A Dash of Scandal

Rating:
Summary: Charming and fun
Review: A DASH OF SCANDAL is a romantic treat, with fun dialogue and great chemistry between the hero and heroine. I loved the snippets from the gossip columns! Amelia Grey has written another winner!

Rating:
Summary: Charming and fun
Review: A DASH OF SCANDAL is a romantic treat, with fun dialogue and great chemistry between the hero and heroine. I loved the snippets from the gossip columns! Amelia Grey has written another winner!

Rating:
Summary: Light reading
Review: By the Ton, Millicent Blair was considered a poor young lady from the country whose ailing mother imposed on an old acquaintance to give her daughter a Season in London in hopes of making a good match. They could not have been more wrong! Millicent wanted nothing to do with London. She was in town at the request of her aunt. Due to an accident, Aunt Beatrice was abed. Instead of helping Aunt Beatrice with house duties, Millicent found herself slipping into a role she detested.

Beatrice was an anonymous column writer for Society's Daily Column. Everyone loved to read the gossip section by Lord Truefitt, but no one knew his true identity. Millicent was made to understand that her aunt depended on the income she made as Lord Truefitt. Therefore, no matter how much she hated it, Millicent attended all the posh parties and listened for tid-bits of gossip.

Chandler Prestwick, Earl of Dunraven, was one of the trio dubbed as the Terrible Threesome. History proved him to be a notorious rake. At least one of the trio made the gossip columns daily. Lately, it had been Chandler. He had been a victim of a robbery by a thief known as the Mad Ton Thief. The Raven, an Egyptian artifact that had been in his family for over a hundred years, had been stolen! Chandler was obsessed with unveiling the thief. At the same time, he was attracted to Millicent.

*** This story has a good plot and a heroine with a level head on her shoulders, except when the hero is around. During those times she seems to lose all her maturity. I did not know whether to admire her or strangle her. I found the novel to be perfect for anyone who wants some light beach or vacation reading. ***

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Rating:
Summary: A DASH OF SCANDAL was a delightful read!
Review: Just the book to curl up in front of the fire and snuggle into a warm blanket to lose yourself in Regency England. The dialogue is witty, the pace fast, and the Shakespeare quotes from Lord Truefitt's column that begin each chapter are so clever! One of my favorite books of the year!

Rating:
Summary: A DASH OF SCANDAL was a delightful read!
Review: Just the book to curl up in front of the fire and snuggle into a warm blanket to lose yourself in Regency England. The dialogue is witty, the pace fast, and the Shakespeare quotes from Lord Truefitt's column that begin each chapter are so clever! One of my favorite books of the year!

Rating:
Summary: Enchanting lead characters in an uneven book
Review: Millicent and Chandler are well-developed, likeable characters who carry the uneven plot and writing of this book higher than it would otherwise be. Although Millicent easily loses her head around Chandler, their attraction is realistically portrayed and is a strong element of the book. Chandler's realization that he has finally grown up and truly wants to settle down is given the perfect touch.

On the other hand, the author includes characters and situations that seem to have little real purpose and, therefore, become distracting. For example, the appearance of Chandler's old mistress is nothing more than an obvious occasion for jealousy and doubt. Millicent's work as a gossip columnist should have created more tension in her relationship with Chandler. The gentleman is also supposed to be "obsessed" with finding the thief, but he seems only interested. Such things add up to wasted potential for additional conflict. In addition, there are a large number of typographical errors, and the ending is, frankly, lame. It does not carry the intensity of attraction that the rest of their relationship does.

I usually enjoyed the book a great deal, but it wasn't of the highest quality. Had Chandler and Millicent not been such good characters and their relationship not been such a strong element, I would have had to rate it lower. It's a 3 & 1/2 star read.

Rating:
Summary: delightfully cheerful ?All?s well that ends well? tale
Review: When Lady Beatrice Talbott tripped over her dog and suffered severe injuries, she sends for her niece Millicent Blair, but not to nurse her back to health. Instead Beatrice assigns Millicent to continue her Lord Truefitt's gossip column in the London Daily Reader. Though she loathes spreading gossip, Millicent would do anything including writing this column for her aunt.

Millicent reports that the Mad Ton Thief stole a priceless golden raven from the collection of the Earl of Dunraven, Charles Preswick, while the aristocrat hosted a social event. Charles meets Millicent and is very attracted to her wit and intelligence, more so perhaps than her understated beauty. Charles, frustrated by the poor performance of Bow St., begins his own investigation into the identity of the Mad Ton Thief with Millicent helping him sift through the clues. Working in close proximity and courting too, Charles and Millicent fall in love, but she worries what will happen to her beloved aunt if he learns who Truefitt is.

Fans of Regency romantic romp will relish this amusing tale highlighted by Lord Truefitt's commentaries that borrow from classic literature to describe individual members of the Ton. Even with a semblance of an amateur sleuth investigation, the story line never takes itself seriously, but except for the column never quite attains a sense of irony or powerful suspense. Instead the audience receives a delightfully cheerful "All's well that ends well" tale starring two engaging protagonists.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: delightfully cheerful ¿All¿s well that ends well¿ tale
Review: When Lady Beatrice Talbott tripped over her dog and suffered severe injuries, she sends for her niece Millicent Blair, but not to nurse her back to health. Instead Beatrice assigns Millicent to continue her Lord Truefitt's gossip column in the London Daily Reader. Though she loathes spreading gossip, Millicent would do anything including writing this column for her aunt.

Millicent reports that the Mad Ton Thief stole a priceless golden raven from the collection of the Earl of Dunraven, Charles Preswick, while the aristocrat hosted a social event. Charles meets Millicent and is very attracted to her wit and intelligence, more so perhaps than her understated beauty. Charles, frustrated by the poor performance of Bow St., begins his own investigation into the identity of the Mad Ton Thief with Millicent helping him sift through the clues. Working in close proximity and courting too, Charles and Millicent fall in love, but she worries what will happen to her beloved aunt if he learns who Truefitt is.

Fans of Regency romantic romp will relish this amusing tale highlighted by Lord Truefitt's commentaries that borrow from classic literature to describe individual members of the Ton. Even with a semblance of an amateur sleuth investigation, the story line never takes itself seriously, but except for the column never quite attains a sense of irony or powerful suspense. Instead the audience receives a delightfully cheerful "All's well that ends well" tale starring two engaging protagonists.

Harriet Klausner