Series: The Queen's Deadly Damsels #2 (Standalone)
Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/ladyslessonsocial
Goodreads Book Page: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214540460-a-lady-s-lesson-in-scandal
Publication Date: 12th Oct 2024
Genre: Victorian Romance
3 Stars
One Liner: Okay! Liked the first book better
Book Blurb:
Wallflower at risk of ruin…
Secret femme-fatale in training Millicent
Whittenburg needs to escape her unpleasant betrothal. Taking matters into her
own hands, she plans her eventual ruin! Then she can disappear from society to
carry out the Queen’s deadly missions. Step 1: seduce the one man who despises
marriage more than her!
However, she hugely underestimates her target. Major
General Beaufort Drake. Fearsome private investigator, he’s notoriously cold
and visibly battle-scarred. But Millie’s scandalously public kiss awakens a
deeply suppressed desire in Drake. Instead of allowing them both to succumb to
shame he does the unthinkable and offers for her hand in a convenient marriage.
Nothing prepares them for the fireworks when a
fearless damsel collides with a dangerous Major General! And as their secret
missions align they face their hardest test on the glittering battlefield – a
week-long wedding house party where there is nowhere to escape…only new and
wicked lessons to be learnt!
***
My Thoughts:
The story comes in the third-person POV of Millie and Beau (Drake).
The book works as a standalone though the characters have met in the earlier one. Reading that is not mandatory but could help see that the MCs had a couple of conversations (banter of sorts).
This series is predominantly steamy romance (~4).
The mystery and danger are a subplot and take center stage only in the last
quarter. The writing has a contemporary flavor as most books in this genre tend
to be.
There’s quite a lot of drama in this one – evil
stepmother, shitty exes (jealousy and all that), a struggling relationship (or
the lack of it) between the main characters, the mystery of the gang, etc. Some
of it works.
For me, the bright spot was Billy Bright, the young
lad from book one. Boy, the kid brightened up the scenes whenever he was
around. Lady Phillipa, once again, makes her presence felt. I hope she gets her
own book.
While the previous book also had a dark backstory
for the FMC, the chosen track in this book did not appeal to me. A certain
scene, especially around 15% was unexpected. What made sense in the previous
book doesn’t work here since the characters and the resolutions are different.
Just look at that yellow cover and the flowery design on it. I didn’t expect
something this triggering to happen. What’s worse is that the person
responsible doesn’t even pay for their actions. No justice! Also, after a
point, the issue isn’t even discussed again.
There’s one more random piece of information about a
different character that’s revealed and left hanging. Possible that it will be
tackled in the next book. Since I did guess a bit from the earlier scene, I
knew what the trigger would be. It might affect other readers, though.
Quite a few issues are supposed to be presumed as
settled (sorted off page). This doesn’t make the ending as satisfying as it
should be. I wanted a more comprehensive approach to tying up at least the
major subplots. Only one gets a sort of resolution.
To summarize, A Lady's Lesson in Scandal has its
moments but doesn’t appeal to me as much as the previous book in the series. I
had high hopes for this since I liked both characters, but the execution wasn’t
great. Hopefully, things will be better in the next book. Fingers crossed!
Thank you, Rachel’s Random Resources and Boldwood
Books, for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about
the book.
#NetGalley
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About the Author – Darcy McGuire
Follow the Author:
Facebook: @AuthorDarcyMcGuire
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This has been a stop on the #ALadysLessonInScandal blog tour by Rachel's Random Resources. (@rararesources) Thanks for stopping by!
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