The Day of the Duchess

The Day of the Duchess (Scandal and Scoundrel #3) by Sarah MacLean (2017)

Malcolm Bevingstoke, Duke of Haven, hasn't forgotten about his wife since she day she left. He searched everywhere for her, and now she is back and she wants a divorce. But that isn't easy in Regency England and the only way Malcolm will consent is if Seraphina helps him find a new wife. So they're off to the country together to meet some eligible young women and determine which one the Duke should marry. Of course his only plan for the summer is to win back Sera, the only woman he truly cares about.

This is a great setup because the hero and heroine are already married. But boy did they both mess things up early in their relationship! They had been in love, but Sera wasn't certain he wanted to actually marry her because of her family's reputation so she tricked him into marriage. He was outraged, thinking this meant she didn't actually love him, and wanted nothing to do with her. They were brought together again briefly by an event that turned tragic, and that's when Sera fled to America and started a new life. But her goals now involve owning a business, and married women can't own property, hence her need for a divorce.

You might remember the Dangerous Daughters from my post about The Rogue Not Taken, the heroine of which was Seraphina's sister. In fact, during one memorable scene Sophie found Sera's husband, Malcolm, in a compromising position with another woman and pushed him into a fish pond. Now, Sera has brought all of her sisters with her as she undertakes the job of finding Malcolm a new wife. It's quite a support system too, especially given how much they all dislike him for making their sister miserable. Sera's sisters are outspoken and hilarious, though I keep confusing them all with each other since their names all begin with S.

Of course it all becomes obvious very soon that Sera is just as much in love with Malcolm as he is with her, despite all they've been through together. They both hurt each other in pretty intense ways and getting past that is difficult. In this way, this is probably one of the messiest and realistic romances I've read. The current story is alternated with flashbacks to their early relationship and all the events that surround it, so the full story is filled in as we go. This is pretty common in books these days, but I don't think I've read a romance structured this way, so that was a nice surprise as well.

As one would expect from any novel by Sarah MacLean, it's filled with cheeky humor. In the scene when Seraphina first meets Malcolm and addresses him as "my lord" he responds by telling her it should be "Your Grace." To which she replies: "How did you know how throughly women enjoy being corrected by men? And over forms of address, especially. It is a great wonder that none of us have ever fallen in love with you."

In another part, when Malcolm says he wouldn't trust Sera's sisters around unmarried men because of their reputations, she laments: "Oh, yes. Poor unmarried men, weak-willed, doughy boys with neither control nor intelligence. So easily marked and ruined by women-- ever more powerful...Poor, sad men, so kind and blameless, fairly wandering the streets in their impotent impressionability." I really enjoyed Sera a lot.

But her sisters were just as cutting. When a man tells Sesily what he thinks he wants, she responds, "I do like it when a man tells me about myself. It's positively aphrodisiacal." To which he says "I'm an American, my lady. Don't flummox me with all your big words." It was all so very satisfying.

When I began this series, I think I assumed there'd be a book for each of the five sisters, but then the second book was about someone outside of the family, and a couple of the sisters got married between books. I know MacLean has a new series coming out so this might be it for this series, except for what I think will be a novella about the relationship between Sesily and the aforementioned American. At any rate, I'm sure whatever she writes will be her usual mix of smart, feminist, fun and delightful.

A Scot in the Dark

A Scot in the Dark (Scandal and Scoundrel #2) by Sarah MacLean (2016)

Tragedy has struck the Dukedom of Warnick. In fact, sixteen tragedies, leaving the title to the seventeenth in line, a Scot named Alec Stuart. He hates the English and wants nothing to do with the title, wealth, or anything else that comes with it. He was very clear with his solicitor on this matter. So clear, that Alec only learned five years later that he was left a ward, a young woman named Lilian Hargrove.

The circumstances upon which he learned of her existence were scandalous. Lily had posed nude for a portrait that she thought was to be kept private by the artist, with whom she thought herself in love. The artist, Derek Hawkins, had no such illusions about their relationship and now planned on a public showing of the painting, which he considered a masterpiece. Lily would be ruined. Not only would she not be married to Hawkins, but the shame of the nude portrait of her would end her chances of making another marriage. Alec has come to London to try and rectify the situation by finding someone for her to marry. He is generous with his vast fortune, which should help secure a husband. But they have only something like nine days before the painting will be publicly revealed so a husband must be found before then.

