Review: Fortune Favors the Wicked by Theresa Romain

Print Length: 368 pages

Publisher: Zebra Shout (March 29, 2016)

From Goodreads.com: In the game of seduction, everyone wins… 

INDECENTLY LUCKY
 As a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, Benedict Frost had the respect of every man on board—and the adoration of the women in every port. When injury ends his naval career, the silver-tongued libertine can hardly stomach the boredom. Not after everything—and everyone—he’s experienced. Good thing a new adventure has just fallen into his lap…
 
When courtesan Charlotte Perry learns the Royal Mint is offering a reward for finding a cache of stolen gold coins, she seizes the chance to build a new life for herself. As the treasure hunt begins, she realizes her tenacity is matched only by Benedict’s—and that sometimes adversaries can make the best allies. But when the search for treasure becomes a discovery of pleasure, they’ll be forced to decide if they can sacrifice the lives they’ve always dreamed of for a love they’ve never known…

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My Rating: 4 stars out of 5

WARNING: This novel contains scenes of a sexual nature and I would not recommend this novel to anyone under the age of 18 for this reason. If those scenes are not your cup of tea, it is just as easy to skip over them without feeling like you've lost anything. 

This was an interesting mix of elements. To begin with the characters were amazingly different from anything else I have read before. Our hero Benedict is blind - rendered that way after an illness on the sea. Our heroine? Was a walking conundrum in the most wonderful of ways. She was born and raised the daughter of a Vicar, however a moment of weakness gave her two huge secrets. One I won't tell you as that is her story to tell, but the other gave birth to her alter ego La Perle - a courtesan who enjoys the finer things in life.... that is until she doesn't. Now on the run from an abusive former protector, she needs the reward money to start over - but is finding it harder to go back to the life as a Vicar's daughter than it is to actually locate the missing coins. 

The author has done an fantastic job of taking complex characters that at first sight couldn't be more wrong for each other - and weaving story that you as a reader not only get caught up in, but can also see the friendship and then romance bloom between these two people. And let's not forget the intrigue added by the stolen coins, and the ever looming threat of her former protector finding her - and potentially causing her new life to end up in even more turmoil than it is now. You were swept up from the first page, and kept glued to your seat totally immersed in this world with little thought to anything else. All throughout the book I was wondering how the author would decide to tie up all the loose ends that were dangling in the air, but she managed to do so in a way that was most fulfilling to be as a reader. 

I would definitely recommend this novel to those who enjoy a good novel filled with mystery and romance set in an older time.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

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                                   Fortune Favors the Wicked  is available from Amazon.com