Could not get into this book at all,./stars
I liked the relationship development in this a lot, but I wish we'd gotten more from Douglas' family and especially Joan and Tristan.
The end of this also got very complicated with all of the wagers and counterwagers, Douglas Bennet agrees to a wager to determine if the beautiful, aloof Madeline Wilde is the true author of the scandalous erotica Ways to Sin.
Except it's not his purse strings that get tangled up with Mrs, Wilde: it's his heart strings, aww, They bicker, bone, and live happily ever after,
. At some point, I will come back and read The Real Books in this series but for now I'm enjoying the brief jaunts into novella / short territory where things move quickly, we get resolution, and I can move on.
. That said, this one was kind of disappointing: the wager was a poor framing device we don't really get any establishing characterization the developing relationship felt exceptionally slight and underdeveloped.
. . Generally, disappointing. .Stars
All's Fair In Love and Scandal features a delightful romance between a widow and a man who wagers to uncover her secret identity.
Douglas Bennet has never been able to resist a good wager, When a friend bets him that he cannot get a dance with the widowed Mrs, Madeline Wilde, Douglas thinks he's about to win the easiest bet in the world, But after Madeline gives him a thorough dressingdown and walks away, he finds himself intrigued rather than angry, After learning Madeline may be the author of the erotic serial Ways to Sin, and there is a,pound bounty on proof of her identity, Douglas strikes up a friendship with the lady.
But when their friendship quickly becomes something more, Douglas realizes he may have gotten more than he bargained for,
This was a fun story and I was intrigued by the idea that Madeline may be the author of the erotic serial that has been scandalizing everyone throughout this series.
We quickly learn that all is not as it appears with Madeline's writing and I was curious to see how Douglas would react, I liked that it didn't take long for Douglas's intentions towards Madeline to become genuine as I feel like it would have been harder to forgive if the charade went on too long.
I enjoyed the pair's friendship and I was happy when their relationship deepened into something more, I will say that there was a bit of unnecessary drama when Madeline was having doubts about if Douglas was genuine in his attentions, but thankfully it was resolved fairly quickly.
We did get to see some of the characters from previous books in the series return, Douglas is the brother of the heroine in the first book Love and Other Scandals, which I was happy about.
Overall All's Fair In Love and Scandal was an enjoyable read and I'm looking forward to picking up the next fulllength book in the series, Love in the Time of Scandal, soon.
.stars
This was fine, I guess, but I thought it was pretty insubstantial and I honestly didn't care very much about the outcome or anything else.
This read quickly though, so I'm not really complaining, I was really looking forward to reading Douglas and Madelines story after they were briefly mentioned in The Secret of My Seduction, A gossip writer widow falling under the charm of a rakish young lordling It practically screamed catnip, Sadly though, my high expectations were quickly dashed,
Despite enjoying the playful banter between the leads as well as the hilarious antics of Madelines cat Mr, Nash and the cheeky housemaid Constance, it was definitely a struggle to finish this novella, The conflict just felt weak and I really didnt understand most of the characters motivations, Maybe if Madelines writing career had been more at the forefront of things and Douglas had been less of a failwhale, MAYBE this couldve worked better for me.
She was flirt excellent, He adored flirts
,stars
I've noticed a trend where the short side stories of a series are so much better than the main novels, That was definitely the case with this one, I loved it, I loved Madeleiene and I like the whole wager/bet situation,
The story was painfully short and it was central to thecharacters, I want a whole series on Madeline and Douglas, It was very sweet with a touch of mystery and just all round did it for me though, not particularly scandalous,
I will note: You can read this book after bookwith no problem, there is some aspects of bookthat explain some background of this novella.
You don't need this for any background in future books either, I should have a shelf for books that I'm enjoying, take a break from, and then have trouble getting back into, And this was only a break of an hour or so!
So yeah, The first part of this was fun! And I didn't realize this was the brother of the sitelinkLove and Other Scandals heroine! Very awesome,
But I guess it dragged on a bit and it's a novella! and, . . I don't know. A bit too complicated at the end, with all the bets and such, Plus, it has a pointofview character semiconcealing something from the reader, which almost always bothers me, Actually, this happens more than once, considering the "plan" at the end,
I was very intrigued by the heroine's mother and the duke, but I suppose they are far too old
to get a historical romance!!! I'd guess's.
We can't have that now, can we! It would be awesome, though,
Oh, and it DID make me really want to reread the first book, I loved that one. Nothing wagered
Douglas Bennet cant resist a good wager, especially not one that involves a beautiful woman, When a friend proposes an audacious plan to expose the most notorious woman in England, Douglas agrees at once, After all, it would be quite a coup to discover the true identity of Lady Constance, author of the infamous erotic serial scandalizing the ton, Ways to Sin.
Nothing won
Madeline Wilde is used to being pursued, For years shes cultivated a reputation for being unattainable and mysterious, and for good reason: her livelihood depends on discretion, When Douglas turns his legendary charm on her, she dismisses him as just another rake, But he surprises herinstead of merely trying to seduce her, he becomes her friendher confidantand her lover, But can it really lead to happilyeverafteror are they about to become the biggest scandal London has ever seen sitelink blogspot. com/ Absolutely darling. Pure fun and ever so romantic, Douglas and Madeleine have the best banter and their friendship to romance is wonderfully paced for such a short book,
This was a great addition to the series and coming from someone who is not a fan of these short books, that says a lot.
