Gosh...where to start? I just deeply enjoyed this book. I’m still recovering from finishing my second masters and the characters are lovable and endearing. The plot is fun and exciting. And especially after the *few* extra pounds I’m carrying from working full time and going to school, I greatly appreciated that Hattie is a smart, plump lady with some insecurities but Beast just thinks she’s gorgeous. But I want to be clear, the escapist nature of this series is what made it such a nice palette cleanser after finishing school. The writing is clever but accessible and witty (or should I say Whit-y?). If you’re looking for a series to escape into, I totally recommend this one. I can’t wait for the final installment!

So so so many heart eyes over this! Year of the Hattie indeed — she is such a wonderful heroine, and I loved her so much.

Hattie was so much fun. Her year of Hattie and how she knew what she wanted. Whit was good for her and I liked him as he added to Hattie.

Sometimes I find the Heroine annoying and tiresome, particularity if they are on the feminist bent. Hattie was awesome. She wasn't afraid to fight for what she wanted but she didn't have to destroy the men to get it.

The next book will belong to Ewan and Grace. I am really looking forward to it. Not just for Grace but to see how Ewan will work/mix with Whit and Devon.

Loved this book. The scenes are well written, and allow the reader to immerse themselves in the action. Plenty of steam action along with drama that make this book a must read.

It starts off slow and kind of dense, but once the action begins, it's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. It reads as a true epic, one that makes you feel the world really has been reshaped as you read it. Would recommend.

I’m going to get real here. The romance genre has a lot of good things going for it, but it’s also got a fucked up history concerning misogynistic tropes and just blatant white supremacy. The romance genre uplifted patriarchal notions that the heroine must be better than all other women. She must be placed on a pedestal, an example of a superior type of woman (basically white, thin, and maybe she allows the hero to walk all over her without a flying fuck). She’s moral, self-less, self-sacrificing for the hero, beautiful but plain, the best sex the hero’s ever had but a virgin, a delicate fucking virgin, so virginal she can’t imagine what is in those pants, more intelligent than all those vain girls and different. So different from all the other girls. Thin but just enough curves to set the hero’s dick on fire. It all sums up to ‘oh well never mind she just needed a new dress’. Of course, she’s beautiful. She just lacked some fashion sense. Thank god they figured it out.

The problem with that isn’t with traditionally beautiful girls, it’s that in order to attain beauty you have to be transformed into the type of beauty society recognizes. And for fat girls…. that doesn’t feel so great.

I grew up with my mother leaving herself notes of how fat she is. She would tell me it was to remind herself to lose weight. I absorbed that type of thinking into the way I look at my body. I’ve been on the thinner side a few times in my life, but for the most part I’ve been plus size. When your society is constantly telling you what’s wrong with you how you look, it eats at you. I love the romance genre but there’s so many toxic narratives that we still need to get through.

There are no fat girls in the 19th century…. or romance authors just don’t want to write about them. These descriptors for the perfect but imperfect heroine authors described as feminist is the reason the genre still has so many misogynistic reviewers critiquing any heroine for every little thing.

Never mind that the hero is emotionally abusive because she’s the problem. She’s selfish, shrewish, a virgin, too sexually confident, she said fuck, she didn’t listen to the hero, she put herself in danger, she’s a Mary Sue, she’s TSTL, I want to choke her to death…..and the misogyny continues.

Sarah Maclean takes misogynistic perceptions of the genre to write Hattie: plus sized, not in the least interested in marriage, confident, calls her best friend beautiful without an an ounce of competitive jealousy, calls the hero out on his shit, isn’t willing to sacrifice her ambition to run her father’s company for anyone, and a god damn glorious feminist for the ages.

In Maclean’s novel, the heroine isn’t able to magically be seen as a society beauty. She is told to her face that her body makes her unattractive. Maclean doesn’t play this out. She doesn’t use her trauma as a hammer for the reader. It’s just part of her. She knows that she can’t just have a makeover and be considered beautiful by the Ton.

For most romance novelists of the past, the dream is society recognizing the heroine’s beauty. But Hattie isn’t just a little plump, she’s a plus size girl. The fantasy of society finally realizing she’s beautiful because the Duke chose her is never going to be a reality for her. She doesn’t need titled idiots to tell her she’s awesome (because she absolutely is, and she knows it). But being a plus size girl means she’s had some traumatic experiences. As any plus size girl can attest (including myself), the snubs and the little comments here and there chisel down your ability to be confident with your body. Maclean does not transform Hattie into an idealized beauty.

