Last Night's Scandal was nearly all I wanted for a follow-up to Lord Perfect. Only some pacing issues and a slight lack of character depth compared to Loretta Chase's other Carsington books kept it from being as good as Lord Perfect. Still, I enjoyed this sequel very much.
Peregrine Dalmay, Lord Lisle, returns to England for a visit from his Egyptian excavations. His irrational parents blackmail him into restoring a crumbling old castle in Scotland said to be haunted by ghosts. Lisle is initially determined to resist his parents' demands, but Olivia Wingate-Carsington, a childhood friend grown into a devilishly beautiful young woman, tricks him into journeying to Scotland with her. The unconventional Olivia is determined to have one last adventure before she is forced to choose a husband and settle into a life of stifling domesticity.
The first three Carsington books featured some wonderfully funny moments, but Chase outdoes herself here. Last Night's Scandal was hilarious, especially in the first half. Many of its laugh-out-loud moments came from the Ladies Cooper and Withcote, two wicked old women Olivia brings along as "chaperons." (Two more unsuitable chaperons could not exist, according to Lisle, outside of a brothel.) Olivia, with her penchant for "noble quests," also made me howl with laughter. She was like a combination of two of my favorite Georgette Heyer characters: Arabella, with her tendency to become enraged and act without thinking, and Sophy, with her good-hearted gift for manipulation.
What was most fascinating about Olivia as a character was she was utterly unsuited to live a conventional, respectable English upper-class life, with its endless round of tea parties and carriage rides and balls. Adventure and romance were like air and water to her. Lisle, also, was an unconventional man unsuited to an ordinary gentleman's life, but he could act the part when needed, while Olivia could not. She needed him to ground and calm her, while he needed her to remind him to live out his true desires.
Unfortunately, the novel began to drag when the characters arrived in Scotland, with the mystery of the castle's ghosts and hidden treasure drawn out too long. Chase also wrote scene after scene in which Olivia and Lisle succumbed to their attraction to each other and sternly told themselves they would never do it again, only to fail at the next temptation. The story did pick up in the last 100 pages, and Chase brought the romance to a tender, successful conclusion.
Olivia and Lisle's love story did not resonate with me as powerfully as those in the previous Carsington books. Because they were so young compared to the other couples and had fewer obstacles to overcome, their romance wasn't as rich. Their self-imposed reasons for staying apart seemed trite in comparison.
Still, Last Night's Scandal was a fun read, and if Chase wants to follow these characters back to Egypt, I will willingly take the journey. My grade: B
Benedict Carsington is the perfect English aristocrat: controlled, honorable, ever mindful of duty and obligation. His behavior is always impeccably correct, and he possesses the bored, arrogant demeanor expected of a man in his high position. Son and heir to the Earl of Hargate, Benedict keeps his emotions firmly in check ... until he meets HER.
Bathsheba Wingate is a notorious widow, a member of the "Dreadful DeLuceys," the perpetually misbehaving branch of an otherwise noble and respectable family. Bathsheba's marriage to the younger son of an earl created a huge scandal that resulted in her husband being disinherited. Her closest relatives are all smugglers, gamesters, thieves or swindlers, but Bathsheba lives respectfully, earning a small income as a drawing instructor and striving to give her daughter Olivia a chance at a better life.
The roguish Olivia forms a secret friendship with Peregrine, Benedict's nephew, and confides to him her plans to seek the fabled DeLucey treasure, reputedly buried on the family's estate by a pirate ancestor. Peregrine tries to stop her, but when he fails he finds, as a young gentleman, he cannot allow Olivia to travel on her own.
Benedict and Bathsheba set out in pursuit, and soon the oh-so-well-mannered Benedict finds himself behaving in inexplicable ways. Kissing the lovely Bathsheba when he knows it can only bring trouble. Drinking far too much wine while listening to stories of her outrageous relatives. BRAWLING with common drunkards in the streets to defend Bathsheba's honor. What is happening to him? And why doesn't he feel shame? Why, indeed, is he having the time of his life?
Lord Perfect is my favorite so far of the Loretta Chase novels I've read. It is the story of a man discovering how to enjoy life after allowing duty to overburden him. It is also a story about weighing a deep love for an "unsuitable" person against the probable consequences: being scorned and rejected by society, disappointing one's relatives and sullying the family name.
