There is an amazing feat only the best authors can perform that makes me want to bow down in awe. And that is taking a scandalous, selfish and unlovable character with the most treacherous past imaginable—who has made mistake after mistake—and make us love them.

In her Regency-set novel, One Wicked Sin, Nicola Cornick’s second in her Scandalous Women of the Ton trilogy, this author has done exactly that—with fabulous panache.

And not with a handsomely debauched Regency rake, either. Or a wide-eyed innocent Regency miss—but with ruined woman Lottie Palliser. Once a fashionable lady of the Ton, Lottie is divorced—yes, divorced, not something very common at that time—by her aristocratic husband for becoming indiscreet with her many affairs. Like many a reckless Regency buck, she has used casual sex for pleasure, for comfort. Cast out by family, disowned by her friends, and basically on the brink of starvation, Lottie finds herself working as a courtesan in a bawd house—and utterly repulsed by the customers.

She, despite her long string of lovers, is a terrible prostitute. So bad, in fact, that her angry procuress tells her, “You are supposed to be scandalous, so behave scandalously! If Lord Borrodale wanted a block of ice in his bed he would be at home with his wife!”

Don’t you dare allow yourself to feel her despair or her revulsion at the slimy clientele—because that is only the beginning. Once you crack open that door, she will sneakily infiltrate your heart, making you turn page after page to ensure that she gets her happy ending. And man alive, is it a ride!

The hero of this story is just as flawed and wounded as Lottie. Enter Ethan Ryder—an Irishman and bastard son of the Duke of Farne, who fought for Napoleon—(yes, a hero in a Regency novel who is on the side of the French!) and is now a British POW. Given relative freedom to move about a country town, he requires a mistress with a scandalous reputation who will distract the townspeople and parole officers from what he is really up to.

Survivors, adventurers, and prisoners each in their own way, Lottie and Ethan are far more than what they first seem. They are two badly wounded people with thick lines of defenses, both of whom know the experience of distrust far more than they do of love.

Ethan makes a deal with Lottie that she cannot refuse—but true to no one but herself, she does make an attempt to flee with the dress money he gave her. Despite his purely opportunistic intentions, and knowing Lottie is fully self-serving by nature, Ethan cannot help but see her wounded vulnerability. (And like I said, once you open that door...)

Lottie is Ethan’s perfect foil in wit and in action. She crashes parties and wields a sword and slips fish patties into her ex-husband’s urns. And she never, ever allows Ethan the upper hand (i.e., see love scene with scarves).

Yet despite Lottie’s and Ethan’s reticence, wounds are exposed, loyalties questioned. Until the ultimate loyalty will be tested and tried.

The love scenes in this novel are transformational. Two characters who know a lot about sex but little about love expose their vulnerabilities, and learn to love each other despite themselves.

A word about the prose in this novel. It is difficult to describe—but I found it—lyrical. Cornick has found a rhythm—a perfect blend between action, reaction, and internal dialogue that gives you just enough of all three to make you greedily turn the pages until the end.

This novel is based on actual events. And this is only one example of how this author has facile control of the history she weaves into the story.

Are there any flaws at all? I am hard pressed. The ending is a bit fantastical but given the big personalities of the hero and heroine—it was just the ending they deserved.

If you love stories about the redeeming power of love, this is exactly the read you need to curl up with on a brisk fall day.

Reviewed by: Miranda