Maclean transforms plus size body types from the unseen and into a seen beauty.


Hattie Reminds me of Diana Sirokai (the gorgeous woman above), a plus sized model and activist. In an interview, Diana expressed her insecurity as a plus size woman on Instagram, “All I could see were these amazing bodies that we idolize, and I felt like I couldn’t post in bikinis because I don’t look like that.” Diana is known for juxtaposing plus size women next to fashion ads. She used her fear of criticism to create a positive space where plus size girls are loved and appreciated and SEEN.

Hattie does the same thing when she decides to make a deal with Beast to rid her of her virginity. She doesn’t feel comfortable with how other people view her body but she’s putting herself out there anyway.

Maclean is going against the misogynistic past of the romance genre. She’s also reworking misogynistic fairytales. Beauty and the Beast is formed into a modern feminist tale. In the original, Beauty is the daughter of a merchant, so is Hattie’s father.

Sidenote: Maclean is careful to show Hattie and her family are ethical businesspeople. Shipping, such as slavery, is explicitly mentioned as something her family stays far away from. This is 1838 but some English people still found ways to keep slavery alive. I’m glad this is mentioned because most white historical romance authors conveniently never mention slavery as being part of their world. Even though most of the peerage had been given a payout by the government because they owned slaves.

Unlike the original, Hattie does not pit other women against each other. Hattie does not become the better woman because all the other woman are bullies. In the original, the author uses idealized beauty to send the message that values become a reason for someone’s physical appearance. Beauty, the most beautiful of all her vain and selfish sisters, is fucking queen of all the bitches because she’s a soldier for the patriarchy. In Maclean’s book, no guys are selling or bargaining any ladies off to a weird lonely guy in a tower. Any deals are between Hattie and Beast. Hattie knows what she wants, and Beast becomes the point of interest to achieve what she wants. He’s a stoic guy, a complete book nerd, and does the dirty talk real good.


So, a heroine walks into a brothel for ladies and meets a Beast. Beast is depicted as beautiful to dispel our preconceived notions of this fairytale. There is no transformation of either the hero or heroine’s physical appearance. Any transformation happens through learning from each other. They are two humans learning each other’s minds and bodies. The realization of self love comes from opening themselves up, not because love is magical but because other people can shoulder the burden of our pain.

The hero grew up in Covent Garden. His father came to bring him to his ducal seat to torture him with notions that he could become rich. He and his mother could escape poverty but only if he can use him to play a game with his half brothers. The endgame being the ducal seat.

Given he’s both experienced poverty and a madman for a father, Beast does not really know how to come to terms with the idea that he could have a life with Hattie. He doesn’t really think love is for him. That’s something he and Hattie learn from each other. How do you open yourself up to someone else, especially with someone who has a completely different experience than you?

The result is not a smooth ride. It sometimes means people make mistakes. Inviting the possibility that love could happen for them is like pulling teeth. I appreciate Maclean recognizes this slow process necessary for healing. Beast is never unkind to her (I’ve had difficulty with Maclean’s other heroes’ mistreatment of her heroines) but he does NOT know how to court the ladies. Beyond that, he has not had the privileges of titled heroes. Therefore, he is not going to behave like titled men would. Let’s just put it that way.

One of my favorite aspects of the original is the rose. But I like what Maclean writes in modernizing a classic. She’s doing really interesting things with appearance. I also believe she’s doing the same with objects of importance, like a rose or like a dagger. A dagger is exchanged for the famous rose in this tale.

Beast values the rose more than anything in the world. He loves the rose, but he also hates it because it means his end. The rose is his survival and his doom. Like the rose, Hattie is so entranced by the dagger that it becomes a thing of beauty. It is a thorn; a weapon. It is also the thing that weaves through the novel. It becomes valuable to the hero, beautiful to Hattie, and a way for the heroine to protect herself when she’s in danger. It is almost as if she is the personification of that dagger. It is beautiful but dangerous, much like the rose that could mean Beast’s death or protection in the fairytale.

Women are not used to uplift Hattie but to embrace Hattie. Rather it is the misogynistic society of the ton which makes her body Othered. Unlike the original, this Beauty is not praised as self-less or self-sacrificing for the hero. She prioritizes herself because she believes her desires should not be sacrificed in the name of love. She should be enough for love. Women should not have to sacrifice their careers for the man.

Instead of choosing Beauty to be patriarchy’s vision of selfless and all giving to the men in her life, Maclean chooses a heroine interested in making a better life for herself, no matter that she’s a woman in 1838.

