The Perfect Scandal – Delilah Marvelle

Historical Romance
netGalley
PDF
$7.99 (paperback)
379 Pages
HQN Books
March 1, 2011

6/5 Stars

Favorite Quote: “She finally felt like she was Catherine la Grande about to be reunited with the greatest lover known to all of humanity.  All while trying to finish chewing on a stupid marmalade tart.”

Description from netGalley:
If there is anything Tristan Adam Hargrove, fourth Marquis of Moreland, has learned to avoid, it’s scandal.  For the dark and dashing lord is an honorable gentleman who would never seduce a woman for his own gain.
When a raven-haired beauty arrives as his new neighbor, he knows better than to succomb to the desire he feels.  He knows little about her — only that she is high born, a protege of the Crown and completely unsuitable for the base passions he hides from the world.  If only he had never glimpsed the vulnerable beauty one fateful night.  If only her lips were not so ravishingly red.  If only it were not already too late to save her and himself from the untamed passion he is about to unleash in the name of love.

This was another great addition to the Scandal series by Delilah Marvelle and after reading all three of them I honestly can’t tell you which one is my favorite…it’s a tie between this book and Prelude to a Scandal!  That being said, here’s the review…

The Perfect Scandal was an amazing read with so many unique qualities!  It has a hero that is flawed physically and mentally AANNDD a heroine that is flawed physically that causes her to have some insecurities.  Marvelle goes out on a limb again bringing in issues that many people (at least me, and I can’t be the only one) would not associate with history yet they really pull things together to make the book amazing.

Tristan is a very respectable man who avoids anything that society considers inappropriate even though he has secrets that only his Grandmother knows about.  His parents died when he was in his early teens which caused him to turn to cutting as a way to relieve his stress.  Even with this flaw, he stands to stay respectable…until he spots a beautiful woman through her window one night…

Enter Zosia, a beautiful Polish (kinda) woman who is living under the protection of the King of England until she can be married off.  She has hopes for her future the biggest one being to bring Poland out from under the ruling of Russia, she hopes to solve this with marriage.  She spots Tristan and this sparks her to start pursuing him…yes that’s right SHE tries to get HIM!  That was one of my favorite things, she saw something she wanted and instead of waiting for the hero to make the move she did it herself.

Their courtship is interesting to say the least and Tristan is not turned off by her physical flaw even though she has insecurities with it (I’m not going to tell you since I already told you the hero’s flaw).  Something about Zosia sparks Tristan to tell her several things about his past and intrust her with his secret of cutting which shows Tristan that maybe this woman is the perfect fit for him.

There are some crazy twists and turns in this book so I can’t go into more detail for fear of giving even more important things away.  I didn’t want to put this book down and I loved the entire story line.  It was, well, just unique!  I can’t not-not use that word for this review because it was completely different from anything else I have ever read.  Many of the side characters really stuck out to me especially Tristan’s grandmother and Maksim, I really thought I wasn’t going to like either of them but in the end I feel in love with them both.  I connected with all of the characters and I enjoyed the respectable hero and the strong-hearted heroine!

**Side Note – Carriage ride scene, AMAZING!!!! – End Side Note **

I must also thank Marvelle for the “Author’s Historical Note” at the very end of the book.  I love history and learning new things about actual history is very refreshing.

Here is another huge rave over Delilah Marvelle’s Scandal Series!  If you love historical romance or even if you just want to try something new, I would suggest you pick up one of these books and dig in!

The Scandal Series:
Prelude to a Scandal (out now)
Once Upon a Scandal (February 1, 2011)
The Perfect Scandal (March 1, 2011)