Gave up about a third of the way through because the heroine annoyed the hell out of me, and all I could foresee was more endless chapters of "I Hate You Except When We Kiss."I had high hopes from the blurb - a unique and intriguing premise - and the story started out great. Unfortunately, the initial drama was over much too soon, and suddenly we're thrown forward eight years and the characters have changed completely.If I'm reading a "reformed rake" story, I want to SEE "Lord Wicked" change over time and EARN his redemption. Telling the reader "it's eight years later and he's really really sorry" just doesn't cut it. We miss out completely on the restless, conflicted wickedness and get him tirelessly patient, self-sacrificial and boring.Likewise, I would have been much more likely to have compassion and respect for the heroine if I could have SEEN the consequences of the initial drama. Instead, we leave Jillian as a 17-year-old caught up in the aftermath of a scandalous duel and never really understand what turned her into a rude, self-centered bitch. She refuses to acknowledge her own behavior in the fiasco and blames everyone else around her.I know the author was trying for an "independent and feisty" heroine, but Jillian veered off that narrow path straight into "obnoxious and unlikeable."A reformed rake needs someone worth reforming for, and Jillian - at least in the first part of the book - definitely isn't it. And Lord Wicked was already reformed by the time he got to her, so what's the point?