Hattie embodies all the values the original storyteller warned against. Beauty being the one woman deserving of wealth and privilege came from fairytales and became a pillar of the romance heroine. Maclean shows a romance, a fairytale, where women attain autonomy and confidence without the stipulation they must be deserving of it. She takes the white supremacist and misogynistic fairytales the romance genre is so fond of and transforms it into a beautiful fairytale of feminist ideals. Wealth and titled circles do not become the HEA but a point of criticism.

Oh, and did I mention…there may or may not be a f/f ship going off in this book. All I’m saying is I want that book sometime in the future.


This is my favorite romance Sarah Maclean has ever written. It is sugar, spice, and absolutely fucks feminism into the romance genre so any attempt at misogyny dies. This book makes my little feminist heart feel like there’s hope.

Brazen and the Beast was a solid historical romance with some pacing issues and other small problems that just knocked it down from "great" to "good."

I think I liked Brazen and the Beast slightly less than Wicked and the Wallflower, which seems to be a bit against the grain from my fellow reviewers. The ideas were all there, but it took me about a week to get through it, which isn't the best sign for me.

I really liked how Sarah MacLean made an effort to include a diverse cast of characters, including some queer representation. I also liked the general idea of the story, which had an interesting plot line. But all of those good things weren't quite enough.

My problems stemmed from the fact that I found the story to be quite repetitive. I started "Brazen and the Beast" right after "Wicked and the Wallflower," and so much of the plot line is rehashed in the second book that it was tiring to read. For example, even though Haddie was the kind of character I could get behind, we didn't have to hear about how smart and what a good business woman she was on practically every page!

Whit was on and off with their romance, and it got to be too much. I think the book could have been edited down to be a lot tighter and more compelling.

Some great ideas, and some not as good execution, but I'm still excited for the third book in the series!

*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*

The first book in the Bareknuckle Bastards was a lot of fun but didn't grab me. Generally, I'm not a massive fan of historical romance because I often don't see myself in these porcelain white women in beautiful dresses. But Brazen and the Beast was a different experience for me. I absolutely adored it, mainly because of the main character, Hattie. She's such a fantastic character and her drive, ambition, and joy of single life coupled with her insecurities with her body and her fear of being a woman in a very traditional culture resonated with me. I thought Beast was a ridiculous but fun character in the first book. In Brazen, he quickly became my favorite of the Bastards (and I love that Hattie calls him out on his silly nickname). Sarah MacLean has given me a venue for exploring more historical romance - I can't wait for the third title in the series!

SM is the queen of historical romance and to no one's surprise, she doesn't disappoint with Brazen and the Beast. I'm in love with the Beast from the beginning. Hattie is a blessing. I read it in one sitting and immediately needed more. (Of Nik. What can we have a Nik book??)

Brazen and the Beast features Hattie Sedley, the smart and highly capable daughter of a shipping magnate who wants her father's business. He plans to leave it to Hattie's incompetent brother. At 29 Hattie does not think she'll ever marry, and so she begins the Year of Hattie, a plan to secure her future and the family business. That plan begins to run aground when she discovers that her brother has run afoul of the Bareknuckle Bastards, two smuggler brothers. One of those brothers - Beast - has vowed to have his revenge on the Sedley business. His plan is complicated by his falling into instant love with Hattie. I really liked Hattie - she was a fantastic character. (As an aside I also loved her best friend Nora, and found myself wishing I was reading a book about Nora and Beast's friend/employee Annika.) Anyway, for some reason this book took me a while to get through. I think in part because, while Beast and Hattie felt well matched, they fell in love so quickly I got whiplash. Plus I wasn't crazy about Beast's backstory. I haven't read the first book in the series, but a duke had 3 illegitimate children born on the same day (!) and made them fight for the dukedom; Beast and Devil grew up to be enemies with the 3rd brother, Ewan. That all felt too melodramatic for me, and I don't like how MacLean is setting up Ewan to be redeemed, I'm guessing, in the next book. I'd definitely recommend this one to people who liked the first book, but for me it was just ok.

My new favorite book by this author! Our customers are always so excited to read Sarah's titles and this one will not disappoint. Loved the hero and the heroine both and am thrilled to have this on our shelves.

Hattie is turning 29 and wants to celebrate all the way. She goes to a nunnery in Convent Garden after finding this gorgeous hunk of man tied up in her carriage; she'd made arrangements to have a man take care of one of her problems, no strings attached. Guess who shows up? Yup. And he's one of the Bareknuckle Bastards, no less!