As she did in Miss Wonderful, Chase examines these deeper issues while keeping her tone light and her story warm and engaging. Benedict and Bathsheba exchange much witty banter as they begin to understand and come to care for one another. Both of them have shouldered too much responsibility in their lives - Benedict because he is heir to a great estate and Bathsheba because she has had to raise a daughter alone while making her own way in the world. Benedict learns from her what it's like to live without others to fetch, carry and smooth the road for you. She learns from him that wealth and privilege go hand and hand with grave responsibilities.
I adored this pair, as I have all the couples in the Carsington series thus far. Chase's lead characters are such likable, genuine people. Benedict, despite his somewhat arrogant manner, is warm hearted and sensitive, with an appealing, self-deprecating sense of humor. Bathsheba is hilarious whenever she lies to protect Benedict's reputation. She's terribly bad at it; others can see right through her.
Benedict and Bathsheba find not only a lover, but a friend and confidant, in each other. The palpable chemistry between them is not just sexual, but emotional, rooted in empathy and understanding.
Olivia, 12, and Peregrine, 13, are just as appealing as the main couple. Peregrine, a precocious, endlessly inquisitive lad who wants to become an Egyptian explorer, strives to emulate his uncle and to act like a young gentleman toward Olivia. Clever and opportunistic, with a quick temper, Olivia resembles her mother more than Bathsheba would like to admit. Chase's newest novel, Last Night's Scandal, focuses on these two as adults. I'm very much looking forward to reading their story.
As I approached the end of the novel, I worried about how Chase would give Benedict and Bathsheba their happy ending without inventing some hard-to-swallow scenario. I hoped she wouldn't let them off the hook too easily but would test their mettle by having them make difficult choices and face the consequences. Without giving too much away, I don't think Chase could have handled the ending any better. It was pitch perfect and consistent with what she has previously written about the characters involved. It was a bit fanciful, but this is a romance novel, after all. As such, it provided near-perfect escapist entertainment with some depth to it.
My grade: A.
Daphne Pembroke needs a man with quick wits as well as brute strength to help her find her kidnapped brother and a stolen papyrus that might reveal the location of a pharaoh's treasure. NOT the big, dumb oaf the British consulate in Cairo foists on her (however handsome he may be). Still, Daphne figures she has enough brains for two. Perhaps Rupert Carsington will prove useful if heads need to be knocked together. Now if only she could think clearly in his presence ...
Rupert Carsington reckons helping an intriguing young widow is preferable to digging in the hot desert looking for artifacts for his scholarly cousin. Especially when the widow is devastatingly attractive. And if playing stupid makes her explode with temper in such an adorable way ...
This seemingly mismatched pair soon embark on the adventure of a lifetime, in which falling in love becomes the greatest thrill of all.
So begins Mr. Impossible, the second book in Loretta Chase's series about the Carsington brothers. While the previous book (Miss Wonderful) grappled with weightier issues, such as the physical and emotional scars of war, Mr. Impossible was a fun romp from start to finish, the in-print equivalent to watching a two-tubs-of-popcorn adventure movie.
Sailing down the Nile in pursuit of kidnappers, Daphne and Rupert unwittingly stumble into the middle of a showdown between rival Egyptologists.
The Frenchman Duval believes Daphne's brother Miles can translate the hieroglyphics on the stolen papyrus and lead him to a tomb filled with treasure. But Miles isn't the brilliant linguist most believe him to be. He acts the part to shield his sister, the true genius of the family, from prejudice against female scholars.
The Englishman Lord Noxley, known as the Golden Devil, pursues Duval and his men, hoping to rescue Miles and thereby win the heart of Daphne. Unscrupulous and ruthless, Noxley (or "Lord Noxious," as Rupert calls him) believes Daphne's fortune and Miles's linguistic talents will help him become the premier Egyptologist of the age.
