Wicked Widow

Rating:
Summary: Save your money!
Review: Amanda Quick/Jayne Ann Krentz needs a vacation. She keeps cranking out the same old plot, over and over again. Where are the intellegent, strong women and passionate, interesting men that drew me to her writing in the first place? Now you get wimps of both genders. And boring sex. Heck, I don't need to buy a book for that!

OK, so you want the plot -- young woman is trying to solve a crime and enlists the assistance of a mysterious man with his own revenge agenda. They fall in love (she earlier than he). They face some type of physical danger from an mysterious person who should be dead but maybe isn't. And let's not forget the unpleasant subplot of a young woman abducted and gang-raped. Sound familiar? If not, then you haven't read any of her last four books under both names.

Amanda/Jayne Ann, I beg you. Take a break and get your edge back. I really enjoyed your earlier works. But you've either burned out under the pressure of performance or have taken to hiring trained chimpanzees to write your novels for you. Either way, it's an insulting waste of my good money.

Rating:
Summary: Wicked Widow Indeed!
Review: I'm not a fan of historicals; however, the title of Ms. Quick's latest release caught my eye several months ago so I ordered it. I am so glad I did. This is a delightful romp with wonderful characters and the sharp, witty dialogue that has been missing from her last couple of books.

Madeline Deveridge is known as the Wicked Widow. They say she killed her husband. The gentlemen of society have placed wagers for the man who can spend the night with her and live to tell about it. Madeline is being haunted by her late husband. She enlists the aid of Artemis Hunt to help her find him. Artemis, like her late husband, is involved in Vanza, a philosphy featured in past novels by Ms. Quick. Artemis doesn't know how Madeline has learned so many of his secrets, but he is determined to find out. Sparks fly between them and the story takes off.

This is one of the best books by Ms. Quick in a long time. If you love drama, great dialogue, the characters that capture your interest, you will want to read this book!

Rating:
Summary: It was OK
Review: It was OK. Not like her other books and it did not quite hold my attention. I could put it down and get back to it. It seemed that Madeline and Artemis met each other, searched for the bad guy, had sex, fell in love, thwarted the bad guy, and wanted to get married all in one day. Since I usually enjoy ready her books I will continue to buy her hard covers although the price seems awfully steep for this book.

Rating:
Summary: Not worth the wait
Review: Every year I eagerly await the latest addition to my Amanda Quick collection. This one was a disappointment. The whole Vanza angle has been exhausted. Character development was not as extensive as previous Quick works.Had a hard time finishing this one.

Rating:
Summary: Fun Read
Review: Madeline "The Wicked Widow" Deveridge demands that Artemis Hunt, owner of the Dreams Pavilion, help her find her abducted maid. After he successfully completes the mission, he demands she explain how she knows so much about his affairs. He learns about her deceased father's journal that provides information on the followers of Vanza who include Artemis and Madeline's deceased spouse Renwick. In exchange for the book, he agrees to help her with the apparent ghost of the dead husband she allegedly murdered.

As they investigate the seemingly supernatural presence, Madeline and Artemis fall in love. However, after the machinations of her first husband, she does not trust anyone who follows the philosophy of Vanza. He still pines over the murder of his first love. With that much baggage, a permanent relationship between the Vanza disciple and the WICKED WIDOW appears remote.

Overall, the WICKED WIDOW is an exciting historical romance that contains all of the elements that have made Amanda Quick a fan favorite. However, the constant use of Vanza philosophy slows down the plot but otherwise this is a very interesting historical intrigue. The lead characters are a charming duo and the support cast provides depth. Ms. Quick's latest tale is an entertaining story that generally will provide much satisfaction to sub-genre fans.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: After "Paid Companion," "Wicked Widow" Disappointed Me
Review: I read my very first Amanda Quick book, and my very first romance novel, by chance recently. It was "Paid Companion" and I just picked it up from the new book shelf at the public library.

I was delighted by it, as I said in my review.

I was eager to read more of Amanda Quick, to see if she could, again, provide me with a book that would be easy and fun to read, but that would not insult my intelligence.

It's hard to pick a Quick book; there are so many. I picked up "Wicked Widow" because it mentioned ghosts and haunting, and I expected a fun, scary book.

"Wicked Widow" disappointed me.