Here you have two strong-willed people interacting. Whit/Beast is a protector, a self-made man, illegitimate but quite wealthy and feared by all in the rookeries. Hattie has been basically running her father's shipping business as the heir, her brother, is useless. But since she's a woman... Plus a person from Whit's childhood is out to destroy the Bastard's business, and when he sees Whit and Hattie, that's another angle. Don't want to give everything away!

And Devil and Felicity from the first book show up, as does their sister at the end -- her story's next, but not until next year.

BRAZEN AND THE BEAST follows Hattie, a woman ready to take charge of her life and circumstances, and Whit, one of the Bareknuckle Bastards we met in the previous book.

The premise of this historical romance is fantastic, as Sarah MacLean does so well with fun concepts. Hattie is a fat character, something that is sadly less common in romance, especially historical romance, and she is written well in that regard. Her size is never a joke to the reader, and while she has self-confidence, she also understands that her appearance does not meet with what society approves as beautiful and initially believes Whit holds the same standard. I adored how Hattie begins to put less and less worth on 'society' and more on her own ambitions and dreams, like taking over her father's business. She is without doubt one of my favorite MacLean heroines.

Unfortunately, I had a hard time connecting with other parts of the book. Whit fell a little flat for me, and the plot wasn't as much of a page-turner as I had hoped. However, I am still so happy that we have a historical romance that focuses on a fat woman taking charge, finding love, and getting a happily ever after.

I received a free copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. brazen and the beast is the 2nd book in this series and like the first book this one is exceptional and exciting. hattie has decided that she is going to take control of her life and take over her father's business but first she needs to ruin her reputation so marriage is out of the question. whit also known as beast along with his brother devil from the 1st book run Covent garden. I did not want to put this book down until I finished it. I loved both characters and the relationship and character development was great. 5 stars.

I was looking forward to reading this book since I liked the first book in the series. However, this book just didn't work for me. The plot was very thin. I didn't feel a connection to the main characters. The dialogue and writing was a bit repetitive. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this ARC.

Hattie is determined to make this year one of her best. But on the night of her "new life" she finds a man knocked out and tied up in her carriage. Untying him and dumping him alongside the road, she never imagines that she will see him again.

Whit is determined to find out who knocked him out and tied him up. He knows it wasn't the brazen woman who let him go, but since she knows who it was, he decides to follow her. When she ends up at a house of pleasure that caters to woman, he decides that he will be the one to give it to her.

This leads to these two strong willed individuals constantly butting heads. Who will win this contest of wills or will they both win when they get their HEA?

LOVE this story!! Hattie was taking charge of her life. She didn't want what other debutants did. She wanted to run her father's company and make a name for herself. Whit, on the other hand, had already made a name for himself and felt like he didn't deserve to find happiness with Hattie. I loved watching each of them come to appreciate the other for whom they were and to get the HEA they didn't realize they wanted. I can not wait for the next book in the series!!!

This sequel to last year's Wicked and the Wallflower is even better! Hattie is fully ready to move into her spinster years and handle her father's business, but her plans get a bit muddled when she crosses paths with Beast, one of the notorious Bareknuckle Bastards. This handsome Beast needs something from her and is prepared to lend a hand or more to help her if it means getting that information. Not quite allies, but not quite rivals, these two might just be a perfect match.

I really enjoyed the first book in the Barenuckle Bastards series and was eagerly anticipating Beast/Whit's story. Sarah MacLean delivered an amazing heroine, a great hero and an intriguing story.

Hattie, our heroine, is simply wonderful. She stole this book and and I loved her story. Her independence, her bravery, her vulnerability, and just everything about her spoke to me. I love strong heroines and this author excels at writing them. Whit's backstory is quite sad but he's a wonderful book hero.

I found the story to be paced well, the characters wonderful and I'm excited to read more by this author.

4 1/2 stars

I'm not going to give you a synopsis of the plot -- Goodreads and others will certainly do that
better. :)

This book is a romp -- it's tons of fun, so just enjoy the ride. Is the way the hero and heroine meet pretty implausible?? -- Sure. Are there other parts of the story that are a little ridiculous? Yep.

It doesn't matter. This is a wonderfully written, enjoyable book that will have you smiling while you are reading.

An Advanced Reader Copy was provided by the publisher from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first Sarah MacLean book but it won't be my last! It was super funny and sexy. I loved Whit and Harriet and watching their characters (and love) develop over the course of the novel. The plot does veer towards melodrama so I won't recommend it to everyone, but a solid book for our romance section. Thanks!