Expected Release Date: August 19, 2011 (Available Now!)
Publisher: Harlequin
Imprint: Harlequin UK
Author’s Website: http://www.nicolacornick.co.uk/
My Source for This Book: Netgalley
Part of a Series: Yes, Book 3, Scandalous Women of the Ton
Series Best Read In Order: Worked well as a standalone
Steam Level: Steamy
Official Blurb:
A wicked duke’s bed is no place for a lady…
Lady Merryn Fenner is on a mission to ruin the Duke of Farne. A beautiful bluestocking with a penchant for justice, Merryn has waited twelve years to satisfy her revenge against Garrick Farne. Her family name had been tarnished at his hands, her life destroyed.
For twelve years Garrick, Duke of Farne has kept the secret of what really happened on the night that he killed his best friend, Stephen Fenner, in a duel. Now Stephen’s sister is intent on discovering the truth and putting at risk all those secrets Garrick has protected.
When a disaster traps Merryn and Garrick together, white-hot desire stirs between the two sworn enemies. Merryn’s reputation is utterly compromised and she is forced to do the one thing she cannot bear; accept the scandalous marriage proposal of the man she has vowed to ruin.
Beware of scandalous women…
Twelve years ago, Garrick Farne killed his best friend, Stephen Fenner. Fighting him in a duel as a result of Stephen’s affair with Garrick’s wife, Stephen ended up dead and Garrick fled to the continent with his wife. Now welcomed back into the fickle arms of the ton, the widower Garrick has inherited the dukedom from his father, and is considered one of the ton’s most eligible bachelors.
Stephen’s youngest sister, Merryn, was devastated by his death. Now a spinster and a bluestocking, she relieves her boredom and quenches her innate desire for justice by secretly working as an investigative agent. When she comes across evidence that shows that Stephen’s death may not have been the result of a duel, she’s determined to find the truth, and ultimately see Garrick Farne hang for the murder of her brother.
What she doesn’t expect, however, is to discover that not only is Garrick an honorable man, but that the chemistry between them is absolutely scorching. When her reputation becomes completely compromised, she realizes that she has no choice but to marry the very man who once took everything important from her — the very man she intends to see hanged.
What Worked For Me:
- I love a good enemies to lovers story, and to make this one even better, there was some unrequited love thrown in. Merryn had been madly in love with Garrick twelve years ago, despite the fact that she was 13 and he was married, and to have those old feelings and attractions buried beneath her hatred over Stephen’s death added so much delicious angst to the story.
- With the exception of one mentioned below, the love scenes were absolutely delicious. With plenty of chemistry and sexual tension, Merryn and Garrick definitely heat up the pages.
- More than the sensuality, though, is the love story. Merryn battles hurt and disillusionment throughout the novel, trying so hard to balance her attraction and growing affection for Garrick with her deep-seated hatred for his involvement in her beloved brother’s death. Garrick, on the other hand, is so torn between his duty to keep a powerful secret and his blossoming love for Merryn. All of this angst added up to an incredibly satisfying HEA.
- I also loved Merryn’s family. Having been older at the time of Stephen’s death, her two sisters are able to see things with more pragmatism than she, and I loved how as the novel progressed, she realized that she’d treated her sisters poorly for years simply because she was so convinced that they were basically useless wall-dressing.
- While I guessed “the secret” early on, I still very much enjoyed the Big Reveal and all that it entailed.
What Didn’t Work For Me:
- The entire beer flood was a bit ridiculous. Yes, I realize that this is based on an actual event, but even so, it seemed such a ridiculous way to force Garrick and Merryn together into a compromising situation. While I enjoy marriages to avoid scandal in general, I would much rather have preferred that they’d been compromised in some other way. Not to mention the ick factor of beer everywhere.
- In the same vein, all I could think of when they made love for the first time was how nasty it had to have been, and not in a talk-dirty-to-me kind of way but rather a wouldn’t-you-rather-have-a-bath-first kind of way. They’d both been half-drowned by beer (which frankly doesn’t smell all that wonderful to begin with), then sat around in it for a day, and basically had a house fall on them a couple times. So. Ew. I admit that this particular point cost the story quite a bit in my final rating, because I couldn’t help but to let it color my overall feelings about their first time as lovers.
Overall, this was a satisfying love story, with plenty of angst and beautiful chemistry between the main characters. While one particular love scene simply didn’t do it for me, the overall sensuality and chemistry between the Merryn and Garrick was absolutely wonderful, and their HEA was very satisfying.
Recommended for fans of enemies to lovers, of bluestocking heroines who discover that romantic love is not just something out of fairy tales, and of honorable heroes who discover that sometimes always doing the right thing isn’t so right after all.
4/5 Stars
