Sandy M’s review of Scandal of the Year (Abandoned at the Alter, Book 2) by Laura Lee Gurhke
Historical Romance published by Avon 25 Jan 11
I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book after reading Wedding of the Season, which didn’t quite make the grade for me (see my review here). But I went in with an open mind and I was rewarded quite nicely with a story that had me hooked from the first page.
I did like both Aidan and Julia in WotS, and I hoped they would be the featured characters in the next book in the series. Seeing that’s what Ms. Guhrke has done in SotY gave me hope this book would be more enjoyable. One of those rare times I’m right!
The opening scene is in a courtroom with Julia on the witness stand, testifying about an affair that her husband is using as evidence for a divorce. During the scene she spies Aidan Carr, Duke of Trathen – the man caught flagrante delicato with her – in the back of the room, and that is the beginning of this very enticing and renewed relationship between these two. We get tidbits here and there of their initial meeting years before when they were both teenagers, which has set the stage for them later in their lives.
Aidan has been jilted twice, once by the heroine of WotS and then by the woman he’d been engaged to when he succumbed to Julia, a day and a night he remembers only part of. That doesn’t bother Aidan at first, but the more he runs into Julia, the more the thinks about their tryst and the more he wants answers. I really like Aidan. When we first meet him and get to know him in the previous book, it’s all from Beatrix’s point of view; therefore, he seems stiff and boring, doesn’t make a woman’s blood boil. But in this book, with the right woman, Aidan’s sexuality and charming nature emerges little by little.
Julia, on the other hand, is a woman who knows how to have a good time, as we saw in the previous book. She’s scandalous but she doesn’t care. She’s just emerged victorious from her marriage, at least from her point of view and even though she had to be devious to achieve that victory. After suffering twelve years of hell, she’ll never marry again. Though Julia’s obtained her freedom, she still owes creditors because her husband refuses to pay for anything after her affair. The one person she knows can help is Aidan, so she bites the bullet and throws everything out there for him to see, praying it’s worth the humiliation, not knowing how he feels about her.
Wanting to keep her near, Aidan proposes he employ her as his social secretary, which Julia eventually agrees to. I enjoyed those scenes when Julia would point out various debutantes to Aidan but he would come up with excuse after excuse why each wouldn’t suit him as his duchess. The tables have turned a little and Aidan is now teasing and irritating Julia. Through it all their feelings toward one another escalate and they finally enjoy a re-creation of that day when everything fell apart. The kicker is even after realizing how she feels about him, Julia can’t let go of her fear of being chained to another man and refuses to marry Aidan. He wants her by his side day after day, he wants children with her, he wants to grow old with her. So he has no choice but to walk away.
I think I like this couple more than the one in WotS because they’re more mature. They’ve lived life more than Will and Beatrix, had more ups and downs than just a broken engagement. I feel connected to them. I feel for them whether what’s between them is good or bad at the moment.
This is book is by far and away much better than the first in the trilogy. Now I’m doubly curious about the third book, to see which side of the fence it ends up on.
Grade: B+
Summary:
Being jilted. It’s awful for a guy.
Especially if you’re a duke, and your fiancée left you for that other duke, the one who came back from Egypt just before your wedding. Humiliating, right?
But what if you managed to recover, got engaged to another girl, and then got jilted again, this time because of a notorious woman, a lot of champagne, and a moment of utter stupidity? Well, that’s beyond humiliating. That’s a scandal.
Ah, but what if you manage to put the scandal behind you and begin searching for a new bride, only to have the notorious woman who ruined everything reenter your life? What if she’s as enticing as before? What if just being near her threatens to ruin your marriage prospects and your reputation all over again? For Aidan Carr, Duke of Trathen, the unluckiest man in England when it comes to matrimony, another scandal is the worst thing he can imagine. It might also be the best thing that ever happened to him.
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