The problem now is that Lily and Alec are very attracted to each other, but each of them thinks they don't deserve the other. Lily, because of the nude portrait; Alec, because of a deep-seated feeling of unworthiness for anything other than cheap sex, which is more fully explained late in the novel. Obviously the two should be together, and we know they ultimately will, but the getting there is a bit more torturous than necessary.

Alec is stupid and kind of a jerk. He kept denying Lily her happiness because he thought he wasn't good enough, which, honestly....come on, romance novels. I've never encountered so many people who denied others' happiness out of a twisted ostensibly-selfless feeling that the other person would be better off without them, even though they are both absolutely dying to be together. To make matters worse, Alec and Lily have had some sexytimes, which in those days pretty much meant you needed to marry. And she's already had something similar happen, so when Alec kept insisting they couldn't be together and taking off, I was finally like, if you're going to be this way then no, you don't deserve her, you lout!

Despite Alec's stupidity, the story was ultimately quite satisfying, but that's because Lily was awesome. She was smart and strong, and managed to overcome her feelings of shame at what she had done. Honestly, Alec didn't do a damn thing. She acted to try and fix the situation for herself, and then she changed her mind and decided to fix it a different way and she did it all herself. Well, she had some help from her amazing and wonderful new female friends. I loved this aspect of the story: Lily had never really had friends, and now that she is about to be the subject of public humiliation, a group of scandalous sisters take her right into their fold and help her out however they can. It was both touching and empowering.

This is the second in the Scandal and Scoundrels series (after The Rogue Not Taken), which is based on TMZ-like headlines, but Regency style. This book extended that theme even farther with the nude portrait plot, so similar to current situations involving released sex videos or photos. The chapter titles are all gossipy scandal sheet titles, which I find rather delightful. I was spurred to read this by the release of the third in the series, Day of the Duchess, which has gotten great reviews and which I'm quite looking forward to reading!

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished (The Rules of Scoundrels #3) by Sarah MacLean (2013)

I've been reading this series completely out of order. I began with #4, Never Judge a Lady By Her Cover, then progressed to #1, A Rogue by Any Other Name. Now I've just finished #3, No Good Duke Goes Unpunished and I can confidently say that this series should win some sort of prize for Best Titles Ever. The one I haven't read, #2, is called One Good Earl Deserves a Lover. I rest my case.

But about the story. It begins with the Duke of Lamont waking up and expecting to find a woman next to him in bed, but finding only blood. He has no memory of the night. He does remember the woman though, because she was engaged to marry his father. Now she's apparently dead and for the next twelve years he's known as the Killer Duke.

Then one day she appears - Mara Lowe. She's been in hiding this whole time, but now feels a lot of guilt about setting up this innocent guy. She offers to finally clear his name and they enter into an agreement in which he will pay her to spend time with him in public and then she will be revealed as who she truly is, exonerating him. The money will go towards saving the orphanage she runs. She's desperate for money because her reckless, irresponsible brother has lost everything. Of course, even though Temple (as the Duke is called these days) and Mara should be sworn enemies because of their history, they are drawn to each other despite how much they each try to resist.

Mara has all the best qualities of a romance heroine. She is strong, witty, doesn't take crap from anyone, and despite living in the 19th century she can take care of herself perfectly well, thank you very much. I loved some of the things she said and, in fact, would love to start using the words "scallawaginous" and "scoundrelly." Also, she has a pet pig named Lavender who sleeps on a cushion. As pet pigs should. This novel also has one of my very favorite tropes: Temple becomes gravely injured and Mara helps nurse him back to health. Well, she doesn't help a whole lot since she isn't allowed near him for a while, but it still works for me.

