Scandalous Desires Advanced Book Review *Elizabeth Hoyt*

Elizabeth Hoyt has written the must read historical romance of the year. Scandalous Desires (Maiden Lane #3) is beyond perfect from beginning to end. Scandalous Desire will most likely end up being counted as one of my all-time favorite romances because Elizabeth makes the relationship between the hero and heroine work so well when it shouldn’t. “Charming” Mickey O’Connor will become a much beloved hero, so much so that he’s on par with Derek Craven from Lisa Kleypas’s classic novel, Dreaming of You. And do I dare to say  perhaps Mickey even surpasses Derek, mainly because the reader is given a bit more insight on the way Mickey ticks and acts the way he does? Silence Hollingbrook is both a worthy advisory and soul mate for Mickey and watching them fall for one another is full of delicious goodness.

Silence lost her husband almost a year ago after he was lost at sea. Her brother Winter runs the Home for Unfortunate Infants and Foundling Children in London’s poor and criminal ridden, St. Giles. She has become a foster mother to an infant girl she named Mary Darling after Mary was left on her doorstep as a newborn. Silence acts and lives a very Puritan life, still mourning the loss of her husband, Will, who she loved dearly. Will and her were barely on speaking terms after she saved him from going to prison by appealing to Mickey, the proclaim king of the St. Giles underbelly after Mickey stole items from the ship Will was in charge of keeping safe. Silence sacrificed herself to save Will and ended up spending the night with Mickey, although she swears nothing happened between them. Along with her reputation in tatters, her husband didn’t believe her and before Silence could make retributions, he went away to sea and died. (This is in Notorious Pleasures, book #2)

Mary Darling has been snatched by none other than Mickey, who happens to be her father. Silence wants Mary back and will do whatever she can to accomplish that. There’s a few reasons Mickey has “kidnapped” Mary. First, his mortal enemy Charlie Grady, the Vicar of Whitechapel has it in for him. He wants to make Mickey suffer and will hurt those he cares about and are dedicated to him. Mickey wants to protect Mary, or so he tells Silence. He also wants the self-righteous Silence back with him, and by keeping Mary, he knows Silence won’t leave without her. They make a bargain where she’ll stay because she's the only mother Mary has known. Mickey pats himself on the back because again, the spider has caught the fly in his web.

Silence is not used to the opulence Mickey surrounds himself with. She refuses to be bought with beautiful clothes and rich foods, going as far as to starve because she won’t take orders from Mickey. Mickey may have grown up in the gutter and had to lie, cheat and steal for the bounty he now owns, but he can’t figure out how to get through to Silence. He aches to possess her, but he has a fight on his hands when it comes to her because she blames him for the shakiness of her marriage which led indirectly to her husband’s death.

As Charlie Grady ups his threats, Mickey is forced to take action, some immoral, in order to protect not only Mary and Silence, but his faithful servants who would die for him. Soon Silence makes a truce with Mickey and slowly sees who the real Mickey is and what he hides from the outside world. It’s up to Silence to extend her hand and accept this pirate king who is close to stealing her heart.

Scandalous Desire packs quite the punch. We have two characters who are at total odds with one another. Mickey makes no excuses for what he had to do in order to get what he wanted in life. He takes what he wants and he does the same with Silence. The best scenes are when he and Silence banter back and forth, where Mickey is left speechless and more than annoyed because Silence is no wilting flower. Silence breaks down those walls Mickey has constructed, including a few insights on the man that will make readers sigh. Mickey loves books and once special book in his collect made me ohhh and ahhh because it’s so precious. Mickey turns out to be a lovable rogue, one you may want to smack now and again, much like Silence wants to do, but still very much untamed.

Elizabeth gives a great amount of depth within these pages. Charlie is a nasty piece of work, but he’s not one-dimensional. His rage and hate for Mickey is justified in his eyes. There’s some major twists in regards to their relationship and why they want to destroy one another. Also, the mystery of that forbidden night between Mickey and Silence is solved and explained amazing well why Mickey did what he did. It was a selfish move on his part, but helps move along his relationship with Silence.

The love scenes are smoldering, intense and borderline erotic. The first love scene between Silence and Mickey may be my favorite of the year. It’s tender, sweet and so open between two people who are afraid to trust and fall in love because of past regrets.

There’s a secondary story between Silence’s brother Winter and a do-gooder rich Baroness that segues nicely into the next book in this series featuring Winter as the star.

As for the masked man of mystery, the Ghost of St. Giles, I figured out who it was fairly quickly, but don’t be surprised if you’ll be guessing until the very end.

Babies. I want to have babies with Scandalous Desires. This is one of two books this year where I keep re-reading certain scenes because I can’t stop thinking about Mickey and Silence. I can’t tell you how thrilled  this book met my expectations and then some.

Scandalous Desires is the best book Elizabeth Hoyt has written so far with endearing characters and an all-encompassing romance you’ll want to hold close and never let go. If there’s one must read book, especially for historical romance fans, it’s Scandalous Desires. It gets the, “I want to have babies, I bow down to the author” KB seal of approval. (Available October 18th from Hachette Books)

Final Grade: A