Kit Adderley is bored. Include a title, lots of money, and disgusting companions, and Kit gets into more trouble than he expected, including kidnapping Bryony Marton, the fiancee of his current drunken friend. And because he's never seen her, he also takes her pretty cousin.
Bryony only accepted the proposal from the drunken friend because she was compromised and doesn't really intend to go through with the wedding. She's more concerned with rescuing her cousin before she's also compromised. But Kit is making the whole rescue thing pretty difficult.
Ms. Stuart has a formula: her hero is a bad alpha male, the heroine is plain but spunky (she usually gets prettier as the book goes on), and there's a secondary romance involving another couple. I rely on her characterizations to differentiate the stories and this one was pretty good. Kit is a pretty good hero but I really liked Bryony. She's practical and exactly what Kit needs. The secondary romance between the cousin and the Bow Street runner sent to save the girls was also better than some in her other books. Despite the title, I enjoyed this story a lot. ( )

The Absolutely Positively Worst Man in England, Scotland and Wales by Anne Stuart was a delightful treat to read. The hero Christopher St. James Constant, 3rd Earl of Adderley, truly is.just that bad, which made it all the more enjoyable when he received his comeuppance from the heroine Byrony Marton. Kit Adderley wins a large sum of cards from George Latherby, and George, unable to pay, asks Kit to wait until he marries as his bride has a large dowry. Bored and not interested in waiting a few weeks for the money he’s owed Kit suggests that they just kidnap the bride to be and head off to Scotland. Thoroughly soused at this point, they mess up and kidnap not only the Byrony but her cousin as well, and Kit finds himself intrigued and enchanted by the supposed antidote of a bride to be. I’ve always had a soft spot for the villainous hero, and Kit makes a spectacular one. Quite Steamy. Publishing Date: August 15, 2020. Purchased Book Not an ARC #TheAbsolutelyPositivelyWorstManInEnglandScotlandAndWales #AnneStuart #HistoricalRomance #VillainousHero #ImpeccablyDemurePress #bookstagram #bookstagramer #EscapeRead ( )