The only issue I really had is that the characters seemed determined to make things more difficult for themselves than they needed to be, which is an all-too-common problem I encounter in romance novels. There was a point where it seemed like they were pretty much all set, but Mara still insisted they couldn't be together. Oh, and the word "worrying" was really overused. Not as in an anxious feeling, but as in fiddling with something (like a lip or a nipple.) It was used about 5 times in the course of just a few pages, which seems excessive. But these are very minor issues with a book that I found overall pretty enjoyable.

You may recall that I struggled a bit with the last book I read because I wasn't really in the mood to read about Soviet oppression around the time of the US election, but do you know what I did want to read? This. This is exactly what I needed. I actually began it before finishing the last book because I really, really needed some comfort and pleasure. Sarah MacLean came through for me, as I knew she would. I have only one more book in this series to read, and I was surprised to learn that on Goodreads it has the highest rating in the series. I've enjoyed them all so far, but I absolutely loved Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover, and now I'm looking forward to reading the one that, apparently, many people loved even more.

The Rogue Not Taken

The Rogue Not Taken (Scandal and Scoundrel #1) by Sarah MacLean (2016)

Lady Sophie Talbot and her sisters are known among London society as the Dangerous Daughters, or the Soiled S.'s (they all have names beginning with S), but Sophie has done nothing publicly scandalous herself - until now. At a party she happens upon her sister's husband in a compromising position with another woman and confronts him, pushing him into a fish pond. You'd think he would be the one publicly humiliated, but no, it's Sophie trying to sneak away and escape London. She ends up disguising herself as a footman and hopping on a carriage belonging to the  notorious scoundrel Kingscote, the Marquess of Eversley. They instantly dislike each other, he assuming she's trying to trick him into marriage and she having just seen him escaping from the bedroom window of a woman engaged to someone else. So naturally, they end up falling hard for each other.

My favorite thing about this story is Lady Sophie's disdain for the aristocracy and her lifelong dream of opening a bookshop in the little town where she grew up. Her family wasn't rich or titled when she was growing up, but when her father bought a piece of land that turned out to harbor a profitable coal mine, they became rich and he bought his title. Others in London society considered the family to be social climbers and didn't fully accept them. Sophie hated these snobs and hated that she had to live among them. When she fled London after the disastrous party, she could think only of going back to her hometown and marrying the baker she had promised herself to years ago.

King was also leaving London for the country, but for very different reasons. His father who hadn't spoken to in years sent a message that he was dying. King blamed his father for the death of the one woman he ever loved, and was only returning so he could have the pleasure of telling his father that he was the end of the line for their family. King was a bit of an alpha male, which is not my favorite sort of guy, but I found his story intriguing and he obviously cared for Sophie in spite of himself.

Their relationship had a number of stumbling blocks related to each other's reputation and the societal pressures facing the aristocracy at that time. Marrying as a means to secure a higher rank and greater wealth was common, and if you happened to love someone who was in a better position than you, the burden of proving you wanted to marry for love was a difficult one to overcome. Sophie was all too aware of her family's reputation, but no matter how much she protested, it was hard for others - like King - to believe she actually cared nothing for the aristocracy. Making things more complicated for the two, they were both stuck on an old love from the past. It was all fairly complicated, and satisfying to see them work through all their internal issues while contending pressures from their families and society.

Just like MacLean's other books, this one is filled with humor and witty banter and was a lot of fun to read. I first heard about it when the author was interviewed on Smart Podcast, Trashy Books a while back. She promised a new series based on TMZ-like headlines from scandal sheets, which totally piqued my interest at the time so I was watching for this book to come out. Satisfyingly, it not only begins with a brief scandal sheet article ("DUKE AT DEATH'S DOOR?"), but all the chapters have titles similarly sensational and gossipy: "SOILED S. STOLEN! SCOUNDREL SUSPECTED!" and "SPOTTED IN SPROTBROUGH?" and "ROYAL ROGUE AND SOILED SOPHIE - WAR? OR MORE?" It was all rather delightful.

Never Judge a Lady By Her Cover remains my favorite Sarah MacLean book to date, but I still quite enjoyed The Rogue Not Taken. The second in this new series, A Scot in the Dark, has just been released.

