Wicked and the Wallflower

June 15, 2018

When spinster Lady Felicity Faircloth announces, in a fit of pique, that she is the Duke of Marwick's intended bride--and he goes along with it--she has no idea that she is playing into the hands of a man who wants nothing more than to ruin the Duke. Marwick is about to renege on a bargain he made with his siblings years ago, and Devil (aka Devon Culm), one of the powerful Bareknuckle Bastards, is out for revenge and intends to use Felicity to accomplish it. It's a perfect plan, but falling for Felicity wasn't in the cards. Set as Victoria's reign is just beginning, MacLean's stunning series opener spins a compelling tale rich with mythological and fairy-tale allusions and history (the ice trade and the "unpickable" Chubb lock are enthralling), taking readers on a tantalizing journey to the dark, criminal world of Covent Garden. VERDICT An intrepid heroine who wants more than society offers makes a deal with the Devil that they just might live to enjoy. This intense, deliciously sensual tale of intrigue and deception begins a promising series. MacLean (The Day of the Duchess) lives in New York City.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 2, 2018
The devil is in the delightful details for MacLean’s first Bareknuckle Bastards Regency romance. Felicity Faircloth was once one of the crown jewels of society. Now she’s consigned to spinster wallflower status by gossiping matrons and fickle friends, but her family’s social and financial survival depends on her marrying well. During her escape from the harsh world of the ballroom, her singular skill with lock picks—a response to all the doors that patriarchal society closes in women’s faces—lands her directly in the path of one of Covent Garden’s most notorious criminals, a man known as Devil. He’s obsessed with the complete and utter ruination of the newly surfaced Duke of Marwick and thinks that Felicity’s desperate need for a husband might make her the perfect pawn for his game. He offers to help set her up with the duke, but doesn’t count on falling in love with her himself. MacLean (The Day of the Duchess) intersperses hints of mystery and intrigue with plentiful humor, crafting a touching story filled with charming characters readers will be eager to meet again. Agent: Steven Axelrod, Axelrod Agency.

July 1, 2018
In the first novel of the Bareknuckle Bastards series, two outcasts meet at a glittering London ball but fall in love in the city's darkest corners, beginning a saga that links a family across British society.Devon "Devil" Culm, a rich crime lord and the oldest of a group of three half brothers born out of wedlock to a duke, is determined to stop one of them from breaking an old oath. When wallflower Lady Felicity Faircloth appears in his path, she seems to be the ideal instrument for his plan--till his attraction to her gets in the way. MacLean introduced Felicity as an aging debutante in The Day of the Duchess (2017) and awards her a cross-class romance in this novel. Though Felicity is the daughter of a marquess, a loss of popularity as she gets older prompts her to rashly tell her former friends at a society event that she's engaged to a reclusive duke. While her new "fiancé" has his own reasons for going along with her lie, she finds it impossible to commit to him after several intimate encounters with Devil in the rougher neighborhoods of London. While an aristocratic heroine who can easily slip away to meet a mystery man in a warehouse, a brothel, or a rooftop is not uncommon in the genre, the electric attraction that can help a reader ignore such implausibilities is not established convincingly enough at the start. This is partly because the backstory that can revitalize the novel's tropes--the hero who decides to use a woman for vengeance but loses his heart, the sheltered virgin who flouts convention and then discovers she's been a pawn--isn't fully clarified till the last quarter. As a result, the plot and characters' motivations feel predictable and yet muddled. The climax and eventual resolution is satisfying but throws the weaknesses of the initial chapters into sharper relief.Though grittier than the average Regency or Victorian romance, à la TV shows like Peaky Blinders, this is a new bottle with old wine--a Horatio Alger-style hero who pulled himself up by his bootstraps and a poor little rich Englishwoman whose problems amount to choosing between different wealthy suitors.

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Starred review from June 1, 2018
Why on earth would Felicity Faircloth say that she is going to marry the Duke of Marwick? Sick to death of the social snubs and slights, both subtle and patently obvious, delivered by a vindictive cadre of her former so-called former friends, Felicity attempts to put them in their places by lying and saying she has landed the season's most sought-after matrimonial catch. Of course, since Felicity has never even met the Duke of Marwick, everyone will soon have one more reason to gossip about her. Until a mysterious man named Devil, whom Felicity first met in the duke's gardens that night, turns up later in her bedchamber and promises Felicity that he can help her land her duke?but only if she is willing to pay his price. Resplendent writing, shot through with an addictively acerbic sense of wit; unforgettable characters imbued with mesmerizing complexity; and a smartly conceived plot composed equally of delicious desire and dark intrigue all come together brilliantly in the first in best-selling and RITA Award-winning MacLean's new Bareknuckle Bastards series(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)