“Sparkling, sensual, and oh-so-smart!” –Lenora Bell, USA Today bestselling author In the wake of a fire that decimates his racing stock, Christian Andrews, the Marquess of Amstead, struggles to keep his family’s stud farm from slipping into ruin and painstakingly rebuilds the program. When one of his prime stallions is injured, he notices his new assistant trainer has a special way with the … trainer has a special way with the horses. As talented as the trainer is, once he realizes he is a she…and a very beautiful, spirited she at that…he should sack her before scandal breaks. But it’s only weeks before the high stakes race he’s counting on to build back his fortune, and Flora should be by his side for the win.
Miserable under the weight of the ton’s expectations, headstrong Lady Flora Campbell laments her privileged life in London. Embracing her dream of working with racehorses, she disguises herself as a lad and slips away to learn as much as she can from England’s premier expert, Christian Andrews, never thinking of the scandal she courts but the glory to be had.
Although she develops tender feelings for the dashing marquess, she can never let on that she’s not only a woman, but the daughter of a duke…
Each book in the Once Upon A Scandal series is STANDALONE:
* To Love a Scandalous Duke
* To Resist a Scandalous Rogue
* To Tame a Scandalous Lady
* To Tempt a Scandalous Lord
more
I’ve been eagerly anticipating the third book from Ms. De La Rosa, and To Tame a Scandalous Lady exceeded my expectations. The author is a gifted writer, with an ability to transport you into the world she’s created with vivid prose and skillful use of all five senses. This story takes us into Lady Flora Campbell’s world as a Duke’s daughter who longs for freedom and the ability to choose how she’ll live her life. She disguises herself as a man and works as an assistant horse trainer in order to learn from the best.
The romance heats up the minute Christian Amstead returns to his estate and they begin to interact. He respects her first as a horse trainer, and then once he realizes she is a woman, the steamy build up to love begins. The stakes are high in the story and at times I wanted to shake Flora and Christian for the risks they took, but at the same time, I loved the danger and excitement.
If you want a fast-paced historical romance you won’t be able to put down, I highly recommend this book!
I received an ARC of this book and am giving this review voluntarily.
Lady Flora Campbell, the youngest daughter of the Duke of Kilmorow, is visiting with her sister Juliana, the Duchess of Ashwood and drops a bombshell – she wants to take a job as an assistant trainer at the renown horse farm Amstead Gardens and work under the Marquess of Amstead – one of the best trainers in England. Flora’s dream is not to marry and have children, but to run a successful horse farm. She is aware of the risks to not only her reputation, but her families, but for her, the benefit outweighs the risk. So she disguises herself as a man and takes a chance.
3 months later, Christian Andrews, Marquess of Amstead is finally back at Amstead Gardens and ready to dive into training his new stallion, Asad. After a devastating fire that killed his father, Christian learned the extended of his father’s debt. In an effort to raise funds, he is holding a house party to attracted investors, one of whom is a former lover, who wants to rekindle their affair. In an effort to escape her, Christian goes to the stables, hoping to find his trainer Baniti Mubarak and get caught up with the progress of Asad. In the stables he runs into the assistant trainer – William Grant and immediately thinks that he is very “pretty”, but Baniti has nothing but good things to say and once he sees Will with the horses, he knows “he” has a gift.
Flora is immediately attracted but needs to stay focused. They spend a lot of time together and it isn’t long before he discovers her secret and they become lovers. But Flora hasn’t shared all her secrets and when the truth is revealed, Christian is hurt and angry. But Flora will not give up her dream, not even for love.
I didn’t really care for this book, the writing was great, but the story itself didn’t really capture my attention, first, there is A LOT of horse training, in fact most of the book is about horses, which just aren’t my “thing”. I probably could have overlooked that, but I found myself really disliking Flora, I thought she was incredibly selfish and the fact that she acknowledges it at the end didn’t endear her to me, it just make me dislike her all the more. Yes, Christian made some stupid comments and decrees, but for the most part, I felt like he was the victim, but he had to do most of the compromising in the end and Flora basically got to call all the shots and got her way without having to give up anything, even though she was the cause of all the trouble. I read the two previous books in the series and loved them and while I find no fault in the writing, I just didn’t like Flora and the story was just not my cuppa. This is the third book in the series, but it can easily be read as a stand-alone.