A Rogue By Any Other Name

A Rogue By Any Other Name (The Rules of Scoundrels #1) by Sarah MacLean (2012)

I've already read the fourth in this series, Never Judge a Lady By Her Cover, and I liked it so much I decided to go back and try this first one. Each book in the series is about one of four owners of a "gambling hell" (a casino) called The Fallen Angel. In this first volume, the Marquess of Bourne is set on reclaiming the fortune he lost many years ago in a wager, and then taking revenge on the man he lost to. However, the fortune is suddenly part of the dowry of Lady Penelope Marbury, on the verge of spinsterhood after a scandalous broken engagement years ago. The two knew each other as children, but that was long ago and Michael has obviously changed a great deal. The friend that Penelope remembered would never have forced a lady into marriage just to get a piece of property.

This is an interesting setup, the book beginning with an unwanted marriage and then going from there. It's apparently not an uncommon trope, one that I can see working pretty well for historical novels (though less effectively in a contemporary.) Here it worked well. Marriage at the time was often based on social or economic considerations, and thought Penelope had really hoped for a love match, she was resigned to her fate. I really felt for her during the long days and nights of her new husband's absence, during which she would be stuck at home (the aptly named Hell House), frequently staring out the window watching for Michael's carriage and wishing for adventure.

She got adventure though, when she finally took matters into her own hands and visited The Fallen Angel, which Michael was quite unhappy about. What made their relationship so interesting wasn't even the marriage of convenience, it was their shared history. Michael had become a pretty cold, driven man but deep down he couldn't quite forget how much he cared for Penelope, no matter how much he tried. When she approached danger or when another man acted interested in her, Michael reacted pretty harshly and protectively. Their relationship was borne out of a lot of really conflicting feelings, but I found it convincing.

Penelope's younger sisters were also integral to the plot, as part of the reason she relented to marry Michael was in hopes of his help finding good matches for them later. There were a lot of high-stakes deals in this novel, and I don't just mean at the gambling hell. One of her sisters, Pippa, was far too smart for the dimwit she was about to marry, though everyone including Pippa seemed to think it was nevertheless a good match. And that was about all one could hope for; it was ridiculous and risky to hold out for a perfect match, or a love match. Though I think Pippa eventually gets hers, since she stars in the second book in the series, which interests me just based on how smart and eccentric she is.

Another character I wish we saw more of was Michael's housekeeper Mrs. Worth. She was young for a housekeeper, and talked to Michael in a way that nobody else in the story could get away with. What Penelope first noticed about her was how beautiful she was, but she also has a potentially interesting back story. I was hoping she would have a larger part, or be featured in another book in this series, but I guess we have to settle for just a glimpse of her.

All in all, the story and the progression of the romance was satisfying. Each chapter began with letters between Penelope and Michael from when they were younger, though as the novel progressed, the correspondence became decidedly one-sided, which was kind of sad. I liked how this part of their background was shared throughout the book, adding depth to the current story. Michael was maybe not my favorite romantic hero, as he was so hell-bent on revenge for the past he kept screwing up the present. But that's why Penelope was there I guess, to knock some sense into him.

I think I still liked Never Judge a Lady By Her Cover better, but I still liked this enough to read more by Sarah MacLean. I have another book from this series, and I'm also interested in her new Scandal and Scoundrel series, which begins with The Rogue Not Taken. It's really all about the clever, hilarious titles, isn't it? Though MacLean is also great at writing strong female characters and snappy dialogue, so her stories are quite a treat.

A Rogue By Any Other Name is part of my TBR Pile Challenge, which means that I've now finished 3 out of 10 on my list. It's tempting to think that I'm way ahead of the game, but I'm really just front-loading because by late summer I'll be bogged down with reading for the Community Read and won't have time for these at all. And I haven't even started on anything for my Shakespeare Challenge, though that is up next, I think.

Additionally, the pink cover fills a square for Winter Bingo! At least I think it is pink? Sometimes it looks more red, but when I focus on the dress it looks pink. Maybe it's just my monitor - I read the ebook so the cover appears black and white on my nook. At any rate, I'm taking it. Here's my updated Winter Bingo card!

