Too Wicked To Wed by Cara Elliott

Outspoken and independent, Lady Alexa Bingham enjoys the heady freedom of making all her own decisions, even though the challenges of overseeing her family's country estate are daunting. But when a chance encounter with London's most notorious rake awakens a secret longing for adventure, she accepts her aunt's invitation for a Season in Town . . . only to find that breaking the rules of the ton has serious consequences.

The Earl of Killingworth uses his rakehell reputation to hide the fact that poverty has forced him to work for a living. As the owner of a gambling den and brothel, Connor has no time for glittering ballrooms or innocent young ladies. But after a reckless wager leaves him with a new business partner, he is forced to take a risky gamble . . . Will the cards fall in their favor? Alexa and Connor begin to play a dangerous game of intrigue and deception as they seek to outwit a cunning adversary who wants to put them permanently out of business. But if they are not careful, it is the flames of their own fiery attraction that may destroy them.

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This story shot off at a quick pace with the action of Alexa and Connor's first meeting happening almost instantly and their first kiss not much later than that. That then set the standard for the story as for a long while that was as much as the plot amounted to - meeting and kissing, meeting and kissing, with different settings thrown in each time.

That aside, both Alexa and Connor were likeable enough characters although neither really stood out or really inspired me to care for them individually or as a couple. There were some secondary characters, Gryffin and Cameron - "The Hellhounds" whose books make up the second and third in The Lords of Midnight Trilogy - but they weren't particularly inspiring either. I had assumed that the other couples mentioned in the book were from previous stories by Elliott but can find no mention of their stories anywhere. This confuses me as it felt like I was expected to know these stories and these characters while reading this book.

Despite what I said earlier regarding the plot, I had absolutely no trouble finishing this book and did so quickly enough. The writing was fine, if a little pretentious and flowery for my tastes on rather too many occasions. There were also Americanisms and incorrect usage of British English which were annoying but luckily didn't happen too often to actually spoil the book. I didn't find the love scenes overly sexy or sensual - only a day later I can barely remember them which says something.

Overall, this was a nice story but nothing more than that. It won't be a story that I will remember but it's not offensive and it's worth a read if it's on your shelf or in your Kindle. 3 stars.