The Wicked Baron is the first in the Blackhaven Brides series, set in a newly fashionable spa town on the beautiful Cumbrian coast, where the great and the bad of visiting Regency society turn local life upside down.Orphan Gillie Muir makes ends meet by holding genteel card parties for friends and visitors to the newly fashionable spa town of Blackhaven. But when Lord Wickenden, known as the … as the Wicked Baron, makes her a shocking proposal, her world is turned upside down.
Jaded and bored, Lord Wickenden has his own reasons for joining the house party at Braithwaite Castle. One of them is to oblige an ex-mistress by detaching her son from the local gaming den hussy who has ensnared him. But, confronted by Gillie’s unexpected charm and innocence, Wickenden abandons his original plan of simply taking her for himself.
Instead, he becomes embroiled in her bizarre problems, which include saving her reputation and her life, keeping the Watch away from her card parties, and hiding an injured smuggler who was once kind to her.
The infuriating and devastating Wickenden soon has Gillie’s heart in a spin. But when she discovers he means to fight a duel over her – and everyone knows the wicked baron never misses – she’ll go to any length to save his life and his soul. Even elope with another man.
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Fun to read,
I love Mary Lancaster’s books. I can’t wait to read them when a new one is published.
A delight…Witty dialogue with H and h who laugh often at unexpected irony, who seem so real you reminisce about them after finishing the book. Excellent plotting, with enough well-fleshed minor characters to zing interest. Five stars.
I absolutely loved what the hero says to the heroine at the end of this book!
A witty escapade reminiscent of Georgette Heyer. A book I want to read again!
Absolutely fantastic story. Wow! The hero is so wickedly alluring! What a memorable character! The story was great too, it was interesting and fun and I could not put it down. 5 stars all the way around.
Cute book!
Each of the characters, from the lovely, strong, good natured heroine, to the supporting cast of friends, family and foes, to the misunderstood bad boy hero – one and all make for a delightful story. The plot twists are intriguing; the chemistry between h/H sizzles. Enjoy!
Good story, good characters. Loved the ending.
I rarely read romances. With that said, I read “The Wicked Baron” and was hooked. I am now on the second book in the second box set….all in two days. My normal reading is suffering! Thank goodness for Kindle Unlimited!
Not completely different, but a somewhat unusual storyline for this genre. This was a very engaging and entertaining story. I did not want to put this down. The smuggling plays a minor in and does not distracted from the romance.
An adventure from beginning to end, The Wicked Baron is the first in the Blackhaven Brides Series. Set on the coast of Cumbrian, this is a popular place for visiting society who are looking for fun and a place to relax. The heroine, Gillie Muir just tries to earn a living by holding parties with her brother for friends and visitors. One of those attending, Lord Wickenden, thinks Gillie is for the taking and a rather interesting scene develops between the two of them. Mary Lancaster brings this story alive with her wonderful writing style and inserts humor with interesting interaction between the characters. This story has a little of it all and you will not be able to put it down once you start. Do Gillie and Wickenden (yes, love that name) end up together and can they withstand the twists and turns? Cannot wait to read the rest of this series!! Great story!!
This is the first time I have read Mary Lancaster’s work. What a breath of fresh air!!! Just enough intrigue and danger to spice up the romance between Gillie and David. The setting is the time during the Napoleonic wars. Ms. Lancaster interweaves the historical setting into the story line with great results. LOVED IT and I am ready to start the second book!!!
Great Book! The Wicked Baron by Mary Lancaster is book one in the Blackhaven Brides. First let me just say that Mary has the most beautiful book covers I have ever seen and second, what a wonderful book. Mary has a way of bringing her characters to life and you can feel all the emotions that they are going through. Her descriptions are very visual and you can picture them all in your mind. This story has gambling parties, smugglers, death, wounded, kindness, evil, goodness, misunderstandings, hurt, flirting, friendships, military, balls, family love, wickedness, forgiveness, card parties, competitions, scandal, disapproval, arrogance, abduction attempt, orphans, hero and of course love. Everything you could want in a book. I highly recommend! Travel back in time with Lady Gillyflower Muir and David Keith Baron Wickenden.
***This book was gifted to me and I am voluntarily reviewing.
A very well written historical romance! It hits all the right buttons for a true lover of historical romance. Easy to read storyline, with wonderful characters.
This is the fourth book in a series of books about a group of characters who all live in, visit, or simply pass thru the small seaside English village of Blackhaven. In this story, Willa Blake is a poor relation of a hurtful family who has no life of her own. She is in the town with the family and quite by fate ends up meeting with her childhood crush, Lord Daxton. At the tail end of this meeting, Willa escapes the clutches of her relatives and ends up eloping with Dax to Gretna Green that veery evening!
Dax is a renowned rake and carouser. He has problems with women, gambling, and drinking. But Willa remembers Dax as a wonderful young boy who treated her with kindness. Can she make this work? Was it a mistake? Will there be consequences for running from her rather evil relatives?This was a wonderful story filled with longing, romance, a bit of intrigue that had from start to finish. I highly recommend both the book and the series to romance readers. I hope there are a few stories more to come….
