historical

Julia Quinn's ability to capture the human spirit is, in my opinion, second to none--at her best, her characters sparkle with charm, wit and intelligence. Unfortunately, I don't think "When He Was Wicked" finds her at her best. Francesca has appeared to better effect in other novels, which is a disservice to the character, since this is "her" story. While Michael Stirling is rich and compelling, we just have to take him at his word that his lady love is worth the passion she inspires. If one takes this novel alone, it's hard to understand why. Their relationship does catch fire in the bedroom, but the richest emotional payoff in the novel comes not in its characters' story, but in the author's afterword. In spite of my less-than-complete satisfaction with this novel, I do greatly respect and admire Julia Quinn.

This isn't to say it's a bad book. Quinn is one of the finer romance authors currently in the field, and even if this seems one of her lesser works to me, it's still better than the majority of romance novels I pick up. I would recommend it, but I would not recommend it as a first Quinn novel. While most of the Bridgertons can stand alone, this one holds up better as part of a group.

I've read a few reviews that said this book was less charming than previous Quinn books, and I couldn't disagree more!

I think Julia Quinn wrote a much more mature story this time. Francesca Bridgerton Sterling is robbed of her young husband, John; he dies unexpectedly of an aneurism two years into their marriage. Francesca is distraught, so is Michael Sterling, John's cousin and best friend. Michael is doubly plagued by the death because he lusts after John's widow . . . in fact, has always lusted after her. Now that she's attainable, he has to find a happy medium between loving her and wrestling with the guilt of knowing that he covets John's wife.

Quinn does a great job of spanning the emotional gauntlet with this one. It's poignant in some parts, sad in others. The subject matter is not as 'fluffy' as other tales, but it's well done all the same. The humor is toned down, but the sex is tuned up. What you lack in one you make up for in another.

End result . . . buy it. It's great. I think Julia's growing with her writing, getting better at her trade - and more willing to experiment. I think I would have been disappointed with another cookie cutter romance in the Bridgerton line. The others books are great - don't get me wrong - but this one deviated from the formula in a big way, and I enjoyed it tremendously because of it.

Happy reading.

This one is different than the others and I really enjoyed it. JQ has added more depth to her characters and it shows in her writing. Michael and Francesca are wonderful characters, even though I felt Francesca was a little too stubborn. Michael's character was touching and portrayed appropriately. I did not think this was book was depressing at all because it was written very well. The respect JQ displayed for the grieving period was superb and timely...