Unbuttoned Yet Tucked In 1: His Wicked Sins by Eve Silver

Why I chose this book: Lurv a la Mode did a wonderful review of His Wicked Sins shortly before the book was released. Gothic mystery/romance...Yorkshire Moors…my mind said, “Hello, Bronte! Thanks, I think I will.”

Synopsis: Due to the reduced circumstances of her poverty-stricken family, Beth Canham travels from London to the village of Burndale to teach at the girls’ school. Beth is haunted by fears and stresses that she will not name, but as she struggles not only to teach wisely and well but to maintain a needed calm demeanor, she can’t help but to think that she’s falling into paranoia.

Griffin Fairfax, the local landowner, is unable to communicate with his daughter Isobel, one of Beth’s charges at the school. But he sees how Beth can communicate with Isobel, and sees how the girl responds and grows under her care; the girl had not spoken a word since her mother’s death. – the death that Griffin freely admits he caused.

But even as the two grow closer, evil lurks in the Moors. A psychotic killer has been hunting and killing women, and he has Beth in his sights as his next victim. And Griffin is the prime suspect.

Review: Not too shabby.

The absolute strength in His Wicked Sins is the beautifully written Beth. Almost entirely preoccupied by a violent act in her past, Beth has developed what may be best described as several phobias, paranoia, and slight obsessive-compulsive disorder to bring orderliness into her intelligent but chaotic mind. Romance heroines like Beth are few and far between: honestly troubled with problems that can sadly be related to the modern world, despite the couple of hundred years between the setting of the novel and now.

The book is written in a slightly jarring flashback style, with alternative sections moving back in time to the killer’s first victims, as seen through the eyes of the green policeman who investigated them. This takes some getting used to, and the habit of ending the flashback chapters just shy of dropping a plot bomb while heavily hinting at the twist may lead to the occasional head-scratch of slight confusion (or a slight exasperated sigh at the device.) It is also mildly confusing in that the flashbacks cover only a few days while the main plot moves along much quicker. But the book hits a fine pace about midway through, and while the flashbacks may seem superfluous they do serve their purpose and intertwine the stories of the murderer’s first victims and Beth’s life in fine and intricate detail.

The style is ruminative and the pace slow; His Wicked Sins seems cautious sometimes when it could barrel forth, and Beth and Griffin spend a lot of time thinking about how much they are intrigued by each other, how much they want each other, and then, how much they love each other. The action is good when there’s action to be had, but a lot of time is spent dissecting conflicting emotions. But the scenes are set with loving detail, especially when walking through the Moors (which seems to be the lot of every heroine banished to Yorkshire for any reason). The sometimes slow-motion of the words do serve the location well: loneliness and abandonment abound, framed by the desolate Moors. You can feel the wind and taste the rain.

Verdict: Bronte + pop romance, sex, and hideous violence - some atmosphere and heartfelt passion = His Wicked Sins. i.e., a decent read. Do check it out. But honestly, don’t read this book unless it’s at least autumn, if not the dead of winter. Required for reading: a good cup of tea, a nice blanket, perhaps a warm kitty and a roaring fire. It’s simply that atmospheric. I had a hard time getting through it in a heat wave in Portland, and had to get the soundtrack to “The Secret Garden” in order to set a proper mood at my house. I plan on reading it again when the rain starts, which should be, oh, any time now.

The Cover Snark: (Caveat: Most authors have nothing to do with their covers. Any opinion expressed below is not meant to reflect the author’s taste or style, or the quality of the book.)

This is a lot harder than I thought it would be.



We have the ubiquitous man-chest, slightly oily (sweaty? one does not tend to get sweaty in the early winter on the high Moors). We are spared the mind-boggling physics of figuring out how the shirt stays on (I vote double-sided tape – worked for J.Lo), as the cover fades to mostly black before we get to where his waistband should be.






So the cover isn’t that bad, outside the typical manflesh. It’s moody, it works for the Moors, it sets the scene in the reader’s head. Just get the manflesh out and let the landscape set the scene.

No, my huge bone with this cover comes from an unexpected source: the back cover blurb, which reads:

In the quiet hamlet of Yorkshire, the hallowed halls of Burndale School stand…and evil lurks in its dark corners. For a serial killer with a proclivity for blonde women has struck again – this time, murdering two of its teachers. Now everyone is wondering when the killer will seek his next victim…

Elizabeth Canham has accepted a teaching position at the local boarding school in Yorkshire. But her quite life takes a surprising turn when she meets Griffin Fairfax…

It’s not yet time for my monthly giveaway, but I’ll hand out a metaphorical gold star to whomever can tell me what’s wrong with that blurb, geographically and/or grammatically.

Time’s up. Yorkshire is not a hamlet, it’s actually quite a large section of England politically portioned into three counties: North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, and East Yorkshire. The idea of there being a “local boarding school in Yorkshire” really quite boggles the mind, but not quite as much as reducing about 2.9 million square miles to a “quiet hamlet.”

Note the Yorkshires - northeast - and Lincolnshire - East Midlands

There is such a thing as creative license, and most of the time I’ll go with it. I’m not complaining about another geographic error in the first chapter (Grantham, unfortunately, is not in Yorkshire, it’s squarely in Lincolnshire, some miles south (see map above). It bothered me, but I can wipe that away – maybe the author had some friends in Grantham who got a shout-out, or maybe “Grantham” just had a better ring to her than, say, “Harrogate” or “Pickering.” Creative license. I’ll go with it. It’s just unfortunate for me that I’ve happened to live near Grantham and in Yorkshire at two separate times of my life, so I can assert their proper geographic locations with some authority.) Yes. Creative license. I get it. But had I picked up the book in a store instead of ordering it online as I did, the first sentence on the back blurb would have stopped me stone cold, and I wouldn’t have bought it on principle. I don’t know who wrote this blurb, but please, get someone who knows a bit of geography or has at least read the book.

This is where I lived outside of Grantham (my room was in the back.) I swear.

Another solution? It’s a quick fix with a few well-placed words: “In a quiet hamlet in Yorkshire…Elizabeth Canham has accepted a teaching position at a local boarding school in Burnham…”

There. See? I feel much better. How about you?

Up Next Month: Romancing Mr. Darcy by Gwen Cready

Early Thoughts? Hold on to your knickers, ladies. And strict interpretationalist Janeites? For your own good, stay away.

Edited to add:

In my excitement in finding a decent map of England, a good aerial of Harlaxton Manor, and a picture of J.Lo in the infamous dress, I completely forgot to mention...is it me or does Griffin from His Wicked Sins look a lot like the model of Mr Cavendish on Julia Quinn's upcoming Mr Cavendish, I Presume??? Does anyone wise in the ways of Romancelandia know anything about male cover models?