When He Was Wicked -- Not

I picked up a romance novel the other day because the title of the book is, When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn. Call me crazy, but the title lead me to believe there were be stories, tales, tidbits, morsels - if you will - of someone being wicked.

There weren't. Not a one.

The "wicked" character in the book starts off from the very first page not being wicked. In fact, he is responsible, sensible, and respectful. Yuck. If I wanted to read a book about someone like that I would have chosen a book titled The Saint. Basic outline: the character is in love with his cousins wife, so he pines, yearns and broods the pages away like a lovesick puppy visibly drooling every time this "vision of grace and elegance" walks into the room. Total yawnfest. The only time there is any mention of him being wicked is when he's feeling sorry for himself and thinking, "Things were so much easier.....when I was wicked". The author actually tries to insert the word "wicked" here and there to justify the title but it's misplaced and weird.

Where is the wickedness? Argh. I feel like the person in the funk song "Tell me something good" - because this book, well, how can I put it - is not good. I find it odd that there are so many glowing reviews on Amazon - very misleading. Julia Quinn is not her usual self in this book, the characters are meh, and overall it was neither fun nor funny. That's a problem for me, because I usually read these books because they're fun or because I find them hilarious. So, this gets a 1 star rating from me.

So in summary, my complaint is: he was not wicked, no one was wicked, where is Jilly Cooper's Rupert Cambell-Black when you need him?