Secrets of a Scandalous Bride
Author: Sophia Nash
Publisher: Avon / HarperCollins
Pub. Date: February 23, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-0061493300
Retail: $7.99
384 pagesElizabeth Ashburton lives behind a charming, happy façade in an effort to forget her former life. But when she is forced to confront the devil from her past, her friends in the dowager duchess’s widows club can not save her, and Elizabeth turns to the last man on earth willing to help her…
The extraordinarily powerful Rowland Manning has never pretended to be anything but a bastard, in every way imaginable. Through innate grit and determination, he built an astonishing empire and he’ll do anything and everything to save it. Yet, the one thing he secretly craves . . . something even he cannot name, can never be purchased with his kingdom of riches.
Each has something to win. Each has something to lose. Only love will determine if the price of redemption and sacrifice is too high.
~*~*~
SECRETS OF A SCANDALOUS BRIDE is the 4th book in the Widow Club series by Sophia Nash, but this book works as a stand-alone read. (I haven’t read the previous three.) The story focuses on Elizabeth Ashburton, a woman pretending to be a widow in order to outrun a man who wants to marry her and that she doesn’t trust. The reader isn’t given the reasoning for this distrust till half way through the book, which caused many “what’s her deal” moments for me. I couldn’t understand her motivation and some of her actions seemed ridiculous to me without the knowledge of why she was running from him. In order to evade this man when he finds, her she hides out with Rowland Manning, the illegitimate half-brother of her friend’s husband, who is one of the most disagreeable men in London.
My biggest issue with this book was the “hero” Rowland Manning. I have read books with un-likable heroes before, but not one I disliked as much as Rowland Manning. (For example, LORD OF SCOUNDRELS by Loretta Chase – Dain doesn’t start out likable at all) He is purposefully hateful and mean toward Elizabeth in the beginning and although this behavior is excused by her because of his hard upbringing, I couldn’t get past it. Throughout the book, it is hard to tell if Manning really cares for anyone but himself, let alone Elizabeth. He is of course a changed man by the end of the book, but it wasn’t authentic for me.
A redeeming quality of the book is the writing itself. Ms. Nash writes with such descriptions that I could see the places she was describing in her mind and feel the emotions of Elizabeth as I read about her fear. This scene in particular stuck out to me as being beautifully written:
All too soon they arrived at the Prince Regent’s vast residence on the south side of Pall Mall. She glanced longingly toward St. James Park, now shadowy in the gloaming hour. As she entered the hexastyle portico of Corinthian columns, liveried royal footmen bowed in her wake as did the awed quests in attendance. It was ironic. For so long she had hoped to make her father proud by being accepted by the aristocracy, who had always ostracized her for her hoydenish ways. Now she would have given just about anything to be anywhere but her.
You can feel her despair and imagine exactly what she is seeing as she embarks on something she has no desire to follow through with.
If the progression of Manning from monster to gentleman had been evolving throughout the whole book instead of just at the end, I would have liked this book much better.Rating: 5 (Fair)
Heat-Level: 2: (Warm)
Good review Carrie. I read the first book in this series and I have to say that it was warm too. I like your honesty.
I read this book and enjoyed it. I think it’s always interesting how different people can view the same book slightly differently. I agree that it takes a while to understand Elizabeth’s problem and makes you wonder what the deal is and even felt a little contrived or forced at times. But I thought the hero’s “reluctant transformation” was done in subtle but steady manner through out the book. I thought while he took pride in being disagreeable and difficult, early in the book it was shown that he had potential for otherwise in his interactions with the horses as well as the gruff manner with some of the staff. While he would regularly threaten to fire them for little reason, I got the impression that it was regular routine they went through and the staff knew they had nothing to fear. I also agree this wasn’t a “hot” book but enjoyed the interaction between the heroine and the hero.
Thanks for the review. It is nice to know what to expect and where the soft spots are in a book. It won’t change anything, and won’t necessarily keep me from reading the book. There needs to be consistency in character development and when it is missing, it leaves a story lacking. It is too bad. Ms. Nash writes a good story, but seems to need to tighten things up a little.