Condemned & Admired: The Earl's Cunning Wife (Love's Second Chance Book 9) by Bree Wolf is a fantastic read. While, book 9 in this series, it can be read as a stand alone.
Well written, well crafted, and well executed, with engaging and charming characters. The storyline flows seamlessly and effortlessly. If you enjoy stories with a touch of humor, swashbuckling seas adventures, heart felt emotions, a marriage of convenience, romance, a bit of mystery, kidnapping and a daring rescue, then you're going to love this latest installment of a fantastic series. At first, I had a hard time liking both the h/h, due to their selfishness and spinelessness, but they redeemed themselves nicely. Readers will find themselves drawn into this delightful, if rather emotional sweet romance. Looking for to Bree Wolf's next grand adventure.

"I voluntarily received a complimentary copy, however, these are my honest opinions. I was in no way required nor compensated to write a review."

Rating: 4
Heat rating: Sweet
Reviewer: AprilR ( )

This is a new-to-me author and I could easily become a regular reader. The story is well written, well-plotted and well-paced. If you love a swashbuckling sea adventure with a bit of fancy balls, kidnappings, and rescues thrown in – this book might just be for you.

Twelve years earlier, in 1796, Alexandra Winters, Viscountess Silcox, fled her home on the coast of England. She was in a loveless, cold, uncaring marriage and her husband had just betrothed their six-year-old daughter, Violet to his best friend – another cold and uncaring man who would be ancient by the time Violet was old enough to marry. She loved her daughter beyond measure and absolutely could not allow the same fate to befall her. So, she left a suicide note – and escaped to France with Violet.

Violet Winters has spent twelve gloriously wonderful years in France as the daughter of a privateer. Yes, she knows he isn’t her birth father, but he is her father in all but that – and now she has several brothers and sisters to love. Her first love, however, is the sea and the freedom it gives. She has persuaded her father to let her be a full-fledged member of the crew. She dresses in men's clothes, carries a sword and fully carries her weight as a member of the crew. For her – it is family above all – no matter where that family comes from.

Oliver Cornell, Earl of Cullingwood, son, and heir of the Marquess of Northey longs for a different life. He can never please his father – and he’s not sure he wants to. He longs for adventure and continually spends his nights at the docks talking to the sailors and listening longingly to their stories. So, when he awakens from a drunken stupor and finds himself in a storeroom aboard a merchant ship, he’s not sure it is an entirely bad thing. At least at first – then – they are captured by a French privateer and as the son of an English peer, Oliver is a prime candidate to be ransomed back to his father. Oh, great! Yet another proof to his father that he is a worthless son. He’d really rather not be ransomed.

When Violet wants to go to England to ‘rescue’ the young woman who is now being forced to marry the man that was supposed to marry Violet – Oliver volunteers to take her. They hatch a plan to pose as husband and wife and the adventure begins. You’ll find betrayal, kidnapping, chases and – well -- love in this fast-paced story.

So, why didn’t I give it 5-stars? Well – for a number of reasons – and here are a few. First, there is no way I could believe that a strong, heroic, very loving father would EVER allow his young, unmarried daughter to take off with a virtual stranger – to go to England and pretend to be his wife. Second, it feels much too modern. Everybody was constantly giving Violet her ‘choice’. It was all about her – nobody else got a choice. While some men were much more tolerant than others in that time period, it was still a man’s world and they would have been in charge and not giving her all of those choices when they disagreed with them so strongly. Third, I found Violet to be a bit on the selfish side. I like a strong female, but it really was all about her and she never gave a thought about what her ‘choice’ (read that demand) did to others, what effect it had on them or how much it might hurt them. Fourth, Oliver appeared pretty spineless – just too good to be true. Whatever Violet wanted, Violet got. He wouldn’t stand up to her nor would he stand up to his father. I loved that he grew and got better – but for most of the book he’s pretty spineless. Fifth, Oliver’s father didn’t get his comeuppance. I really, really, really wanted him to pay for the way he treated Oliver (and even Violet). Maybe he could have had apoplexy and been unable to speak and then have to watch Oliver and Violet be happy and never see his grandchildren, etc. Just something! Sixth is that I found it very hard to believe that Violet would risk so much to go to England to rescue someone she’d never even heard of. She didn’t know that the young woman was unwilling – she didn’t even know that it was a young woman. I just couldn’t buy that – no matter how hard I tried.

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"I requested and received this e-book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher." ( )