The Seduction of Lady X

The Seduction of Lady X by Julia London

Lady Olivia Carey is very unhappily married to Lord Edward Carey, Marquis of Carey, who is drinks too much, verbally abuses her, and makes her life a living hell. The only bright spot in her life is the Carey Steward, Harrison Tolley, who always has a smile for her and a way of making her forget her troubles. Harrison has been in love with Olivia since she first came to the estate and even people in the village know that he secretly pines for an unknown "Lady X" even if none are quite sure who precisely holds his affections. The Carey marriage has gotten worse as the years went on and Olivia had failed to conceive and Edward, of course, blamed Olivia, for the problem and took his frustration and anger out on her. Things are made even worse when Olivia informs him that her unmarried younger half sister, Alexa, is pregnant from an unknown lover from her trip to Spain. Edward wants to send Alexa to a convent and take her child away to prevent any scandal from attaching itself to the Carey name. Olivia is horrified and seeing her distress, Harrison steps forward and offers to marry Alexa.

Alexa has been looked after her whole life and it takes awhile for her to realize that she has no other option, but her spoiled attitude makes it clear to Harrison that he does not want this marriage, not least because he is in love with her sister, but he sees no alternatives and no hope for a relationship with Olivia. The prospect of Harrison marrying Alexa breaks Olivia's heart and the feelings she had suppressed for so long come bubbling to the surface. Suddenly her life with Edward looms before her like a nightmare and she does not know how she will survive, even while Alexa has decided to make the best of the situation. Edward is furious with Harrison, and as always with his wife, and makes public accusations against them before dying in drunken accident, but even with his death the rumors he started did not die. His family cannot let the hint of scandal affect the Carey name and Harrison has no idea how to get out of his marriage to Alexa. The two of them seemed destined to miss happiness unless one of them can take the first brave step to love and happily ever after.

I was attracted to this story from the beginning and prepared myself for the angst that would accompany two people in love with no foreseeable hope for ever ending up together. Olivia was a happy person, who wanted to help others an was genuinely kind and generous, but her marriage was slowly crushing her and she was changing from that person into someone beaten down and London did a great job of making her sympathetic and likable and making us root for her not to completely lose herself. Harrison was great because he was so noble and so in love with Olivia that he sacrificed his own happiness and hope for a future with her because he knew that it was not what was best for her. I had a lot of trouble understanding why he did not accept his inheritance and fought it for so long and he came across as rather dumb for this. I wanted to admire him for stepping in to marry Alexa but really that was just too "good" for my taste and he went from being a noble hero to an unrealistic caricature of noble-ness. Alexa was a spoiled brat, and her actions made her stupid to boot, and I just could not stand to see Olivia and Harrison sacrificing themselves for her.

Unfortunately Olivia and Harrison were pretty much in love before the book started and the scenes of them together were about reinforcing this love instead of developing it, which I don't really like as much. While I understood that their predicament was depressing and left little hope for them I quickly became bogged down with it. First they were impeded by Olivia's husband being alive and then, after he died, by Harrison's promise to marry Alexa. I could not understand why they didn't just talk to Alexa because I felt like, despite her immaturity and selfishness, she would have happily stepped aside and, as the new earl, Harrison could have protected the baby. It just made the book drag on and seemed completely pointless which I absolutely detest. Harrison and Olivia, being incredibly noble, do not have sex until the husband is dead and it is brief and not very hot, especially for people who have been in love for so long. Harrison's new family are the characters from the previous books in the series and they're kind of thrown in willy nilly and it comes across as blatant plugging which I also did not enjoy.

Rating: Two characters and a plot with so much potential that quickly became tiresome when it dragged on needlessly.