I read this as an arc which affected my review in no way at all.
I hope you enjoy this light-hearted Regency as much as I did. At times, the chaos around me felt so real and funnily ludicrous. Author Mary Lancaster writes scenes with a deft hand and sense of humor, fast-pacing dialogue snapping off the page in scenes not contrived even with all its hilarious action. More than once I thought you have got to be kidding and found myself laughing!
As with most Regency house parties, this is the place so much can happen. The house party at Braithwaite Castle is located in a relatively new spa town close to Scotland, the town of Blackhaven. Those who are looking for some quiet time from London would attend one of these parties. In fact, the reason Lord Wickenden came he knew not. He was already bored with his life in London.
He certainly wasn’t prepared to get involved with a young innocent who broke rules, simply because she didn’t know they were rules to be followed.
Gillie Muir, (her real name is Gillyflower Muir!) has her hands full with the comings and goings at her home. She tends a card party every Friday for the locals, mostly friends she’s known all her life and friends of her recently deceased father. Her staff and old aunt thought it most improper to do this, but she and her brother have to live, so they could keep the house they live in. Their father left them penniless. The attendees would donate something for the time spent at her parties. Not only the camaraderie of those attendees lure the folk, but the best of brandy flows freely, grace to the local smugglers, conveniently brought into the house through a tunnel leading to their cellar.
One Friday night, a smuggler had been shot by the magistrate. The magistrate has tried to curtail smuggling for some time. Not knowing what else to do with the man, the other smugglers haul him into her cellar, along with the brandy. Stuck with a body, she knew not would live, she requested the good Doctor Morton, who happened to be at her card party, to attend to the man.
Lord Wickenden had decided to join his friend, Earl of Braithwaite, at the party. Not knowing the sort of establishment it is, he assumes it is a place where the enjoyment of the fairer sex could be had. When he spies Gillie, he is intrigued. He notices all the fluttering around, in and out of the party room, so decides to follow Gillie and investigate–his curiosity peaked.
The manner in which he sets himself upon Gillie, excites her. Does he actually think her alluring, a country girl? A man of the London set? After thoroughly being kissed, shortly after meeting him at the card party, he breaks the spell.
Her mouth yielded helplessly, letting him explore and plunder. Her free hand clutched at his coat for support and, without really knowing how, she was returning his kiss…
“Take me to your chamber.”
Gillie blinked at him, uncertain that she’d heard him properly. “I beg your pardon?”
“Your bedchamber. I want you very badly.”
By then, they stood so close together that she finally understood the hardness pressing against her stomach. With a gasp of outrage, she tore herself free.
“How dare you? Do you take me for a—a…” She struggled to find the word. “…a camp follower?”
“Not exactly He sounded more amused than contrite. “I understood you were free, but if you’re not interested, just say so.”
For some reason, her eyes stung. I wasn’t so much the insult to her honor. It was…hurt, because she’d liked him. She’d actually believed he liked her. She’d naively, stupidly, mistaken his sordid interest for romance.
Gillie does what any good, decent girl would do, she kicks him out of the party. When her brother finds out who she kicked out, he bemoans their plight. He, as a titled gentleman, could ruin them.
As the baron learns the following day what he had done, he is embarrassed and wishes to ask for forgiveness. Gillie, also feeling bad about her reaction, with her brother’s remarks ringing in her ears, she, too, wants to ask for forgiveness. Unfortunately, Lord Wickenden, misconstrues why she is apologizing and once again they are at odds.
Gillie has other problems. Someone is watching her. Is she safe from these men? Someone else is trying to take her house away from her. No one would be bored around this gal. The internal dialogue she has with herself speaks well the person she is.
Lancaster has created some interesting characters, one of them Aunt Margaret, hard of hearing, but a dear old thing. She answers a question posed by Gillie.
“Why are men such idiots? Gillie demanded.
I suppose they are born that way, Aunt Margaret said comfortably.
Kit Grantham wishes to rescue Gillie from ruining her reputation by opening her home to men and still in mourning for her father, by offering for her. His mother has come to town and offers to pay her off!
As Lord Wickenden gets pulled further into Gillie’s world, he realizes something.
But God help him, it was more than lust. He wanted to protect her, laugh with her, walk with her…Sensing the ultimate danger in such thoughts, he veered away, mentally and physically.
But he can’t stay away!
I say musical chairs, my fair readers, come to mind in this deliciously comical story, the beginning of a series sure to tickle your funnybone.
A very short story with a sweet romance ending. She managed to put enough into her little story to cover any missing gaps, so left no unanswered questions
I enjoyed most of this book. It was the last of the book I found troubling. Inexplicably, the female lead made stupid decision, after stupid decision. It was not romantic, it was just stupid. For me, this colored the rest of the book. She was so different from who I thought she was in the beginning. It ended abruptly and I was glad.
Georgette Heyer rip off.