Scandal's Daughter

Scandal's Daughter by Christine Wells 323

Gemma lives an idyllic life at her grandfather's estate Ware, where she feels like she is the natural successor as she has put in years of hard work in dedication seeing the estate run successfully. She lives in semi-self-imposed exile as her mother's scandalous behavior years before has lead to her being a topic of scandal and there is no denying that Gemma has an "aura" about her that attracts men to her. Her father does not believe that she should inherit Ware and tasks his godson with marrying her before his own death, which is expected soon. Sebastian Laidley is a rake of the first order and has spent his life trying to forget his father's legacy and the havoc that in wreaked in his life and the life's of his mother and older, and deceased, brother. He has no intention of marrying Gemma, even though after meeting her he is struck by her beauty, and strikes a bargain with her grandfather to find her a husband within three months or marry her himself. The first step in this is to escort Gemma to his family estate under the guise of helping plan his sister's wedding and showing her grandfather needs her for Ware to run smoothly.

Before they leave Gemma's mother shows up with her very young beau, Charles Bellamy, and Gemma is once again the lost girl whose mother abandoned her. She does go to Laidley with Sebastian, where their friendship quickly blossoms into something more. His mother is still learning how to be her own person after years of marriage to a controlling husband and his sister, Fanny, is madly in love her fiance, but because of his own reputation as a rake she is continually fighting with him and calling off the wedding. Meanwhile Gemma takes charge of the estate; discovering the housekeeper is pilfering money and getting the house running smoothly and looking beautiful. She helps Sebastian see things from his sister and his mother's points of view and helps him cope with the reality of his brother's suicide and the fact that Sebastian needs to step up and be lord of his estate. But Sebastian is worried that Gemma will not be able to see past her lifetime obsession with running Ware and fears proclaiming his feelings for her. It will take a family tragedy for Gemma to realize that loving Sebastian will involve some risks and giving up her old dreams, but it will be worth it to have love in her life everyday.

Gemma was rather boring really even though I know I was supposed to find her interesting for running her grandfather's estate and being independent. Her desire to run Ware was well founded and I did not like how everyone just accepted that her grandfather would not leave it to her. However, I just could not really bring myself to be interested in what was going on with her and ware, probably because her experience at ware took place before the book started and we didn't get to see it. She was so scared to venture out into society because of a scandal her mother had created, but I could not figure out what this scandal was. It was hinted at and it certainly caused quite a hubbub throughout the book, but all I could figure out was that she had married someone unsuitable which hardly seemed to warrant the horror everyone regarded it with. Her take charge attitude at Laidley was impressive but happened on the down time of the book. Sebastian was more interesting because of the demons that haunted his past and I liked that Gemma was the one who helped him sort through his feelings and got him back on the right track. Sebastian and Gemma had a very well developed relationship with lots of quality time and real conversation between them. There was almost no sex between them and it was rushed and shoved to the back of the book, so it was not really that interesting.

I did like all the other relationships that happened throughout the book, especially the one between Sebastian and his family. They were incredibly sweet and moving and Wells did a really great job of developing them and using them to bring Sebastian and Gemma closer together. Towards the end I really lost a lot of respect for this book as Gemma's feelings were made to seem childish and shrewish and unreasonable, when in fact I thought she should have been more angry. Although her grandfather made it clear that she would never inherit Ware, I completely understood why she thought she could change his mind, and thought she was completely entitled to be disappointed when he left it to someone else. Instead she ends up apologizing for her behavior, which was really not that bad and should have been worse, to the man who showed up in the 9th hour and supplanted her position. She apologizes to her mother for making some rude innuendo about her behavior, when her mother was the one who abandoned her and left her alone, only to bring this other man into her life at the last minute. This was a big issue for me and I became very frustrated when I was reading this and it really knocked this book down quite a bit in my esteem.

Rating: The romance was good enough and there were some interesting little side bits, but I just did not "get" Gemma's obsession with Ware or appreciate how her feelings about Ware were belittled.