In "Paid Companion" I found the lead characters delightfully idiosyncratic, believable, and not at all the types I'd expect in a romance novel. In fact, one reviewer of that book said that the male lead was grumpy and the female lead was annoyingly politically correct. They were! And that's what I liked about them. They seemed real.

In "Wicked Widow," though, the leads are stereotypical cut-outs and they never came to life for me. Artemis Hunt is masterful and domineering; Madeline Deveridge is beautiful and captivating. Sorry, but, ho, hum.

Another reviewer here, Jen from Jacksonville, implies that "Vanza," the "secret society" in "Wicked Widow" is about as secret as a delivery boy. She's right. There's nothing mysterious or alluring about Vanza.

Almost every character in the book seems to belong to it, or know all about it. It crops up in every other sentence. The name "Vanza" is applied to the silliest things; as Jen says, a guy hiding in a corner is "Vanza." Remember that the next time you play hide and seek -- you are a Vanza master!

Memo to Amanda Quick: sometimes, especially when you are talking about a secret society, less *is* more.

As for the plot, well, it never grabbed me. I found myself skipping pages to get to the end quicker.

I was especially alienated when characters in "Wicked Widow" said, basically, exactly the same things, and did the same things, as characters in "Paid Companion." The comfort of familiarity is one thing; it's no fun, though, when you are reading what looks like cut and pasted dialogue and scenes from one book to the next.

So, I'm still eager to be educated about the romance genre. If there are other books out there like "Paid Companion" -- fun, with bouncey dialogue -- I'd like to find and read them. I'll pass on books that are more like "Wicked Widow."

Rating:
Summary: My first and LAST Amanda Quick book
Review: I can only be thankful that I got this book at the library instead of actually spending good money on it. After all the rave reviews I've heard on Amanda Quick, I picked up Wicked Widow with great anticipation, only to be sorley disappointed. The book is completely overtaken by this Vanza concept- anything and everything is related to it. If a guy is hiding in a dark corner it is because it is a Vanza manuver- not just a guy hiding in a corner. For a secret society, there are an amazing amount of people who know about it or are involved with it. I felt that if one more action of the characters was due to this vanza thing, I was going to scream. Can't a person have a thought in his head without it relating to his Vanza training? To make matters worse, the love scenes are awkward and out of place. They are thrown into the book at strange intervals, bringing you out of your vanza daze to remember that this is supposed to be a romance. I don't know when the charcters fell in love, there was no chemistry there that I could tell. Of corse, this could be due to the poor charcter development. A true disappointment all around.

Rating:
Summary: Fun ...
Review: I listened to it in audio form & found it fun. I thought the scene in which they first made love (and we found that our heroine was a virgin) was hilarious - though I did wonder what had caused her to decide to do it.

Rating:
Summary: wicked fun from a talented writer
Review: This is one of the better JAK of the past half dozen Quicks. At the time I read it, I would have given it four stars. I give it five now, after reading a series of floundering Quicks and Kentzes. The others were not good examples of this talented writer who usually delights, so it makes this one shine a wee bit better by comparison.

Madeline Deveridge ingores all the gossip about her, that she offed her dh and concealed the evidence. Only now, Madeline fears her "late" departed husband is stalking her and her auntie, but does not want to believe it, because she has clear evidence he should not be up and about. But something weird is happening and so she forced to turned to Artemas Hunt.

Artemus runs London's "wicked" pleasure pavilions, and has a penchant for the arcane, the occult. Having a dead hubby back to torment the wife interests him, so he takes on helping her - after she blackmails him into it! Artemus is quickly intriqued by the lady as much as the mystery, but Madeline, after a disasterous first marriage is leary of men and see advantage in being a wicked widow!

It's typically sharp JAK (whatever the penname) focusing on witty repartee and intriquing chracters.

Rating:
Summary: Wicked Widow
Review: Wicked Widow is sort of a sequel to I Thee Wed. It mentions characters, events, and ideas from that novel. The secret art of Vanza is an important factor of this book as well. According to the author, Vanza is an ancient secret society yet practically all her characters know of it or practice its principles. The mystery in this novel isn't Amanda Quick typical mystery. Madeline is sure she's being haunted by her husband's ghost. She seeks the assistance of Artemis. Amanda Quick seems to working on making her mysteries less predictable. I wish she'd work some more on the romance. There's practically no romantic tension, very little passion, and very little to make this romance different or memorable.