The Year of Living Scandalously

The Year of Living Scandalously by Julia London 1128

When Lily Boudine discovers that she is the new Countess of Ashwood she does not want to go and dredge up painful old memories of when she accused the town carpenter of stealing the Ashwood jewels, so she sends her cousin, Keira Hannigan in her place. Keira plans on just making sure everything is all set up right for when Lily finally comes, but things quickly become complicated when the real countess is needed to sign off on documents and try to keep Ashwood from going bankrupt. So Keira pretends to be Lily and everything goes along swimmingly until Declan O'Connor, Earl of Donnelly, comes to Hadley on the Green. Declan has known Keira her whole life so he knows perfectly well that the new countess is a fraud, but he agrees to keep her secret for now. Declan has not entirely forgiven Keira for the role she played in the rape and suicide of another young girl as she was with her beforehand and provided an alibi that prevented the townspeople from searching for her so their relationship is testy at best. Nonetheless neither of them can seem to stay away from each other or deny their physical attraction.

To make matters more complicated for Keira she begins to suspect that the carpenter who was hung for thievery may have been her aunt's lover and that her aunt's death may have been a suicide. She enlists Declan's help and the two of them begin to question those who knew her aunt and the carpenter and it becomes apparent that people who scared into secrecy at the time of the trial and that a grave miscarriage of justice occurred. On top of that a Danish lord has bought the plot of land adjacent to Ashwood and is threatening to take over the most profitable part of Ashwood and open up a competing mill that would ruin the estate. Everyone in town regards both Declan and Keira (whom they think is Lily) as very eligible and try to set them up with their own eligible relatives and it drives each of them insane with jealousy. Declan has always prided himself on his freedom and he has always regarded marriage as a threat to that freedom. Keira has loved Declan for years, but she does not want to be the person who takes away his freedom. But when her secret comes out, it is Declan who comes to her rescue and who realizes that marriage to Keira would be freedom in its' own right.

Keira and Declan had a history before this story began and there were existing feelings between them, however those were mainly rather frustrating feelings and through the course of the story it was the more loving feelings that we got to read about developing. Granted, the two still did spend quite a bit of time at each other's throats and rather angry with each other. Keira was strong, capable, and incredibly smart really and it was great that she had someone to lean on in Declan who served as her helper throughout a lot of this book. Declan's desire for freedom was a little overblown and came up as a random road block and I definitely wanted him to get over it a lot quicker. The two spent an adequate amount of time together for feelings to develop, but for such a long book (423 small-type pages) I felt like it should have been much more. I did like that we got both of their perspectives throughout the book and a fairly equal amount of page space to each of them. There were a couple of sex scenes, but they mainly sprang up from arguments that the two of them were having and out of anger really.

The book was incredibly dense and long and things beside the romance took up quite a lot of the page space, which was nice because they were well done, but as usual I would have preferred more about the romance. From the beginning it is clear that the jewel theft will pay a major role in this story and it does throughout the book. It was incredibly sad and I admired Keira's determination to see things set to rights and discover the truth about what had happened, both with the carpenter and regarding her aunt's death. I felt like this plot took up a little too much of the story and did, at times, take over from the romance and while I enjoyed this plot I found it a little overwhelming for a romance. The plot with the Danish lord played a fairly minor role (that will become much bigger in the next novel in the series) but it was really well done as it showed how capable Keira was and how she dealt with pressure. It also served as a nice method for Declan to come to her aid and comfort her when she was not feeling well. As usual London populates her novel with wonderful secondary characters and while there was no one major, everyone was well developed and they served as great accompaniments to Declan and Keira.

Rating: I did enjoy this book but felt like it was too long, there was a little too much going on, and that Declan and Keira spent too much time angry at each other.

