Historical Book Reviews: Secrets of a Scandalous Bride and The Truth About Lord Stoneville

Elizabeth Ashburton is in dire straights. She’s in hiding, well more in plain sight than say under a rock, from a man who is obsessed with her. He’s General Leland Pymm, a man all of England admires, including the Prince Regent. Elizabeth fears Pymm because she knows he killed her father on the battlefield where she would be left alone and easy for the plucking. Elizabeth blames herself for his unhealthy affection because she dared to flirt and preen before him and because of that his fixation with her grew. Pymm has some of her deceased father’s letters, and if they become public knowledge, her father’s memory, as well as her own reputation, will be in shatters. Pymm wants Elizabeth to become his new duchess for when he’s awarded a duchy for his bravery on the battlefield.

It looks like Elizabeth may have no choice but to marry Pymm, even though she does have some high ranking friends and acquaintances who can protect her. For some reason, their hands are tied. Not even her good friend Grace, who’s marrying the rich and powerful Earl of Wallace can save her. Elizabeth attends Grace’s wedding knowing full well that Pymm will find her there, since this is the event of the year. She’ll try to escape before he can spot her, but the ceremony is almost interrupted when Wallace’s bastard brother, Rowland Manning, “the most ruthless enigmatic man in all of England” dares to show his face on such holy ground. This is a man who plunders and seduces women, claimed or otherwise, without a care and looking good doing it.

With all the attention now on Manning, Elizabeth gives Pymm the slip and hides in a carriage, which coincidentally is Manning’s. He finds the whole situation amusing and before Elizabeth can jump out and find that rock to hide under, he basically holds her prisoner on his estate and expects her to cook for him until he feels she has paid off her debt to him. Elizabeth is appalled that this blackguard would do such a thing. But it gives her a few more days of safety away from Pymm.

During this time, Elizabeth is treated with rudeness and disdain by Manning and she’s even more insulted because he doesn’t eat what she serves him. Something is off with Manning and she wants to figure out the enigma behind the man. But then Manning’s Earl half-brother comes to her rescue and off she goes to finally confront Pymm, who she is now resigned to marrying.

Manning changes his opinion about Elizabeth and would love nothing more than to have her under him and in his bed or anywhere else where he can seduce her. When he finds out that Pymm has targeted Elizabeth, as well as not giving him payment for an arrangement he had with the general regarding a large amount of horseflesh, he’ll make Pymm pay. He’ll stop at nothing until Elizabeth is his and save her from whatever dastardly plans Pymm has planned for her.

It’s funny when you read a historical romance and you end up rooting for the villain the entire time, more so than the hero and heroine. So is the case with Sophia Nash’s Secrets of a Scandalous Bride. The title doesn’t make any sense in the least because Elizabeth is in no way scandalous or a bride. I guess Manning is the scandalous one here because of his past where he lived in such degrading poverty and refuses to eat too much because he barely had enough food to sustain himself when he was a child. Of course this plot devise is supposed to generate an emotional response from the reader, but that’s all pushed to the side when Manning and Elizabeth become intimate. Elizabeth feeds his heart in other ways, mainly with her luscious body and kind heart.

Manning acts liked a spoiled boy half the time, and if he had a mustache, I would expect him to twirl it because of the way he treats Elizabeth. Because we’re told Manning is such a heartless whoremonger, but keep in mind he’s the hero, it’s perfectly okay for him to do whatever he wants. I find it funny with the way Manning acts, it’s perfectly acceptable because Pymm also treats Elizabeth the same way, but in a more subtle, underhanded and manipulative manner. Pymm at least had some dimensions, while Manning was a cliché.

Elizabeth and Manning are laugh out loud hilarious and I don’t mean this in a good way. So shocking how Manning forces Elizabeth to cook for him! How horrible it is where Elizabeth must wear a disguise, a black wig, and have Manning kiss her public so Pymm can be thwarted. Pymm and many others know its Elizabeth under the wig, and to be kissed by Manning would ruin her, thus having him marry her. But oh no, that can’t be because we still need more time for Pymm to harass and use his quiet ways of villainy to force her too accept him. This is a perfect scenario for Elizabeth to run into Manning’s arms and give him her innocence, where she’ll stick it to Pymm in the end.

Secrets of a Scandalous Bride is a true comedy of errors, a lacking slapstick where I wanted to heroine to go off with the villain instead and leave the hero with his petty and spoiled ways and a more skilled cook. Ridiculous and silly is what comes to mind in regards to this latest by Sophia Nash. (Avon)

Final Grade: C-

Another Secrets of a Scandalous Bride review:
Dear Author

On the other hand we have the amazing talents of Sabrina Jeffries who has never failed for me.

Oliver Sharpe, the Marquess of Stoneville revels in his reputation as a rake of the first water. Rumors have always persisted ever since Oliver was sixteen and his mother ended up shooting his philandering father and then herself. Oliver has always felt responsible for the death of his parents since the events leading up to the murder-suicide were increased because Oliver’s mother found him in an embarrassing situation.

Now at thirty-five, Oliver is way past the age where he should be married and settled down. His beloved grandmother Hetty Plumtree, who owns a very profitable brewery, is fed up with her five grandchildren. She states that if they all don’t marry before the year is out, she will cut them off and they will be destitute. Oliver refuses and will hire an unsuitable woman to be his fiancé and rub it into his grandmother’s face.

American and Massachusetts native, Maria Butterfield and her bumbling, yet lovable cousin Fred have travelled to England to find her missing fiancé, Nathan Hyatt. With the recent death of her father, Nathan is now the sole owner of her father’s shipping company, the New Bedford Ships. Nathan travelled to England to negotiate a lucrative sale of clipper ships, which would prove himself in the eyes of her father and thus speeding along their engagement. When she and Freddy spot a man with a satchel she made for Nathan, they follow him into a brothel to take it back. Oliver accuses them of being thieves and blackmails Maria into becoming his mock fiancé. In turn he will help her find Nathan who he doesn’t have a high regards of based on what Marie has told him. Maria has no choice but to accept.

Maria and Freddy will stay at Halstead Hall, a place his grandmother resides at, and one that holds too many horrible memories for him. When Hetty meets Maria, she tries to pay off Maria, but is in on Oliver’s trick. She thinks Maria is delightful and believes that Maria can help Oliver get over the demons that haunt him. All too soon Oliver can’t get Maria off his mind and would like nothing more to introduce her to the sexual acts he has enjoyed for so long. Maria doesn’t want to be another one of his countless women and refuses to stop her search for Nathan. Oliver will do whatever he can to make Maria forget this other man and uses all his experience and rakish ways at his disposal. Maria may be the only one to know the truth behind Lord Stoneville and what happened that night almost twenty years ago to turn him into a the desolate lord the world considers him to be.

Sabrina Jeffries is one author you can count on to write an enjoyable read. The Truth About Lord Stoneville is pretty much a wallpaper type historical romance, but in the hands of Sabrina, she really makes it shine. We have everything a historical romance enthusiast can’t get enough of from a scarred and lonely hero who finds the one woman who can look deep down inside him, see the goodness he has, and help him heal.

Olive and Maria have excellent chemistry and their passionate embraces and smoldering kisses will have you asking for more. Olive is a pretty easy going individual, even with his unfortunate past, and Maria stands her ground and won’t allow him to push her around. Watching Oliver begging for a small taste of Maria’s affection was too good to be true.

The Truth About Lord Stoneville is a light and fluffy, comfort read that has me anxious for the next story in her new Hellions of Halstead Hall series. (Pocket)

Final Grade: B

Another The Truth About Lord Stoneville review:
Long and Short Romance Reviews