Review – If He’s Wild by Hannah Howell

SHE SEES HIS FACE EVERYWHERE…

Lady Alethea Vaughn Channing is haunted by a vision of a man in danger—the same man who she has seen in dreams time and time again. She doesn’t even know his name, and yet she feels the connection between them, knows she is the only one standing between him and disaster.

…YET THEY HAVE NEVER MET

But rakish Lord Hartley Greville is capable of protecting himself, as he has proven more than once in his perilous work as a spy for the crown. If he’s to carry out his duty, he’ll need to put aside the achingly beautiful woman with the strange gift. And yet, when Alethea’s visions reveal a plot that could endanger children, Hartley will not be able to ignore the destiny that binds them together—or resist the passion burning between them…

I can fortunately say that Howell is definitely stepping further and further away from entanglements with the evil woman as the relationship conflict, and I couldn’t be more pleased. No horrible spouses nor plotting evil fiances littered this particular story. This time we have a plotting, evil would be mistress. But since the hero never did the deed with her, and since it would have been for crown and country and he was never really deceived by her, I’ll take it as a win. What I’ve won, I am not sure of, but I’ll take it. In fact, our hero’s thoughts turned to marriage almost immediately and the two were married for a good half of the book which was a rather nice change of pace.

We also have the usual meandering in and out of Wherlockes and Vaughns with their fortuitous gifts coming in just when they are needed. There was also plenty of action to keep things entertaining. So here’s the thing, and I am not sure I can really explain. When I am reading romance, I read it because I know (J.R. Ward notwithstanding) that there will be a happily ever after, even when like the previous two books there is another woman standing in the way. But, I am still much happier when that isn’t the impediment. That sort of story tends to leave me with a sick feeling to my stomach throughout that I simply don’t enjoy. With this book, knowing who the villain was and that the hero and heroine were already together made the unraveling of the mystery so that good could prevail over evil and the unraveling of the hero’s heart just flat-out enjoyable. I could enjoy the whole ride without any reservations.

This is still escapism fiction for me, this book didn’t change that, but I did like it quite a bit more than the other two, and it will keep me on my glom a bit longer, though I do doubt I will be able to read all 7 in one go.