A Courtesan's Scandal

A Courtesan's Scandal by Julia London

Grayson Christopher, the Duke of Darlington, is not at all pleased when the Prince of Wales request that he escort Kate Bergeron around town. Kate is a courtesan that the Prince has "purchased" from her former protector, a cloth merchant, but he does not want his wife, whom he is trying to divorce, to find out about her. Disguising her as Grayson's mistress is the perfect solution as he knows that Grayson is far too upstanding and conscience of social standing to ever try anything. Grayson does not even try to disguise his dislike of this duty when he meets Kate and he is very startled, and very intrigued, when she calls him on it and turns the tables on him by claiming that she wants even less to do with him than he does with her. He escorts her to the various functions the prince requests of him- all places where the prince will be so he can play with her in the linen closet and comes to realize there is so much more to Kate than he had first assumed. She regards life with an openness he has never observed before and she makes the most of everything, even forgiving all those who slight her.

When their time is officially up Grayson knows that he can not simply walk away from Kate but Kate knows that she cannot go back on her word to the Prince. But the man who first treated her as the dirt beneath his feet has suddenly become the first man she has ever felt desire for and she too wants to spend more time with him. As Grayson's family, and his former mistress, grow increasingly concerned, the two of them begin spending time together that has not been approved of by the prince, ice skating, going to museum and tea stores. The prince is not the only person who is enraged to find out that Grayson and Kate are growing very close. Grayson's ex-lover, who is married, is determined to get back at him for leaving her with her aging and barren husband. There is his family warning him that he cannot allow this "whore" to ruin his family's good name, and her friends warning her that Grayson is a peer and would never risk his reputation for her. But as the walls begin to close in on them, in the form of royalty, family, close friends, and obligations, they both need to realize that love might be worth a little sacrifice and a whole lot of scandal.

I knew from the first scene in this novel that I was going to absolutely adore it. Grayson is such a stickler and to read about him coming apart over a woman he feels is beneath him, is just so much fun- especially as he comes to realize that she is not beneath him. And I love that Kate is really a courtesan. I know that other authors have done this route and covered it up by having her turn out to be a twin of the courtesan, but London makes no bones that Kate really does stay on as a man's mistress for money. Granted she does only do it because she has no other way of supporting herself, she does not enjoy it, and wants nothing more than to leave this life and open up a bakery. This also makes it far more believable, and not annoying, that she works hard for the less fortunate and her background makes her cheerful outlook and hopeful attitude so much more inspiring and interesting than if she had been a pampered miss. However there were definitely times where her "integrity" got on my nerves as even when she was in very desperate straights she refused to sell the jewelry the prince had given her because she felt she had not earned it. Not very practical of her really.

The whole book is romantic development and Grayson undergoes some immense changes in his outlook on life and Kate has to overcome her insecurities and her past. I enjoyed the realistic portrayal of his family's horrified reaction to Grayson being involved with a courtesan as surprisingly enough it seems the "outsider" family who scorns society's mores seems to be more common in romances today than a typical ton family. I know I have gone on about a writer's way with words and I will say that London certainly has a magical way with them- the interactions between Kate and Grayson were amazing and I absolutely loved reading them. In addition all the other characters, including the villian-ish person, were written superbly as well and she did a great job telling the story from both point of views. There was quite a bit of steam and the two had an immediate and striking attraction to her each other and I loved that it was an extension of their feelings for each other and was both HOT and romantic. And of course the situation called for quite a bit of angst between the two and I loved it as it was fun but not overwhelming.

Rating: Absolutely loved this book. Very well written, amazing characters, and such an interesting change to read about a woman who really is a courtesan.

Highland Scandal

Highland Scandal by Julia London

Jack, the Earl of Lambourne, is on the run from the Prince of Wales over an alleged affair with Princess Caroling and attempts to escape to the Scottish Highlands. Instead he is found by Laird Carson Beal who makes him a deal; agree to an old-fashioned handfasting where the couple agrees to live together as man and wife for a year and a day, or be turned over to the authorities. Fearing the worst Jack agrees to the handfasting and while pleasantly surprised by his new bride's beauty he is horrified at her temper. Lizzie Beal is equally horrified that her uncle Carson has kidnapped her from her home at Thorntree and forced her into a marriage with a rake. She cannot understand why her uncle is so set against her marriage to Mr. Gordon, a neighbor she has "an agreement" with, all because of an ancient family feud. Neither Lizzie or Jack are thrilled with the illegal marriage but Jack has no other choice (excpet be handed over for a hanging) and with her uncle and his guards all around her she has no choice but to wait for Mr. Gordon to come rescue her. When Jack and Lizzie move to Thorntree, Jack too begins to wonder quite why Carson is reluctant to let Thorntree go to a Gordon.

