Nick's wife left him when she should have stayed by his side - Elizabeth justifies their love and sex by saying it's ok because God would support him loving a woman who was good for him) or action scenes that were simply silly (Elizabeth, her aunt and Nick's valet helping to spring him out of prison in that crazy outfit that any reasonable guard would have figured out in a blink of an eye but, not this guard!). Suffice to say, these are really little things in an already busy book. Something has gotta give so, books don't go into the 400-500 page mark. I guess either an author needs to scale back the tale or leave some things for the reader to figure out.

I think fans of Kat Martin will enjoy this book even more than her usual writings. Those who have tried her like me and found other books only so-so should visit this one for sure. It was very appealing and likable and will go on one of my favorites list. This author really drew me into the powerful feelings of these characters and the relationship and developments felt real and never contrived. Very appealing. Pick this one up and enjoy it. I certainly did.

for more information click here

Kat Martin really is one of the best!

Recently I have been reading some of Kat's older books and I am more than just a little impressed. She has written some very intense historical romances. This, Wicked Promise might be one of her best. I love heroes, like Nicholas that are thought to be so wicked and really are just the most loving of men. Nicholas was unjustly accused and sentenced to a murder that he really did not commit. After 9 long years of excile he returns and since everyone expects him to be evil he appears that way. But all of a sudden he is given Elizabeth Woolcott and his ward, and immediately their is an attraction. The chemistry between this couple is amazing - from the first. I do not know why some couples just leap off the page with chemistry but this couple did. To complicate the story even more, than just Nicholas's history of a murder conviction he is also married, but estranged from his wife. He has to take in Elizabeth because the brother of the man he was accused of killing is determined to make Elizabeth his wife. This is an intense, complicated plot but it moves along at a great pace, and I would say it is difficult to put the book down until you finish the wonderful story. Many times you wonder how it can possibly work out. And the steadfast love that Elizabeth has for Nicholas is just so refreshing. Unlike other females that might give up, or allow themselves to be lead away from their man, she continues to love him with every fiber of her being. Wow, great love story!! And Nicholas proves to all that he was always the good and decent man that Elizabeth believed him to be!

for more information click here

Dragged

This really started to drag for me around the 5th time Lord Bascomb's men tried to abduct Elizabeth. I almost wanted them to succeed. The fact that Nicholas was married made the story a little bit more interesting. I actually really liked both hero and heroine but the story felt forced around the half way mark. I think writers feel that they have to write a book that is 350 pages or more for it to be interesting when just the opposite is true. I did like the characters of Maggie and Rand but felt that Maggie's love interest wasn't developed enough. If the author needed to fill some pages maybe they could have been used up on Maggie and Andrew.

for more information click here

A Lady's Desperate Choice
When the loathsome Lord Bascomb tries to force her into marriage, Elizabeth Woolcot, against her will, must applea to her influential guardian. Nicholas Warring, known as the Wicked Early, is a darkly handsom charasmatic figure--with the power to save her but a past that could put her reputation dangerously at risk. A ruthless womanizer, he has also been convicted of murder--and barely escaped hanging.

A rogue's tainted honor
Elizabth can't help her attraction to the man who haunts her dreams--nor he his hunger for her. But she knows it can never be. For Nicholas is a married man. Then a heinous crime shatters their lives--and Nick is the natural suspect. Elizabeth wants to believe in his innocence more than life and love itself--but can she trust a man who has killed before?

for more information click here

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

hot