*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher.*
Lady Flora Campbell chafes at the restrictions put on her sex by society. She only feels like her true self when she training and riding horses. She devices a plan to learn from the best horse trainer in England, Lord Amstead, but to gain a position she must disguise herself as a man. Christian, Marquess of Amstead is single-minded in his goal to rebuild his horse stud farm and he’s impressed with the skill of his newest hire, assistant trainer William Grant. When Christian discovers Flora’s deception, he’s drawn to the young woman and doesn’t dismiss her immediately. Knowing that they are flirting with dire consequences if anyone should find out about Flora, they are still unprepared when Flora’s identity is found out. Can Christian convince Flora their only option is to marry?
This was a delightful story of two very different, but determined people. Ms. DeLaRosa teases out the personalities of the hero and heroine, keeping the reader thoroughly engaged in the story. Both Christian and Flora have an all consuming passion for horses, but Flora was risking everything with her deception. Instead of realizing that Flora would not want to be managed as a cosseted female, Christian demands that if they marry, she will not be mucking out stalls and involved in the horse training at Amstead Gardens. It was exactly the wrong thing to say. I was routing for these two to finally realize that they loved each other–everything about each other including their flaws.
The story moves along at a good pace and I was entranced to read about the antics of the horses. They made the book come alive. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.
I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy and all opinions are my own. (
Delightful all around. Great story, lovely characters both primary and supporting, and fun banter. A reread for me!
Really liked the characters!
To Tame a Scandalous Lady is the third book in author Liana De la Rosa’s “Once Upon a Scandal” series. This is the first book I’ve actually had the pleasure of reading from Leane De la Rosa and I absolutely enjoyed and devoured this book. She has an amazing style with impeccable cast of characters that I fell in love with. I thought the pacing was great and had me turning the pages for what is to come next. Lady Flora Campbell, the daughter of a Duke, dreams to one day breed and train racehorses In her own estate. To gain the knowledge and the know-how, she disguises herself as a man, William, to work at Amstead Gardens despite risking her own and family’s reputation and her own future. William and Christian develop a relationship unbeknownst to Christian that William was really Lady Flora. The attraction to Christian was unmistakable.
I loved this amazing story and will definitely be reading all the other books in this series. Leane De la Rosa has quickly become one of my favorites.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley and I am voluntarily reviewing it.
This is the first book that I have read from this author and I did enjoy it. The plot was a solid one. The characters were believable. I could picture the scenes of the book just like a movie. The author I felt did a great job of allowing me to “fill in the gaps” with my touches.
Flora Campbell LOVES horses especially racehorses. She want to own a small racehorse farm herself. To do this, she wants to learn from the best horse trainer in all of England. Marquess of Amstead. Christian struggles to rebuild Amstead Gardens to it former glory. The Gardens suffered a devastating loss when a fire claimed the life of the former Marquess, Christian’s father, and several racehorses. After burying his father, Christian also learns that his home is also heavily in debt. Christian seeks investors at the same times as he trains Asad, an Egyptian racehorse with a large personality.
Flora disguises herself as a man (William) since no one would hire a woman. Her subterfuge works for the most part until, Christian sees “William” slowly evolves into a woman. The two become involved romantically as well as professionally now. All the while, “William” continues to work with the horses.
There were highs and lows (can’t have a romance book without them). While I felt Flora was extremely selfish and demanded things to go her way, you can’t help but understand where she is coming from. It is a historical romance and woman were treated completely different than we are now. I just wished that Flora was a little less selfish near the end, she did redeem herself somewhat.
I completely fell in love with Christian though. While he too was a little “old fashioned” in his ideals (remember this is a historical), he totally fell in love with Flora and was willing to do what he needed to do to extract himself from a situation he found himself in, at Flora’s doing. He “manned” up.
This story was written in a dual POV format. This really helped me to identify with Flora. I really needed it here. She was a character that you either love or hate. But seeing into the character’s thoughts and understanding her feelings really, especially near the end, made her so believable.
It really doesn’t matter if I like the character as long as I enjoyed the story, which I did. There were some sexy scenes that may offend some but this is not erotica by any means. But I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone under the age of 18. If you love a strong female, a drool-worthy male in a historical setting, then I would highly recommend this story.
To Tame a Scandalous Lady is the third book in author Liana De la Rosa’s “Once Upon a Scandal” series. This is the first book I’ve actually had the pleasure of reading from Ms. De la Rosa and I loved it. I enjoyed Ms. De la Rosa’s style of writing and look forward to reading more from her in the future.
