Review: Lady Viper and the Bastard by Eva Leigh

From USA Today Bestselling author Eva Leigh comes a tale of two wicked villains finding unexpected lust—and love

Lady Violet “Viper” Hampton is known for her fierce reputation in the ballroom and the bedroom, but her vicious reputation is nearly matched by her rakish rival, Ian “the Bastard” Molineaux. When Violet and Ian are separately hired by families seeking to tear a loving couple apart, the two enemies must work together. The bastard and the viper use every weapon in their seductive arsenal to emerge the victor, yet the passion between them is as explosive as it is dangerous…

Lady Viper and the Bastard was originally published in the Villain I’d Like to F… anthology.

Lady Viper and the Bastard was originally published in the Villain I’d Like to F… anthology.

Lady Viper and the Bastard is officially my least favorite book by Eva Leigh. It wasn’t like it was a super awful story or anything but unlike with Two Rakes for Mrs. Sparkwell and An Education in Pleasure (also originally part of anthologies), I just didn’t vibe with this one.

This story featured Violet Hampton a.k.a. Lady Viper and Ian Molineaux a.k.a. the Bastard. Without knowing it, they both get hired by families who are trying to keep their daughter and son away from one another. Now it seems that Violet and Ian have to work together to accomplish the goal. If only they weren’t getting distracted by each other.

What I did enjoy about this book was that Violet and Ian both were in their 40’s, which isn’t an age that I often see in historical romances, at least not with the female main character. It was also a hate-to-love or enemies-to-lovers romance. This is one of my favorite tropes usually, but I wasn’t feeling it with these two characters. I think if this had been a full-length novel and had a little more backstory about both Violet and Ian that I would’ve liked it more.

Lady Viper and the Bastard was a sexy historical romance but other than that it didn’t have a whole lot that I enjoyed. Not enough characterization and backstory due to the number of pages but it’s fine for a one-time read. I’m sure other readers will like it more than I did, but it wasn’t for me this time around.

About the author:

Eva Leigh is a USA Today romance author who has always loved romance. She writes novels chock-full of determined women and men who are here for it. She enjoys baking, spending too much time on the Internet, and listening to music from the ’80s. Eva and her husband, author Nico Rosso, live in Central California.

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