Sandy M’s review of Scandalizing the Ton by Diane Gaston
Historical Romance published by Harlequin Historical 1 Oct 08

What an enjoyable book this is.  Love and romance, gossip and scandal, and friendship portrayed with honor and dignity.  We’re also given a close-up look at what could have been the start of the modern-day rag mags and how fabrication and lies can affect not just the subject of such inequality and injustice but how it even affects those around them. So if you’re looking for something different that has a little bit of all those elements to make up a wonderfully written romance, this book is for you.

Adrian Pomroy, Viscount Cavanley, and Lady Lydia Wexin have a chance encounter when he rescues her from being hassled by a local newspaperman who has been the bane of Lydia’s existence since her husband’s death and subsequent secrets have been revealed.  She’s mentioned daily in the paper, every word as scandalous as can be — and untrue.  She’s about at the end of her rope when Adrian appears and offers her help and kindness.  She needs to be held and loved, and so when he takes her home and tends her sprained ankle, that’s all it takes for her to throw herself into his arms and ask him to make love to her.  Adrian is just as drawn to Lydia as she is to him, so he wholeheartedly takes her up on her offer.  It’s one exquisite touch after another, a beautiful consummation of two lonely people, the scandalous widow and the ton rake, one who wants only one night of passion before living down more gossip and one who wants more, more responsibility, more love, and more of Lydia.  She has other ideas, though, and doesn’t want to subject Adrian to the ridicule of her life.  She says goodbye, turns her back on him, and means it.  Even though it breaks her heart.

Adrian has no choice but to learn to live with Lydia’s decision and is about to do just that when he learns she’s pregnant.  Could the child be his?  Or her late husband’s?  By law she has ten months to deliver a child who will inherit the Wexin estate.  The gossiping and the betting in the men’s clubs abound as Lydia hides in her home to avoid the reporters and the looks of the ton.  When she delivers ten months and two days later, Adrian is at her door wanting to know if he’s a father after all, but Lydia still refuses to put him in the line of fire.  Now it’s up to Adrian to take care of the woman he can’t get off his mind and her child, whether it’s his or not, despite all the lies being written about them at every turn.  And despite Lydia’s protestations.

I liked the man Adrian is.  He wants to give his life some meaning by taking on the responsibility of the viscountcy since his father has become an earl, but it’s his father who refuses to give him that choice.  He wants his son to sow his wild oats and have fun before taking a wife and being burdened by life, but Adrian has had enough of drinking and gambling.  When he meets Lydia, he’s found a woman who he’d like to get to know and perhaps settle down with, but even she refuses him that chance.  He doesn’t let any of that get in the way, though, when he discovers he might be a father.  He does the right thing by Lydia, much to everyone’s amazement, including hers.

I understood Lydia’s skepticism and distrust of men after learning of her deceased husband’s exploits, but I think she made Adrian prove himself a few times too many.  That’s my only complaint about her character.  Before all her troubles befell her, she was the ton beauty and living a luxurious life.  She’s a kind, caring woman who’s been hurt, but it would seem to me she can still discern a good man when she comes upon one, especially when he does prove himself to her time and again.  It took her a little longer than necessary for me.  I also enjoyed the secondary love story of Mary, Lydia’s lady’s maid, and Samuel, the newspaperman who’s making Lydia’s life a living hell.  Other than Adrian’s friend, Adam Vickery, Marquess of Tannerton, and his wife, Marlena, the secondary characters are the town idiots, especially Lydia’s parents.  Didn’t like them one bit.  They make for great characters you love to hate.

This is my first book by Ms. Gaston and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I like her writing style.  I liked her idea of incorporating the beginnings of modern-day Enquirer-style journalism into the story.  Not only did the journalists make up whatever they wanted or needed to come up with for a story, they also rewrote other newspaper’s articles for the own daily editions.  I felt the emotions of the main characters quite intensely, and I am rather taken with Tannerton and am looking forward to reading his book, The Vanishing Viscountess, which was released this past January.

Grade: A

Summary:

A woman of innocence and notoriety…

Lady Wexin, once the ton’s foremost beauty, has been abandoned by her family and friends, and creditors hound her. Her husband’s scandalous death has left her impoverished and the gossip-mongering press is whipped into a frenzy of speculation when it becomes clear the widow is with child. Who is the father?

Only one man knows: Adrian Pomroy, Viscount Cavanley. He has cultivated the reputation of a rake, but in truth yearns for something useful to do. Delicate beauty Lydia Wexin could pose an intriguing—and stimulating—challenge….

Read an excerpt.