Lady Flora Campbell is the daughter of a Duke. She dreams to have her own estate one day to breed and train racehorses. So she decides to disguise herself as a man to work at Amstead Gardens to gain as much knowledge from the trainers there. She has a lot at stake if she’s found out, her future, her family’s reputation, and Amstead Gardens’ future.
Christian Andrews the Marquess of Amstead has the future of Amstead Gardens weighing heavily on his mind. After a fire destroyed the barn and killed his father, Christian longs to bring back the glory to Amstead Gardens. With the estate heavily in debt, he can’t afford to lose.
What a wonderful and extremely well-written story! I loved the unique setting and that the majority of the story is focused around Christian & Flora training horses. The fact that Flora is disguised for the first part of the book without Christian knowing she’s a woman was interesting and allowed these two characters to get to know each other on a different level. Christian respected Flora’s knowledge and her capabilities when she was disguised as William. As for Flora, from the very first time she meets Christian, she’s extremely attracted to him. More than any other man in her 4 years in London and it disturbs her. But she’s there to learn all she can about horse racing and so she’s determined to keep her wits about her.
I absolutely loved Christian. He’s holding on to a lot of guilt over his father and getting the Gardens back to winning is everything to him. I liked Flora and I understood her desire to follow her dreams. I did feel she overlooked at first just how much everyone would be impacted if she was found out. Although this couple had a few bumps at the end when everything was revealed, their HEA was well earned and I loved the ending.
With fabulous secondary characters that I wouldn’t mind reading about in the future, this was a great story from author Liana De la Rosa. I look forward to going back and reading the first two books in this series and would definitely recommend this book and author.
After a devastating fire took his father’s life along with the lives of many of his prized racehorses, Christian Andrews, the Marquess of Amstead, is struggling to keep the family stud farm afloat and restore his family’s legacy. He notices his new assistant trainer has an innate ability with horses, especially his prime colt. When he discovers his talented trainer is actually a woman, a very beautiful one in fact, he knows he should fire her to avoid potential scandal, but with an important stakes race in just a few weeks, he knows he should keep Flora in her place as trainer.
Duke’s daughter Lady Flora Campbell chafes against society’s strictures and her responsibilities as hostess for her brother Niall, a marquess with political ambitions. Flora longs to one day own her own stud farm, so when an opportunity arises to work for one of England’s premiere horse trainers, Christian Andrews, she disguises herself as a man and takes advantage. Now if she can just keep her feelings for the marquess from developing and keep her true identity a secret, she might have a real chance at fulfilling her dreams.
But when the relationship between Flora and Christian becomes more personal than professional, they both find themselves in uncharted territory and unsure how to proceed. Flora fears Christian will send her away if he learns who her family actually is. Of course when the full truth eventually does come out Christian is appalled at his treatment of a lady and finds all his beliefs and prejudices he didn’t even realize he had questioned. These two were perfect for each other, if a bit stubborn in realizing that for themselves. Christian was terribly arrogant and high-handed and Flora had some selfish and short-sighted tendencies, but those flaws are what made these characters real and relatable. The fact that they recognized and worked through them to meet each other halfway without compromising their dreams, but whilst being willing to admit to being wrong, is what made this story work for me. This was a rather modern take on the historical and I quite loved it.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Enjoyed the story of how Flora, daughter of a Duke, disguised herself as a man in order to learn to train horses from one of the best Christian and along the way falls in love with him. The story tells of the training rigors that she went thru, in a time when women were not accepted in this field of work. Once her disguise was discovered, she continued to work as a trainer with only Christian and the head trainer knowing she was a woman. There is a HEA but it was not an easy process as blackmail became a threat to both she and Christian. It is an excellent love story and I would recommend it as a good read.
I really liked this book about a woman fighting to make her own place in the high society of England.
The book is about the youngest daughter of the duke of Lake Kilmorrow in Scotland, Lady Flora Campbell who decides to dress as a man to get a job as an assistant trainer of racehorses in Amstead Gardens. Despite that this scandal can ruin her reputation (which she doesn’t care about), her brother Lord Niall’s political career and reputation, her sister duchess Juliana and her husband the duke of Ashwood’s reputation and destroy Lord Christian, The marquess of Amstead and Amstead Gardens, if anyone figures out who William Grant really is.
