Customer Reviews

The Affair

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In 1815, Gannon Finn takes his recently orphaned niece Claire to Mrs. Treadwell's Academy for the Elevation of Young Women in Kent. Claire, who witnessed the murders of her parents, is frightened and does not want her Uncle Gannon to leave her. However, she meets two students who take her under their wings and therefore changes her mind about staying here.

Gannon also changes his mind when the headmistress arrives. Twenty years ago in Paris, he offered his heart to Christiane d'Oliveri who rejected it to remain a mistress to a married man and a wife to an elderly male. Though she felt she was gentle in rejecting his offer of marriage, he thought she was cruel. Though he thought he offered his soul with kindness, she thought he was a pest who refused to hear her rejection. Now she is the headmistress of a school his niece badly needs to attend so both are on their best behavior but the attraction and their history remain volatile.

The latest Treadwell Regency romance, THE AFFAIR, is an enjoyable tale that sub-genre readers will appreciate as the plot is freshened by starring the headmistress countess as the lead female protagonist. Though the chasm between Christiane and Gannon opens at nuclear weapon meltdown rapidly depletes into a fly swatter, readers will still take delight in the relationship between them. Claire is a wonderful key player while the truth of what happened to her parents will surprise the audience. Finally, Christiane implies that she has to get (Mrs. Treadwell) a man before she can rest on her laurels so fans watch out.

Harriet Klausner

This third "School for Scandal" book is great. It has a main romance, a secondary romance, even smaller romances. It has Irish wolfhounds, repressed memories, London society and Irish castles. It brings in new characters as well as catching up on characters from THE SUITOR. Hingston depicts a significant lesson regarding the importance of friendship of women. Enjoyable and memorable romance appreciated by an older reader.

This is the third book in Hingston's "School for Scandal" series and her best yet! Quiet and withdrawn, Claire Finn arrives at Mrs. Treadwell's Academy after witnessing the tragic death of her parents in a higway robbery. In order to learn how help Claire to recover from this tragedy, headmistress Christiane d'Oliveri attempts to unravel some of the mysteries of Claire's past -- bringing Christiane into heated conflict with Claire's guardian, the dashing Lord Carew. Lord Carew and Christiane have a complicated history of their own, and one of the delights of this book is the unfolding of parallel romances as both Claire (who is 17) and Christiane (past 40!) come to terms with the past and the future. Funny, sexy, smoothly written and well-paced - this was a great read.

I had not read any books by this author and have been pleasantly surprised at how well the story was written. I just started this book 2 days ago and am almost finished, however, as a romantic I hope the characters will marry. That will have to wait until tomorrow. All in all, I would buy this author's books in the future. J. Bright