Scandal’s Daughter by Christine Wells
First off, I’ve got to say that the cover of this one is very nice. It’s pretty, wistful, and really does evoke the feeling of the book. Or at least the charm of the summary on the back. . .
Sebastian Laidley, the Earl of Carleton, is a rake of the highest degree. And he’s rather proud of that fact since it helps him fight off proper young women so he doesn’t have to marry. His only, seeming, saving grace is his devotion to his godfather, Hugo Mainwaring. When he’s summoned by Hugo, Sebastian goes running in fear that the old man is going to die.
Sebastian arrives to find Hugo still alive, but dealing with a stubborn granddaughter who insists she can run Hugo’s estate Ware better than anyone. Sebastian has been summoned because Hugo wants him to marry his granddaughter, Gemma Maitland, and care for her since she won’t inherit the estate.
Sebastian knows he’d make a horrible husband, and he also knows loving someone is something he can’t do. He agrees to take a few months to find another man to marry Gemma, but if he can’t do that he’ll marry her himself. And Gemma is told nothing of this plan so that she’ll leave Ware and concentrate on finding a man to marry.
Gemma doesn’t want to leave Ware, it’s the only home she’s known and she doesn’t like society much since she’s got a scandalous mother and she knows that people will look down on her because she is possibly her mother’s daughter. But she’s convinced to go with Sebastian away from Ware anyway under the impression she’s to help plan his sister’s wedding. Gemma realizes after some time at Sebastian’s home, she wants him more than anything and sets about using her scandalous nature to her advantage.
One thing that could have been left out of this one was Gemma’s childhood nickname for Sebastian, Scovy. It was annoying in the way that Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing is always called Baby. Just grated on my nerves because the explanation of the origin of the name just didn’t seem to make sense. It gave a false sense that these two people knew each other better than they really did.
The major plot points, aside from the sister’s wedding plans, all seemed a retread of things that were almost tired cliches. The grandfather scheming behind Gemma’s back, the idea that everyone always abandons her, the rake who really isn’t a rake but has a hedonistic life in London, Sebastian’s battle with his dead father (who definitely has way too long of reach from the grave), etc. . .all seemed things I’d read before and done just a little bit better.
The fact that Gemma’s mother is not the scandal gatherer that everyone had made her out to be kind of deflated the purpose of the book. A malicious aunt was more to blame than any untoward behavior on Sybil Maitland’s part (and a point of irony for our Sybil as well, she has red hair). Gemma has lived her life afraid of what people think, not realizing that being herself will get people to like her more than any sort of reputation of her mother’s.
I would like to say the chemistry between Sebastian and Gemma made up for the plot points, but I liked the romance between his sister and her finacee better than that of the leads. There is “something about her” that made Sebastian obsessed with her, but she has to do some serious seduction to get him into bed. And though it worked and Gemma gets what she wants, she still ends up running back to her comfort zone of Ware. But Gemma does elicit some sympathy when she finds out the truth about her grandfather’s plan.
Though not a bad book, it was too much of a retread of things read before, and it felt too much like a tied in a neat little bow, Hollywood ending HEA (but I might recommend it to someone who hasn’t read much Romance).
Grade: C-
