Wicked Game in Queereaders

Jun 03, 2008 Nancy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: e-books, favorites, m-m-romance

Niels Eriksson is a charming and clever thief with a taste for the finer things in life. Lord Richard Essex is a wealthy aristocrat who caught Niels red handed robbing his mansion. Instead of having Niels sent to prison, Richard makes him an offer he is in no position to refuse.

After Niels overcomes his initial shock and begins to enjoy atoning for his crime, Richard starts to develop feelings he never thought he had.

I thought Wicked Game was a very well done historical romance. The author does ...more

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Jun 11, 2010 Erastes rated it it was ok

Shelves: gay-historical

Don鈥檛 get me wrong, this isn鈥檛 a bad book 鈥� but I did find it difficult to read, difficult to stay with and difficult to finish. For a start off, it鈥檚 NOT a Regency. In fact I don鈥檛 blame the publisher for thinking it is, because 鈥� like so many historicals 鈥� it鈥檚 a wallpaper historical and pretty hard to work out which era this IS in. I was more than half way through the book before I spotted a mention of trains and of Victoria Station which jolted me considerably 鈥� suddenly I had to jump forwar Don鈥檛 get me wrong, this isn鈥檛 a bad book 鈥� but I did find it difficult to read, difficult to stay with and difficult to finish. For a start off, it鈥檚 NOT a Regency. In fact I don鈥檛 blame the publisher for thinking it is, because 鈥� like so many historicals 鈥� it鈥檚 a wallpaper historical and pretty hard to work out which era this IS in. I was more than half way through the book before I spotted a mention of trains and of Victoria Station which jolted me considerably 鈥� suddenly I had to jump forward to the Victorian era and re-set the story in 1862 onwards.

But really, that鈥檚 the only clue of the era 鈥� the historical background is almost invisible (unsurprising as most of it is set between the sheets) and you could remove the candles and carriages and you would have a modern romance with about four minutes editing.

From the first page I could tell this was going to be one of those books where the sex outweighs the plot and I wasn鈥檛 wrong, and apart from the last couple of chapters you could summarise this as 鈥渟ex鈥� and 鈥渟hopping.鈥� There鈥檚 sex near enough from the first page which continues almost non stop for about 40 or so pages as the reluctant thief is seduced and shown a good time by the randy lord. It starts in a promising fashion 鈥� the lord is suitably remote and brooding, due to a bitch of a mother 鈥� and the set up was a fun way to get Niels into Richard鈥檚 bed but I was expecting a bit more than 鈥淣iels gets jiggy with it pretty quickly.鈥�

Don鈥檛 get me wrong. I like erotica 鈥� I do! It鈥檚 just that if I pay for a decent sized book (66,000 words) 鈥� and you can call me Ms Picky if you like 鈥� I actually like some plot with it. I feel a bit cheated if I find myself skipping entire chapters because the MC鈥檚 are 鈥渁t it again.鈥� It鈥檚 like buying a ham and lettuce sandwich and finding that there鈥檚 10 leaves of lettuce and one wafer thin slice of ham.

I quite liked the characters despite all that. Richard was, as said before, nicely brooding and Niels, albeit pretty and virgin to men, is not your typical girlie submissive. I got the feeling that they鈥檇 be switching roles at some point. They act like men too in as much as they are totally incapable of saying what needs to be said at the right time, like 鈥渄on鈥檛 go.鈥� The two minor characters are nicely done, too, but this is one of the reasons that I can鈥檛 mark the book higher, because at 66,000 words, I鈥檇 expect more than four characters 鈥� it鈥檚 the marathon sex sessions that elbow any possibility of more plot/more characters out of the way, and that鈥檚 a pity.

No 鈥� or very little -OKHomo, which was a refreshing change 鈥� the characters are aware of the illegality of their liaison and the unlikelihood of their being able to just 鈥渟et up house鈥� together without major problems. But despite that, the anachronisms are legion, a duel in the late 19th century, when the last one was at least 10 years previous 鈥� characters saying 鈥減iss off鈥�(1950鈥瞫) and 鈥渢hat鈥檚 brilliant!鈥� and 鈥渟exy鈥� (1925) just to mention a few. Oh and 鈥済otten鈥� but that almost goes without saying.

There are other technical problems, subject confusion abounds 鈥� and this is caused by switches in POV that make it very hard to understand who is thinking, who is talking. Reviews of Standish pointed this 鈥渟in鈥� out to me, and now 鈥� as I attempt to keep faithful in POV for longer sections 鈥� I鈥檓 very glad they did. Phaze should have edited these switches out, especially when it led to me going 鈥渨ho鈥檚 talking? what鈥檚 he talking about?鈥�

Falconer appears to be a collaboration of writers, as s/he speaks on her LiveJournal in the royal we. I think they aren鈥檛 bad writers, but they need to tighten up in a good few aspects, and then they鈥檇 have a book I鈥檇 really enjoy to read. ...more

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