Once Upon a Scandal – Delilah Marvelle

Historical Romance
netGalley
PDF
$7.99 (for Paperback)
384 Pages
HQN Books
February 1, 2011

3.5/5 Stars

Favorite Quote: “Grow up Victoria. Life isn’t about always getting what you want. And if you ever thought otherwise, you are not living in reality.”

Book Description:
Lady Victoria Jane Emerson left behind her girlish notions of romance when Jonathan deserted her without a backward glance. Now the time has come when she must finally choose a husband, and she has vowed to marry someone who will never break her heart.
Jonathan Pierce Thatcher, Viscount Remington, has returned home, free of all his family’s debts. Only to discover that by some miracle he has been chosen to vie for the hand of his beloved Victoria. To convince his only love to once again believe in the magic of love and the promise of desire will be his greatest challenge yet. And one he cannot fail!

The book starts out with a young Victoria (17) and a young Jonathan (19) who are young and in love even though she is playing hard-to-get.  Jonathan is going to Venice for several months and before he goes he asks her to merry him.  While he is away for the first few months they write letters back and forth sharing their feelings for each other until one day Jonathan tells Victoria that they can no longer write each other because of a situation he has gotten his family in with money and that he has an offer he cannot refuse to get the debt paid off.

Five years later, Victoria is still a single woman but her father is dying from an illness and she knows that the one thing her father wanted most was for her to marry. She finds out that she has three men vieing (I think that is how you would put vie with the ing added) for her hand and is stunned to see Jonathan trying to make his way back into her life again.

Jonathan has loved Victoria since they were younger and their 5 years apart have not smoldered his feelings for her.  He had to become a Cavalier Servent (a male who a married woman was allowed to keep for a certain period of time) to pay off his debts in Venice and now that his contract is up he is back to get Victoria to fall in love with him again.

Victoria is a strong willed woman who is sick and tired of losing people in her life from her mother and brothers death to Jonathan’s communication to now her father dying.  She wants to find a man who is reliable and who will not break her heart any further.  I loved her for the fact that she was so strong until you kept reading through the book, one minute she was mad at Jonathan and the next minute she was very soft towards him.  It was a bit choppy really and got slightly annoying because you just wanted her to pick one feeling and stick with it for awhile.

Jonathan was very romantic through the entire book and that made me really connect with him.  He was steadfast in his feelings for Victoria and you knew that even while having to sleep with another woman he never held feelings for her that he held for Victoria.

After Jonathan and Victoria get married and he takes her to Venice to show her the place that he has grown to love things got slightly better.  You could tell that Victoria was finally starting to open up to him and you’ve been hoping for that the entire book.

After reading Prelude to a Scandal I was really hoping for some hot, sexy love scenes but this fell a little short in this book.  The carriage scene I wish would have gone on a little longer and I wish that there was a bit more than one other love scene in the book…maybe we were just a little spoiled from the first book in this area.  😛

All in all, I did enjoy this read.  I still love the fact that the book “How to Avoid a Scandal” is quoted at the beginning of every chapter pertaining to whatever is in that chapter.  I enjoyed the side characters of Greyson and Jonathan’s stepsister, they just complimented the story so well.

All of the Scandal Series books can be standalones, I know I mentioned this is my last post but I wanted to just say that again.  I am looking forward to reading the third book in the series The Perfect Scandal (review on Friday).

The Scandal Series by Delilah Marvelle:
Prelude to a Scandal (Jan 1, 2011)
Once Upon a Scandal (Feb 1, 2011)
The Perfect Scandal (March 1, 2011)