Not Wicked Enough by Carolyn Jewel

When Lily Wellston heads to the Bitterward Estate to comfort her widowed friend Caroline, she certainly does not have romance in mind. In fact the playful but level-headed Lily is amused to no end when, en route, a gypsy gifts her with a beautiful medallion, claiming it will ensnare the romantic desires of a stranger.

But Fate has other plans in the form of Caroline’s ruggedly handsome brother, the Duke of Mountjoy. One day at Bitterward and Lily can’t deny the sizzling attraction between her and the roguish duke. Nothing can come of it, of course. She’s not looking for entanglements and he’s practically engaged. But whether it’s her outgoing nature and the duke’s outlandish ways sparking off one another; or the mysterious gypsy medallion working “magic”–hearts are stirring in the most unexpected and wicked ways…

I’m not going to go into detail about the plot because the description above pretty much sums it up; instead, I’d like to talk about the overall impression I got from this book.

NOT WICKED ENOUGH is the first Carolyn Jewel book I’ve read. I can’t tell you how much I love the cover and title of this book–just those two combined as packaging made me anxious to read the actual contents. After reading NOT WICKED ENOUGH, however, I’m not sure that it quite met my expectations.

The thing is, I can’t point to anything specifically wrong about this book. I enjoyed it, that I’m sure of. I thought the writing clever, the hero and secondary characters likeable, and the heroine simply wonderful–in fact, she was probably the best part of the entire book. But there didn’t seem to be anything extraordinary, either, to make it stand out from the great number of books out there that are also enjoyable to read. I thought it fun and amusing, but in the end, yes–I was expecting more.

I am looking forward to reading more of Carolyn Jewel’s work in the future; I’ve heard too many good things about her past work to not anticipate future books, and I truly did enjoy reading NOT WICKED ENOUGH. I suppose the best way to describe it would be to say that it was a “pleasant” read.