Scandal begins with just one kiss… Aurora Paxton was once the belle of the ball, the most sought-after debutante of the season–until a scandalous mistake ruined her. Shunned by her family, Rory was banished to the country to live in disgrace. Now she’s been summoned back to London by her stepmother, who is being blackmailed by the least likely person Rory can imagine: Lucas Vale, Marquess of … Lucas Vale, Marquess of Dashell.
Lucas is someone Rory’s known for years–a man as devastatingly handsome as he is coldly disapproving of her. What in the world could he want from her or her family? Rory intends to find out as soon as she comes face to face with her old foe. What she never expects, however, is that the icy aristocrat has a soft spot for her–and a secret plan to redeem her status. Could it be that Lucas has been in love with Rory all along. . .and has finally found a way to win her heart?
The Scandalous Flirt by Olivia Drake is a sweeping Regency romance you won’t be able to put down!
The Cinderella Sisterhood series is:
“Beautiful.” – RT Book Reviews
“Breathtaking.” – Night Owl Reviews
“Magical.” – Once Upon a Romance
more
Olivia Drake’s Cinderella Sisterhood keeps improving. This is just a lovely story of a young woman’s second chance after a scandalous mistake. The fairy godmother, of course, makes her appearance and leaves the special shoes, giving this a magical quality. Again, we see how different the rules were for women — an-almost seduction can ruin a debutante, which is what happened to Aurora Paxton. She was exiled to the country and only brought back to help her stepmother avoid blackmail. What a heroine, with the supposed blackmailer (true hero) a great match. Drake peppers her romance with an intriguing mystery and solid secondary characters. I really enjoyed this book. (I received an ARC from NetGalley in return for my honest review.)
Good read
The Scandalous Flirt by Olivia Drake
Cinderella Sisterhood #6
Loosely based on a number of fairytales I noticed:
*Magic Slippers (Ruby Colored)
*Spinning wheel with sharp finger pricking spindle
*Evil stepmother
*Stepsister (not as evil as Cinderella’s)
*Fairy Godmother type person
*A woman that reminded me of the bedridden woman in the Pollyanna movie
*And perhaps more
This story was entertaining but not terribly deep with Aurora “Rory” Paxton being banished to the country for an indiscretion. She was away for almost a decade before being brought back to solve a mystery. She finds her sister betrothed to a person she has no business ending up with, the clueless stepmother, the guy that is not really prince charming but an okay guy, a few balls to attend, the man she was indiscreet reappearing, a blackmailing plot…and more…I did not relate to any of the characters…not really…but did finish the book.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC – This is my honest review.
3 Stars
It’s magically delicious! Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. I had read some very negative reviews of this book so I started reading with some trepidation. Imagine my delight to find that I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I didn’t interpret the things others had complained about in the same way they did. Yes, there were some things that weren’t acceptable for the Regency period, but she was ‘in disguise’ and she was already a ruined woman anyway.
Eight years ago, Aurora Paxton was a beautiful, lively, intelligent, romantic and very naïve young woman in the middle of her first season. She was always surrounded by a horde of admirers – until everything changed in the blink of an eye. She was caught in a compromising position with a man who had pursued her relentlessly – professing his love. Then, when they were caught and her father demanded marriage, they found out he was married. So, she was banished to live in a small cottage by the sea with her aunt. She was totally banished from society and her family as well.
So here I have to say that I think her father was a huge hypocrite. Aurora always speaks of him as being loving toward her, etc. but I cannot reconcile that with his treatment of Aurora. I can’t explain why I call him a hypocrite with spoiling a part of the story, but his treatment of her just didn’t ring true.
Lucas Vale, Marquess of Dashell, is deeply in debt thanks to his profligate father. All of his life he has done his best to distance himself from acting any way at all like his father. Most people viewed him as stodgy and cold because of his always perfect behavior. He also admired Aurora in that season, but from a distance, because he knew she was too lively and undisciplined to be the right woman for him. So, when the scandal engulfed her and she was shipped off, he wrote her out of his life.
The book blurb makes it sound like Lucas had concocted some wild scheme to bring Aurora back to London so he could rehabilitate her reputation. That is NOT the case. Lucas had nothing to do with bringing her back – he has to marry for money and had already picked out the heiress he planned to make an offer for.
In the first couple of chapters you have – a fairy godmother, a prick from the spindle of a spinning wheel, ruby slippers, and a wicked step-mother. What a mixture of fairy tales. But – after that, those references clear up and it is on to a nice story.
I liked Lucas and Aurora, but Lucas drove me nuts sometimes. I do understand why he kept clinging to marrying the heiress – she was the only way to pay his debts, save his estates and provide for his mother and brother. The poor boy really was caught between a rock and a hard place!
There was an HEA for Aurora’s younger sister included in the book and that was nice. What I wish had also been in the story had been an HEA for Lucas’ brother – maybe with the heiress Lucas was planning to marry and an Epilogue set a year or two later. It would be nice to see the couples and their growing families.
“I requested and received this e-book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher.”