I haven't read any of the previous books in this series, but after this short one I can't wait to start the others!
While it follows the first two books I felt that I could still easily keep up and enjoy it so it can be read on its own as well.
The one sentence that made me want to read this was the fact that it's a mix betwenshades and Jane Austen, from there I really couldn't wait to read it.
Steamy pamphlets calledways to sin written by Lady Constance is making its way around London, Nobody knows who the author is other than that she must be part of society since her characters resemble people that they know,
Douglas Bennet is determined to out Lady Constance, he's sure it's Madeline Wilde, She's always there, but doesn't participate much and even refuses to dance, Douglas wagers that he can expose her and eager to win he spends more and more time with her, but before long they both can't deny the attraction between them.
I really enjoyed this book, I loved the setting it was in and the humor and it was very well written, Despite it not being long, the characters still had plenty of depth and the plot was well developed,
I'm eager to read more books in this universe and get more insight in he world,
Overall a great novella! This was one of the better novellas I've read in this genre, in part because it was two likable characters with interesting histories who met, liked each other, and didn't have some absurd obstacle to overcome in the span ofor so pages.
I was really engaged and really enjoyed their time together, sitelink posted on The Eater of Books! blog
All's Fair in Love and Scandal by Caroline Linden
Book,of the Scandal series
Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: April,
Rating:stars
Source: eARC from Edelweiss
Warning: this is an adult book, and for the eyes of mature readers
Official Summary:
Nothing wagered
Douglas Bennet can't resist a good wager, especially not one that involves a beautiful woman.
When a friend proposes an audacious plan to expose the most notorious woman in England, Douglas agrees at once, After all, it would be quite a coup to discover the true identity of Lady Constance, author of the infamous erotic serial scandalizing the ton,Ways to Sin.
Nothing won
Madeline Wilde is used to being pursued, For years she's cultivated a reputation for being unattainable and mysterious, and for good reason: her livelihood depends on discretion, When Douglas turns his legendary charm on her, she dismisses him as just another rake, But he surprises herinstead of merely trying to seduce her, he becomes her friendher confidantand her lover, But can it really lead to happilyeverafteror are they about to become the biggest scandal London has ever seen
What I Liked:
I really liked this novella! It's definitely a great addition to the series.
Usually I don't bother with novellas because they're so short and not entirely necessary to read a series, Novellas in historical romance series are great though, because books in historical romance series are companion novels anyway, so no novel is necessary to read the next ones.
So novellas are just short versions of a companion novel, And in this case, I really enjoyed the novella! It didn't even feel too abbreviated, which is great!
In this novella, we have Douglas Bennet Joan's brother remember Joan from Love and Other Scandals, Tristan's best friend Tristan and Joan got married at the end of Love and Other Scandals.
Douglas likes to make wagers, to place a bet on everything, When he challenged to prove that the widow Madeline Wilde is Lady Constance from theWays to Sin pamphlets, Douglas accepts the challenge and immediately begins to try and woo Madeline into revealing herself.
Madeline certainly has an air of mystery about her, and she seems to fit Lady Constance's profile, But as Douglas gets to know Madeline, he finds himself falling for her, While the rake and heir who claims he won't get married expose the one woman he falls in love with, as the scandalous Lady Constance
I always liked Douglas I felt bad for him in Love and Other Scandals.
He's his family's heir he'll be a viscount or earl or something, I forget, and he's unmarried, so his mother is always harassing him into going to balls and social functions to find a wife.
He doesn't expect to fall for a widow who is possibly Lady Constance, But now that he has his eye on her, he can't help but wonder if she is just as wild as her pamphlets are, He's quite the rake himself, and he can't see himself settling down, but we all know it just takes the right woman for even the most rakish to fall.
Madeline is also quite a likable character, I don't think we've seen her in the previous books, She's very mysterious, and avoids the attention of everyone, Everyone except a bookstore owner who sells her work, Pamphlets Newsletters Articles Books What is Madeline publishing You'll have to read the book to find out what Madeline's up to, . .
Madeline has every reason not to trust Douglas, and to push him away, She leads him on a merry chase, and refuses his attention as much as she can, But they fall for each other, and give in, The romance isn't my favorite romance story ever, but it was very sweet and endearing, Madeline and Douglas get their happy ending, despite several obstacles, You'll have to read the book to see how things work out with Lady Constance,
Overall, I really liked this novella! It's definitely worth reading, Douglas finally gets his own story, and hey we get a little bit of insight into Lady Constance's mysteriousness, Not that I'm saying anything about her identity,
What I Did Not Like:
Of course I wanted this novella to be longer, But alas, it's a novella,
Would I Recommend It:
If you've read the other books in the series, definitely give this one a shot! TheWays to Sin pamphlets are what ties this series together, so this novella would the potential reveal of Lady Constance's identity is pretty significant.
And like I said you should read this one to find out the reveal of certain identities!
Rating:
stars, Usually, I'm not one for novellas, but I'm glad I had the chance to read this one! The whole series Love and Other Scandals, It Takes a Scandal, Love in the Time of Scandal is one of my favorite historical romance series ever!.
Snag Your Copy Alls Fair In Love And Scandal (Scandalous, #2.5) Devised By Caroline Linden Conveyed In Interactive EBook
Caroline Linden