Wicked Little Games

Wicked Little Games by Christine Wells

Lucas Christopher St. John Morrow, the Marquis of Vane, has wanted Lady Sarah Cole in his bed and in his life since he first met her but unfortunately she is already married. Her husband, Brinsley Cole, is a womanizing, gambling, wastrel who flaunts his affairs and basically treats his wife like garbage (although no physical abuse is hinted at), but still Sara refuses to give in to Vane, despite her own immense attraction for him. The one thing that Sarah feels she has going for her is her pride and the knowledge that she can hold herself above Brinsley because she does not engage in the horrible behaviors that he does. Brinsley has a trick up his sleeve and he offers Sarah to Vane for one night in exchange for 10,0000 pounds. Vane refuses and instead gives Brinsley the same amount in exchange for leaving Sarah completely alone but Brinsley tells Sarah she must go to Vane and sleep with him. Sarah is furious and determined to have it out with Vane but instead she ends up giving in to her own desires for Vane and the two have quite the night of passion. Sarah is upset with herself for what she has done and feels her pride has been dealt a great blow, but she is even more upset when she returns home to find Brinsley dead- murdered.

Sarah is the first suspect but she only gives them her alibi until those at the Home Office bring up the possibility that Vane killed Brinsley. Vane knows that if word gets out that Sarah will be ruined so he asks her to marry him and knowing she has no other choice Sarah agrees- with the stipulation that they have a passionless marriage. Sarah feels immense guilt that while she was sleeping with another man her husband was being killed ands he feels like the only way she can survive is by clenching onto her pride with both hands. And of course this is what necessitates not sleeping with Vane again. Vane is determined to change Sarah's mind, but he wants to ensure that she does it out of her own free will and not merely give in to seduction. Meanwhile Vane is trying to help Sarah find Brinsley's bastard son, Tom, whom Sarah wants to take care of as she feels responsible for the boy. In addition there is the matter of who killed Brinsley, despite the Home Office covering it up as a suicide. Vane knows that he wants Sarah but he does not want a wife who is still wrapped up in her feelings of guilt and fear over being baren so he lays his heart on the line and asks Sarah to give him everything.

I really liked the plot where both of them have been harboring this great attraction for each other that's been just simmering beneath the surface for years. I can imagine it would be really hard to pull this off successfully and without getting overdrawn and Wells does it very well. When the two are together the scenes are literally just soaked in yearning and I loved it. This book is very emotion driven and as I stated previously Wells has a way with writing these emotions that avoids being overly angsty while still making it clear that these two people have some substantial problems standing in their way. Wells is also great at writing some great sex scenes that are emotion driven and still manage to be incredibly hot; although I will warn that there is one scene that features some mild bondage and "punishment" in the form of multiple orgasms. Not really a warning I guess, more an incentive to go buy this :). I also found myself really enjoying the mystery surrounding who killed Brinsley as it was an essential part of the story yet did not detract, in fact contributed to, the development of the relationship between Vane and Sarah.

I spent quite a lot of this book wanting to seriously slap Sarah across the face. At first I was fine with the overwhelming guilt she felt and I completely understood that she felt she had to do "penance" as of course what she does was, in the world she was raised in, completely out of line. But I wanted her to get over it faster as she seems like such a strong individual and yet she was just bogged down with these feelings for this utter (pardon) @$$hole, and it was just too much like that woman in "Oliver" who sings that she still loves the man who abuses her and wants to kill Oliver. I am not quite sure how I feel about her equating pride, self-reliance, and her ability to survive with managing to stave off Vane's advances and not succumb to animal passions. But even though these emotions were overwhelming I liked that she, in the end, had to confront these feelings and move past them in order to have a great life with the man she loved. This coincides with Sarah's desperate search for her dead husband's love child and, although it might last a tad too long, when she really is forced to confront her feelings about this it was quite something to read about.

Rating: I really enjoyed reading this book although the emotions did sometimes get the best of me. Great character development, great relationship, and a really great book overall.