In Scandal They Wed by Sophie Jordan

In Scandal They Wed by Sophie Jordan

Published April 1st 2010 by Avon
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I've been reading a lot of gloom and doom here lately. About, you know, the thing we all fear the most- the zombie apocalypse. Good stuff that. Great even, and we'll talk about those books in the days to come but I wanted, needed, a break from it and I wanted the break to be trashy.

Tastefully trashy mind you- as only a historical romance novel can be. Ladies overly protective of their virtue. Dashing, overbearing, scoundrels turned heroes accosting said virtue- those of us in possession of ridiculously overly romantic sensibilities like to refer to it as love. So I tippy toed over to the bookshelf, with my skirts bunched in hand, and with pinky finger ever so delicately extended, selected In Scandal They Wed by one Miz Sophie Jordan and sat down to read.

Three hours later, four screams of "SHUT UP! I'M TRYING TO READ THIS", and no less than fifteen squeals of delight, I finished this little book and added Sophie Jordan to the list of romance authors that I must become better acquainted with.

Evie Cross, newly evicted from The Penwich School for Virtuous Girls, returns home to discover a case of the aforementioned compromised virtue. Not hers, mind you, but that of her well loved sister, Linnie who foolishly found herself in the bed of a man she thought she loved and subsequently got herself pregnant. Linnie was her parents last hope of weaseling their way into better society and if her condition is discovered, all of their nefarious scheming has been for nothing.

Having been out of the country for long enough not to rouse suspicious, Evie takes Linnie's child to raise as her own, masquerading as a widow to protect Linnie's reputation and more importantly, her child.

Years later, her sister having died and any potential scandal along with her, Evie has established a safe, quiet, albeit poverty stricken life for herself and her adopted son. Out of the blue, a man arrives asking after Nicholas. Spencer Lockhart, Lord Winters, is the cousin of Nick's father, who died on the battlefield but not before securing Spencer's promise to look after Nicholas and Linnie. For years Spencer has lived with the dream of Linnie, visions of her loveliness planted in his mind by his cousin's stories of her. Now he has returned and means to protect both Linnie and her son with his name by making the woman of his dreams his wife. Fearing that the truth could mean Spencer taking Nicholas from her, Evie plays along with his assumptions that she is her sister and agrees to marry him, hoping that he doesn't discover that his bride to be isn't exactly the woman of his dreams.

Loved this story. I had no idea what kind of man ol' Spence would ultimately turn out to be so I had no idea what would happen to Evie or her son. you don't go around duping influential members of the nobility and expect to get off light. He might turn out to be a real asshole. All in all, a great little story. No instant fairytale love, but some marvelous instant sexual tension. Evie, you go girl.

I've ordered five more of Miz Jordan's books. She has even written a YA novel that I'd love to get my greedy little hands on.