During their Nile journey, while facing perils including dark, labyrinthine tombs, murderous brigands and deadly vipers, Rupert and Daphne grow uncomfortably aware of their attraction to each other. They are both brave, resourceful people but novices when it comes to love. The easygoing Rupert, with his devil-may-care attitude toward life, has always loved women and left them. He has no names for the emotions Daphne stirs in him and is bewildered by the loneliness he feels when he cannot be by her side.
Daphne is coping with the aftereffects of an unhappy first marriage to a man nearly three times her age. Her late husband, jealous of her intellect and passionate nature, convinced Daphne she was a damaged, unwomanly creature who needed to tame her "base" instincts. Her intense desire for Rupert shames her at first, until Rupert convinces her, bit by bit, that he loves her for who she truly is.
Rupert and Daphne's love story forms the core of the novel, but Chase also included a great deal of action, humor, witty dialogue and hair-raising escapes, as well as a wonderful cast of supporting characters. They include the comically pessimistic Leena, Daphne's maid, who reacts to all difficulties with pronouncements of gloom and doom; Tom, Rupert's adoring servant, who convinces others his master is a genie able to call down curses on his enemies; and Ghazi, the Golden Devil's right-hand man, a cheerfully efficient killer. Chase also included many intriguing details about life among the Egyptians to give the story a strong sense of place.
The only thing that annoyed me was the number of times Chase reminded me Daphne and Rupert had the hots for each other and wanted to tear each other's clothes off. I got that the first dozen times she brought it up. Still, Chase scores points for writing passionate, believable and sexy love scenes. My grade: A-
I'm realizing, much to my surprise, that I really enjoy historical romances ... especially when they are as well written, witty, sexy and touching as Loretta Chase's Miss Wonderful.
The lovers in this novel had me from its very first pages. Alistair Carsington, third son of an earl, must either find a suitable occupation or a rich heiress to marry if he is to avoid becoming a constant drain on the family finances. Hailed as a hero after his return home from Waterloo, he cannot remember the carnage of battle or the brave acts he is supposed to have performed.
In his father's eyes, however, Alistair is a wastrel and a waste. Before Waterloo, he constantly needed to be extricated from disastrous romantic entanglements, and after the battle, he has run up astronomical tailor's bills. Alistair's attention to his clothing has become his means of coping with a permanent limp after suffering severe war wounds, as well as the emotional trauma of having nearly died face down in the mud and blood, with corpses piled on top of him.
Alistair forms a partnership with his best friend, Lord Gordmor, to construct a canal in rural Derbyshire that will transport coal from Gordmor's mines. He encounters immediate opposition from Mirabel Oldridge, who has managed her father's estate for more than a decade. The canal must run across the Oldridge's land, but Mirabel will not have it; she has worked too hard and given up too much to let the estate's beauty be spoiled.
Years ago, Mirabel chose rescuing the estate from an unscrupulous overseer over marrying the love of her life and traveling to Europe with him. Practical and resourceful, she has done a man's work for so long, she has forgotten what it is like to be a woman, or to be in love. Her clothing and hairstyle are so shockingly unfashionable, it drives Alistair to distraction. (In one of the book's funniest scenes, Mirabel comes to dinner dressed so badly, Alistair cannot focus on the arguments he is making in favor of the canal.)
Despite their differences, they fall in love, but their opposition over the canal is not so easily solved. Alistair strives to find a solution, anxious to prove his worth both to Mirabel and his father, while at the same time dealing with vivid nightmares that bring the horrors of Waterloo back at the most inopportune of times. Mirabel discovers the warm, sensual woman she has locked inside herself for so long and must decide what is most important to her: her cherished family estate or a second chance at love.
Loretta Chase wove humor and sparkling wit throughout her story to lighten the somber mood. She also turned romantic cliches on their heads by allowing Mirabel to be the aggressor in some of the novel's sexy, tender love scenes. (Mirabel even climbs a ladder and through a window to reach her beloved's bedchamber, and the seduction scene that follows is laugh-out-loud funny.)
My only quibbles with the novel were the plot dragged in spots, and Chase sometimes took too long to reveal important information about the characters. The book also was marred by the late, somewhat awkward appearance of a villain and a kidnapping. But I enjoyed the story so much, I was willing to overlook these flaws. I will certainly read more of Chase's books, including the rest of the novels featuring the Carsington brothers. My grade: B+