Never Judge a Lady By Her Cover

Never Judge a Lady By Her Cover by Sarah MacLean (2014)

This is the 4th and final book in the Rule of Scoundrels series, so if you're concerned about spoilers, beware. I didn't read the first three books, but heard many positive reviews of this one and decided to read it anyhow. Because of the nature of the genre, each book in a series focuses on a romance between different characters. (I mean, you can't very well have a happily-ever-after and then break up the couple so one of them can have another romance, can you?) Therefore, I considered it fairly safe to start at the end.

When Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover opens, we meet Georgiana, also known as Anna, also known as Chase. Ruined at the age of sixteen, she used her outcast status to become an extremely powerful woman. The major spoiler from earlier books in the series is that she is the secret identity of a mysterious businessman named Chase. Along with three other men, he owns a gentleman's club called The Fallen Angel. When Georgiana isn't pretending to be Chase, she is playing the part of Anna, a gussied-up worldly madam who hangs out at The Fallen Angel. But her carefully-crafted set of personas is now threatened as she attempts to enter back into aristocratic society (as Georgiana) to finally marry and lend some respectability to her 9-year-old daughter, Caroline. Most of the threat comes from her newfound flirtation with Duncan West, a newspaperman who initially embarrasses her with a scandalous cartoon about her return, but soon promises to help her win over the hearts of London society. But not before she wins over his heart as well.

I never have high hopes for romance; they are just for a bit of fun. The story lines are often weak and contrived. But I was pleasantly surprised and rather impressed with this plot. MacLean put together a story that was both well-crafted and compelling, and then filled it with characters I found quite appealing.

Georgiana is, quite simply, a badass. What made me so interested in this book in the first place was the idea that she had this secret identity as a man and another as a prostitute, and was so incredibly successful. She's smart and resourceful and fearless, and isn't easily swayed by the handsome Duncan West either. She's learned a few things in her years and knows not to fall for any guy who sweet talks her (she won't forget that early mistake.)

In romance novels, a great deal tends to hinge on the characters' neuroses, and they make things far more difficult for themselves than necessary. There is always a point at which one character is holding back information that would explain so much, and they stubbornly refuse to reveal it for reasons which are rather paltry. Here, Georgiana definitely held back information from Duncan West, but it was easy to understand her motivations. He also had good reasons for holding back. I bought it all.

I should mention the romance itself, since that's the heart of it all. Duncan was easy to like and could be quite charming. When he finally asks Georgiana about her past, he inquires "What happened? To bring you Caroline?" Georgiana fairly swooned at the lovely way he asked her about the story of her ruin. Because of his own secrets, Duncan was not one to judge others and he held a distaste for aristocracy very similar to Georgiana's. They both struggled with the need to be accepted by the people they most loathed. They were evenly matched in many ways, both having crawled upward to success from bad situations, and of course they both had secrets. He was a little possessive, but after all he thought she was a prostitute, so that can be forgiven. The tension between the two was pretty delicious, and was only heightened by their mutual mistrust. And there were some sexytimes, which were rather creative - Duncan has a swimming pool, unusual for the time period, but very useful for the purposes of the novel. Thankfully the sex was a bit more realistic than in so many novels. For instance, Georgiana takes note of her "oddly shaped, strangely stretched bits" (she has had a baby after all) but it's still sexy, without being ridiculously over-the-top.

The only thing I kept wondering about was if people ever actually saw Chase. Georgiana wears trousers during this novel, but never disguises herself as a man so I didn't know if she had ever done so. After finishing, I listened to this episode of the DBSA podcast, from which I learned that Chase appeared in earlier novels in the series, but MacLean carefully constructed those scenes to avoid pronouns. From this I gather that nobody outside of the close-knit group of owners has actually seen Chase. Also, now I really want to read the earlier books. I do own a copy of the third book (No Good Duke Goes Unpunished) thanks to the library book sale, so I may just read this all in reverse chronological order.

I've only read a handful or so of romance novels, but this is definitely one of the best and the next time I want this sort of escape I'll definitely look to Sarah MacLean again. On the podcast I referenced earlier, she noted that her next Regency series will be based on modern celebrity scandals, complete with TMZ-style headlines as chapter headings. This I gotta see.