She gets the job alongside an Egyptian trainer and they both have a difficult time being accepted and bullied by the other staff, because she is a pretty and small man and he is of another color skin and does not completely speak their language. Despite that they work well together and Lord Christian joins them and become very good friends with both of them. But when he finds out that she is a woman everything changes and thous begins the drama and scandals.
I love that Flora is this free spirited woman who does what she want and doesn’t let any man dictate what she is supposed to do and be like. She has decided she doesn’t want to get married, she doesn’t want children and that she doesn’t want to be fitted in by the norms of what a Lady is supposed to be. She is not a virgin and she is characterized as a great feminist of that age.
Now Lord Christian is a very typical Lord in his belief of what a Lady should be like, but he is also very forthcoming in his efforts to build up his racehorses and also on his views of the world and the different types of people and traditions there are. And as long as he gets the best trainers for his racehorses he doesn’t care if they are from another country or if they are male or female!
Unfortunately I thought the book was too long and that it dragged out a couple of places. And at one point in the ending it got too dramatic and they both acted stupid. But it was all resolved in the ending and had a great HEA.
I can definitely recommend this book.
I got this book from Entangled Publishing and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
To Tame a Scandalous Lady by Liana De la Rosa is book Three in the Once Upon a Scandal Series. This is the story of Christian Andrews, the Marquess of Amstead and Lady Flora Campbell. I have read the previous books but feel you can make this a standalone book if you wish to do so. Flora never had the dream to marry but did have one to work with race horses. Which leads her to go in disguised to work at the Amstead Gardens and their racehorses. All is going good until Christian ask that “he” work with one of the horses with him. Of course it doesn’t take long for her cover to be blown by Christian. But Christian has a big race coming up that can help him get everything out of debit but it would be a scandal if found out.
Enjoyed their story.
What’s a girl to do when she has a dream and can see an opportunity to achieve it? Why take advantage of it! Lady Flora was staying with her sister and after much discussion, they agree to her crazy scheme. At least it woud be if she were caught. Determined to work in the stables of The Marquess of Armstead, who had breed and raced some of the finest horseflesh around, Flora dressed as a lad and was able to slip in as an assistant trainer.
Flora does have a way with horses but unfortunately her disguise does not hold up too long before the Marquess, Christian realizes he is a she and the story takes off. I think one would have been very brave during this time to even attempt this escapade, but sometimes a dream just has to be followed.
Christian is still reeling from the death of his father, even though two years ago, and the rebuilding of the stable that had burned down.
I truly enjoyed this story and being centered around horses. If you have ever been around these amazing animals, you know how special they are and how they truly have their own personalities and calming spirits.
Be prepared to take a journey with Christian and Flora with several twist and turns that leads to a wonderful ending. Well done!
In the wake of a fire that decimates his racing stock, killed his father & destroyed the centuries old stables, Christian Andrews, the Marquis of Amstead, struggles to keep his family’s stud farm from slipping into ruin and painstakingly starts to rebuild. He buys two young stallions but one is injured on the journey to England. On returning to his estate he notices his new assistant trainer has a special way with the horses. As talented as the trainer is, once he realizes he is a she he should sack her before scandal breaks. But it’s only weeks before the high stakes race he’s counting on to build back his fortune, and Flora should be by his side for the win. Miserable under the weight of the ton’s expectations, headstrong Lady Flora Campbell laments her privileged life in London. Embracing her dream of working with racehorses, she disguises herself as a lad and slips away to learn as much as she can from England’s premiere expert, Christian Andrews, never thinking of the scandal she courts but the glory to be had.
A very well written book with lots about horses. The characters had plenty of depth & the pace was very good. There was much I loved about the book but I also had reservations about some aspects. I liked Christian but felt he was always the one to compromise. I had mixed feelings about Flora, she was feisty, determined to the point of being almost blinkered to achieve what she wanted. She was a duke’s daughter so some of her behaviour was beyond the pale & I found it hard to believe that she had acted this way on more than one occasion & not been dragged to the alter. So I found her to be self centred & too modern for the time setting. That said I did enjoy the book & look forward to more from the author
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read
A Woman in a Man’s World.
