Title: Slightly Wicked 

Author: Mary Balogh

Series: Slightly #2

Published: April 29, 2003

Genre: Historical Romance

*from Library

While Slightly Married focuses on Aidan, a man of honor and dignity, Slightly Wicked focuses on Rannulf, a man of passion and charm. I love the differences between Aidan and Rannulf. They are completely different in manner and duty. Aidan took up the drum despite his love for working the land while Rannulf declined to join the church, but pursued nothing else in the meantime. Slightly Wicked is well-written, well-paced, and not as wicked as I expected. 

At the end of Slightly Married, Rannulf leaves his brother Aidan to his new family and makes his way to his grandmother's house. This novel picks up with Rannulf on his way down when he encounters an over-turned coach. When he catches sight of Jane (while editing my mind saw Jude instead of Jane) Law, he offers her a lift to the nearest town with the hopes of gaining her companionship for the night. Jane, a daughter of a pastor off to live a life of no prospects, decides to take him up on his offer and live if only for a day. 

I was immediately captured in this novel and finished it within a few of hours. Jane's hopeless situation was depressing. She had no choice but to live an empty life with her aunt as a poor relative living on the charity of her wealthy relations. I was cheering her as she took her life into her own hands and made her way into Rannulf's bed. If I were in her situation, I would have done the same thing, which is probably why I liked her character so much. She is an amazing actress, but she never pursued the profession because of her family. She gains the chance to perform for Rannulf and she blows him away. This little plot detail ends up going nowhere though. She is an amazing actress, but women married to privileged men in this time period don't pursue acting careers. In addition, other than the beginning of the novel, Rannulf and Jane do not do very many wicked things. I guess I should have taken the slightly part of the title seriously, but I was slightly disappointed there were not more hot scenes between the characters. 

One reason why I loved this novel so much might be the resemblance to Julia Quinn and her writing. I read Julia Quinn first so I noticed many similarities. This novel reminds me of An Offer from a Gentleman, which is about Benedict falling in love with a woman from a lower class and discovering his vocation. Rannulf practically does the same exact thing, but the male characters are slightly different. I still really enjoyed the novel. I recognized the similarities while I was reading, but that did not take away any satisfaction from this book. If you are a Julia Quinn fan, you will definitely love these books and vice versa.