Repetitive and a Little Dumb: Brazen and the Beast

Sarah Maclean's Wicked and the Wallflower was not as bad as one of her other books I've read, so in the interest of being open-minded I gave the second volume of her Bareknuckle Bastards series, Brazen and the Beast, a try.

I liked Whit fine as a male lead who grunts more than he speaks, unless it comes to the Amazon-inspired Hattie. Now she made no sense, because she was spinsterish and chatty, but also described as pleasingly large (not plump, large. And wide). I get being body positive, especially in romance, but being positive about it is in part due to positive language choices, and they just weren't here. They were god-awful. I can't tell if it's worse than the title, the cover, or the ridiculous names of the characters. It's a toss-up.

This was exacerbated by the fact that almost every interaction between Whit and Hattie was worded just like every other encounter. So if it was terrible once, imagine what it's like dozens of times to hear the same internal monologues over and over again. This story didn't really go anywhere in terms of building an emotional connection, and it was hard to see how two such people would have chemistry at all. Especially given that Hattie's characterization is rife with internal flaws.

On the bastard/criminal side of the plot, the book made even less sense, as people who have reputations for killers don't kill anybody. And the somebody that they should be killing is their arch-enemy who is threatening mortal harm. So, no. That makes no freakin sense. When you have your enemy at knifepoint, you knife them. End of story. But of course that's not what happens here, because the readers are expected to swallow this arch-enemy as the romantic lead in the third installment. The object of his love? The woman he tried to murder. Because I know that when I fall in love, it's always with someone who tried to kill me, and just didn't succeed. And this is female-forward! Riiiiiight.

So. Done. For Real. Deadso.
K. Rating: 1/5