Whilst the world has moved on since the Regency period, there are still some professions where a woman struggles for respect amongst the men around her. In a nutshell this is what the book is about, in order to get the position Flora disguises herself as a man but courts ruin if her secret is discovered. You do have to suspend disbelief in this book eg. I found it difficult to believe that her Duchess sister and spouse would have supported her in her subterfuge and think it would have worked better if her entire family had been in the dark about it. I was also surprised by Flora’s sexual history, as a Duke’s daughter with a healthy dowry, surely one of those men would have blackmailed her into marriage and how/why would she have taken such a risk, both in regard to reputation and pregnancy.
Please note a large chunk of this book is about the training of racehorses, rather than romance but the information was interestingly conveyed and the story was enjoyable.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
A superb piece of storytelling. Flora is a magnificent character. She is a Duke’s daughter who wants to train horses rather than prance around ballrooms. She has a sharp wit and a strong sense of purpose. She can be impetuous an has a stubborn streak a mile long. She is determined to set her own course and devises a plan to do just that. Christian is a Marquess trying to rebuild his legacy. He carries around a lot of guilt for what he has lost. He is solely focused on rebuilding his stable of horses until Flora burst into his life.
This is a story with very intense feelings. The characters are wonderful and it is obvious that the author spent a great deal of time developing them. The chemistry between the two oozes off the page and draws the reader into their world. No small detail is left to chance as Flora and Christian build a relationship and figure out what it costs to gain happiness.
Christian is a Marquess and owner of a horse training stud farm. Flora always wanted to train horses and someday open up her own horse training stud farm. To learn as much as she can she decides to dress as a man and go work at Amstead Gardens, Christian’s horse train stud farm. When Flora meets Christian for the first time, she is attracted to him, but because he thinks she is a man she puts her attraction on hold and earns his respect because of her knowledge and understanding of horses. Once Christian learns Flora is a woman, things heat up.
Liana De la Rosa is an excellent writer – she had me so into this book, I had to finish it in one day.
I voluntarily read and received an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
We meet Flora who is a the daughter of a duke and loves horses but as a woman she can not work with them so she decides to disguise herself as a man and get a job in a stable that she knows is known for horses. Then we have Christan who wants to rebuild the stables glory by winning races and he can not do that with any scandals. Then he realizes that one of his men is not a man and he needs to get rid of her and that is when the story really begins.
rcvd an ARc at no cost to author..(netgalley) Voluntarily reviewed with my own thoughts and opinions
This author writes a good book, really! I finished in a few hours, because it was almost impossible to put it down. Flora’s dream is to have her own stud farm. She needs to learn from the best, and the best is the Marquess of Armstead. Armstead Gardens is noted for their race horses and Flora decides to go in disguise as a lad. Hired as a trainer, Flora is in her element, until she’s recognized. Armstead’s reputation will be saved if only she agrees to marry the Marquess.
Great read. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.
Okay, first fo all, this was a new to me historical author so I didn’t know what to expect.
Flora is a duke’s daughter who loves horses. She loves horses but her status means she isn’t really in position to work with them so to learn more about that she applies for a job in Amstead’s stables. Disguised as a man she gets to know the trainings, the horses and also their owner, Christian.
Christian wants to rebuild the stables’ glory by winning the race with one of his prized horses. He wants to bring investors to the stables so the scandal is the last thing he needs. When he realizes one of the trainers is actually a woman, his perspective about everything changes.
Flora wants to be equal in any relationship so for Christian to think of her as a lady, a delicate lady who belongs at the balls is unacceptable. What follows is a battle of wills, a friendship but also a forbidden relationship. Flora’s full identity is for him still a mystery.
One thing I noticed is that the way Christian found out Flora is actually a woman is very similar to the book I have read on Wattpad that was also a historical romance novel and where a woman also disguised as a man.
That was the only similarity to that book, by the way.
I was surprised how quickly he discovered but at the same time I loved that their relationship first began as boss-trainer than to woman-man, friends and at last lovers. I also couldn’t believe Christian never noticed that under all those clothes, with her feminine figure, voice, hair, is hidden a woman.
While I love the story and how well written it was, my issues with this book is that it put too much focus on training and horses and not their relationship. I mean, I felt like they didn’t really have any relationship up until 50 %. I wish it put more focus on the romance part.
I have still many questions about Flora, mainly about her past and previous relationship. But since this is a little too spoilerish, I am gonna put my thoughts on Goodreads and you decide if you want to know more about them or not.
4 stars.
ARC provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.