As the two begin to spend more and more time at Thorntree Lizzie is forced to admit that Jack may not be quite the wastrel she has believed him to be as he fixes the roof, works in the hothouse and generally helps out around the house. And Jack realizes exactly why Lizzie had been so angry and unappealing as he discovers the massive responsibilities she shoulders running an estate that has no source of income and takes care of a sister who was left crippled in a horse-riding accident. They have a very difficult time ignoring the attraction they feel for each other; Jack fights it at first because he does not want to be stuck in the handfasting and later because he does not want to limit Lizzie's future and Lizzie because she can never believe that Jack will ever truly love her. When Gordon shows up he is furious over the handfasting but believes that Lizzie is truthful when she claims nothing has happened between them. When Gordon, Jack, and Lizzie pore over Lizzie's father's documents they discover the possibility that Carson wants Thorntree to stay in the family because of an old slate mine that he has been poaching from. Jack determines that the only way to ensure Lizzie is free from her controlling uncle is to enlist the hope of the king and so the three journey to London despite the threat to Jack's freedom. He is determined to save the woman he has grown to love even if that means giving her up and she is terrified that the man she has grown to love might hang because of her.

I liked the way London brought the whole "Why does Carson want Throntree/ slate mine" mystery kind of came out of nowhere. It wasn't a huge part of the story and it was a surprise from the very beginning and I wasn't really expecting anything more to come from it than that Carson just didn't like the Gordon's. So she did a great job with the small/ easily palatable side plot. One of my favorite parts of the novel and one of my biggest complaints was the side romance between Newton, the guard Carson set up at Thorntree, and Charlotte, Lizzie's sister. It was super sweet as Newton showed Charlotte that her life hasn't ended just because she's in a wheelchair. Unfortunately it took up far too little of the book- there was enough there for us to fall in love with it and want it, but it probably took up less than 7 pages all told and I could definitely have used more. There was an odd bit of angst in the book as neither of them wants to admit that they love the other, Lizzie because she thinks Jack is a rake that will never love her, but Jack because he is worried that he will turn out to be just like his cruel father and end up hurting Lizzie. I'm not really a big fan of the heroe's with cruel father's they are terrified of turning into. If a grown man hasn't realized that he is not his father than that's just a little sad.

The sex between Lizzie and Jack wasn't exactly what I would call HOT, but it was seductive- if saying such a thing makes sense. It was often long and drawn up, but definitely sexy and is best illustrated during the scene where Jack teaches Lizzie the waltz and the two proceed to waltz in front of the other inhabitants of Thorntree. It's romantic, sexy, seductive, and sedate at the same time. It did turn into a funny moment though when it was revealed that the waltz apparently reignited the passion between Mr. and Mrs. Kincaid, the two elderly, and rather austere, servants of Thorntree. Another interesting aspect of the story was how such a large portion of it was told from Jack's point of view. The first half seems to be more from his point of view than hers and while London does an excellent job of it, and I know that I have often complained of author's not given enough time to the male perspective, it did get a little odd and I wanted more from Lizzie. The end result was that Jack seemed a more well developed character than Lizzie- although that is not to say that Lizzie wasn't an entirely likable and sympathetic character. It was especially amazing as she was obviously so strong and independent, and not in the heroine way of being strong but really really needing a man to make everything all better.

Rating: London did a great job with the arranged marriage plot by bringing in two completely different protagonists who have excellent chemistry and are just a ton of fun to read about.