Review: My Wicked Little Lies by Victoria Alexander

I thought this premise of My Wicked Little Lies was absolutely marvelous. It’s just so rare to see something like it! The hero and heroine are already married when the story begins—and they’re happy to boot. The heroine, Evelyn, was a spy before her marriage—although she hasn’t admitted that to her husband. She plans to one day, but she’s thinking more along the lines of confessing when he’s on his death-bed. She gets contacted by her old organization and is compelled to help them on another case. She doesn’t want to, because she’s happy and doesn’t want to risk her marriage, but they make her an offer she can’t refuse. What follows is an amusing tale of Evelyn trying to complete the tasks assigned to her while her husband starts to suspect the worst.

Victoria Alexander has an engaging writing style that easily pulls the reader in. I started reading and was immediately charmed. The characters were so fun and the situation was so funny. Evelyn and her husband are always honest with each other, about the present at least , so when Adrian notices that she seems distracted and that she has been visiting places that she didn’t mention to him, he finds himself becoming worried. He has been feeling rather restless lately, himself, so he worries that she is experiencing the same thing. Her occasional mentions of him not being very adventurous have him nervous that she might start searching for that adventure with someone else. Evelyn is, of course, completely clueless about his worries. This leads to a hilarious story with some rather farcical situations.

Evelyn and Adrian are great together. They don’t have a very passionate feel to their relationship, but you can feel the love and affection between them whenever they’re together. Although they’re both happy and in love, Adrian has always felt a slight insecurity about Evelyn’s reasons for marrying him. Was she as in love as he was, or was he just convenient? His insecurity leads him into some awkward situations that are embarrassing for him, but hilarious for the reader. He has the unfortunate habit of making a bad situation worse by developing an even more convoluted plan to fix the original bad plan. His friend, Max—loved him!—might see it’s a bad idea, but Adrian’s determined to do things his way. Occasionally I had to shake my head. Love must have made him stupid. Lol.

I really enjoyed the book, but as the story progressed I started to become less and less amused by the lies and omissions. I still giggled over the funny scenes, but underneath that I started to become dissatisfied with the way Evelyn couldn’t keep a good mad going. I know that she loves Adrian, but I wanted her to stand up for herself and mean it when she said she was angry. It seemed like she became angry only because she wanted him to apologize and cajole her out of her temper. That left me with the feeling that he never actually had to atone for his wrongdoings. I don’t even think he was actually sorry. The fact that he kept layering deceit on top of deceit, all while tricking her, irritated me. I liked his character and understood that he got a little too caught up in his plots, but that doesn’t change the fact that what he did was wrong. I wouldn’t have minded so much if Evelyn had responded differently. My dissatisfaction with this aspect dropped my grade significantly.

Sprinkled through the book there was a cute secondary romance. They were tied in with the spy thing, so it never took away from the main romance. It actually provided a fuller picture of the spy plot and everyone’s connection to the organization. Plus, they were just adorable together. I liked that Max was the one who found himself dissatisfied with the relationship they had. He wanted to sleep with her through the night and wake with her in the morning. So sweet… It was fun watching him try to convince his lady that they should enter into something more permanent.

Although I had my issues with this book, I still thought it was a blast to read. The humor was perfect and I found myself grinning frequently. I can’t wait to see what will come next in this series.

Favorite Quote:

“However, if we are to be friends, you should know I have few scruples, my morals are questionable, and I am quite selfish.”

“What a ringing endorsement for friendship.”

“But I am unfailingly loyal to my friends. I am a friend you can always count on for very nearly anything.”

Evelyn cast her a skeptical glance. “I thought you didn’t have any friends?”

“That’s why.” Beryl sighed. “Unfailing loyalty takes a great deal out of me.”

“Friends do not steal their friends’ cooks.” Evelyn’s eyes narrowed. “Or their husbands.”

“Yet another argument for friendship because otherwise, make no mistake, I would have your husband in a minute if the opportunity presented itself.”

 

Rating: B-
My Wicked Little Lies by Victoria Alexander
January 31st 2012 by Zebra
Series
GoodReads Reviews
Tempting Teaser
Amazon || Barnes & Noble