That very night Nicolas breaks into her bedchamber just to make the rumor true or so he made her believe, and they become friends. Yet Maryann uses his fame to make up a rumor that she’s been ruined by him so her appointed fiancée will break the betrothal and her parents will have to send her to the country where she will be able to live her life as a spinster and be happy ever after. Not only that he has built a fame around his person that he is the wildest rogue in town, to associate with any woman would mean ruination for her. Nicolas never had any interest in her as he was blinded by his hatred. No man of the ton looks at her twice for she is smart, outspoken, direct, honest and well read. Maryann is a wallflower and a bluestocking. One night he crashes into the home of one of the suspects when he meets his sister, Maryann. Ever since then Nicolas has been hunting these men one by one while at the same time feeling guilt and regret for not being there when his friend was attacked.

Ten years ago a young lady was approached by five young men, a couple of days she sent a letter to her best friend Nicolas and then she drowned herself in a river. I’m giving this book 3/5 stars, hearts, kitten, whatever. I read this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review RELEASE DATE - DECEMBER 29th, 2020 Only the main couple and the romance they have makes up for that. I wouldn’t be so upset if it wasn’t repeated over and over in the novel. What we do with the people who commit rape? The hero in the novel seeks blind revenge, which is fine, and the heroine agrees with him… but the rest of the society tends to overlook and protect the men who raped that girl because “her parents were servant, she was bound to be a harlot or a mistress anyway”. There’s a lot of talk of rape not in itself, although the author is very clear about denouncing it, but of the consequences.

I enjoyed this novel despite having a few issues with it. Stacy Reid never gives any specificts to the actual thing in the novel, just that it happened and who were involved in it. Safety warning: there are no depictions of rape in this novel only references to it. This is the second book in the Sinful Wallflowers series by Stacy Reid. They meet and they become friends, but for Nicholas Maryann is the sister of one of the men he seeks revenge on, and also she is his hope for a future. Nicolas’ life is dedicated to revenge, Maryann is a wallflower whose parents had her betrothed to an older despicable man of the ton.

Her Wicked Marquess by Stacy Reid