Customer Reviews

In Pursuit of a Scandalous Lady

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Julian Delane, The Earl of Parkhurst, has an agenda and it includes finding and ruining the woman featured in a painting hanging in one of London's most popular clubs. The object of his obsession is more than just the woman - she is wearing a diamond necklace that was stolen from his father more than ten years ago. With the necklace's loss, Julian's father's demise, and everything his family has had to endure since, Julian is bound and determined to get to the bottom of the scandal once and for all so he can clear his father's and his family's reputation. Now all he has to do is convince the model, Rebecca Leland, to cooperate.

During this time frame in history, scandal surrounding someone's family was like an instant death sentence and it is with this such knowledge that Gayle Callen weaves an enticing story - one that kept me guessing the entire time I was reading it. I LOVE when that happens because I know that a lot of thought was put into the plot. Besides having a great plot, In Pursuit of a Scandalous Lady has all the right elements to keep readers engaged and enjoying this wonderful start to what I am sure is going to be a highly successful trilogy! Gayle Callen rocks the historical romance!

Talia
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

In 1846 London, everyone wonders who posed nude for artist Roger Eastland when he painted the Scandalous Lady portrait hanging in a gentleman's club. Julian Delane has a personal interest in locating the model as she stole a gem from his family ten years ago leading to his father's disgrace and death.

The Leland sisters, Rebecca and Susanna, and their cousin Elizabeth Cabot hope to keep their family from another disgraceful scandal that even having a duke to help would not stop the disaster. When Julian and his two friends Leo Wade and Peter Derby meet the three females, each claims to be the model. The three men bet they can prove who the real Scandalous Lady is. Julian believes Rebecca is the one and pursues her as brazenly wears his family's gem in public.

The first tale of a Victorian romantic trilogy is a wonderful story starring two strong protagonists and a solid support cast. Fast-paced throughout, sub-genre fans will relish the battling to love antics of Rebecca and Julian; and look forward to how well Leo and Peter do when they go up against the formidable Susana and equally kick butt Elizabeth.

Harriet Klausner

I was intrigued for the first half of the book. The interaction between the hero and heroine was fun and interesting. I really wanted it to stay that way, but the book took on a more serious and less flirty tone and the romantic tension between the two started to flatten out, even with the sexual tension that started building. I can't really put my finger on what went wrong. Perhaps, it is like what another reviewer stated, the mystery just went out in the middle when more is admitted and revealed. Although I wouldn't recommend this book, I like the author's writing enough to seek another of hers and hope it is more compelling all the way through.

I liked the story line...a young woman of the ton poses nude for a painting because she is bored (among other things) wearing a famous jewel believed to be stolen and which resulted in a family's loss of face, etc. But there were problems with the story as it developed. It begins with three young women each of whom claims to be the subject of the painting and three young men who wager they can find out which one it is, one of whom is from the family who lost the jewel. From there, the story devolves into a single tale of Lord Parkhurst (the young man of the three men whose family lost the jewel) and Rebecca Leland (one of the three young women). What happened to the other two stories?? And it seemed less interesting that Lord Parkhurst never doubts that the woman in the painting is Rebecca. It would have been best to allow for some mystery there. So while the story of the romance between them is good, it could have been more complete. A more interesting ending would have had the painting be a composite of the three young women. That way, when each claimed to be the subject they would be correct and they would win the wager with the young men. The wager between the young men and the women just sort of gets dropped along with the other loose ends. Oh, yes...another comment. I felt the author's need to tell us about how the poor lived was over done. Some of the descriptions about the poor living conditions just got old. At times I felt like she was lecturing to us. It's a romance for Pete's sake. I just want a nice intriguing romance with a happy ending. I know the poor existed in England at the time. The poor are always with us, right? I don't want to live it in my romances. Overall, this book is either a 3 star plus or a 4 star minus. Either way, it's not a 5 star.

Three young ladies are caught by three gentlemen trying to steal a painting. The gentlemen make a wager and a trilogy starts. This first book is the story of Rebecca and Julian. The premise had some promise, but in the end the whole thing ended up being rather unremarkable. The characters are fairly boring, and the whole thing suffered from a bit of telling not showing. The characters are products of their less than ideal childhoods. We know this because the characters (especially Rebecca) tell us over and over again. This was incredibly annoying because we are ALL a product of our childhoods, so why mention it repeatedly? Why not just tell the story and then let the characters display that behavior? Very frustrating.

In addition, the resolution of the mystery of the Scandalous Lady (the jewel, not Rebecca) seemed tacked on. I won't spoil it for you, but it made very little sense.

I only finished the book because it was there. I was able to walk away from it for days, which is not generally the case for me. As a whole, it was unsatisfying.

I enjoyed the story and the attraction between Julien and Rebecca, but there was something lacking in their romance. That dramatic spark just wasn't evident between hero and heroine, at least for me. Although I did enjoy the story and would recommend it. However, I have found that more depth between the main characters adds so much.

I must suggest also Tessa Dare's "To Dance With A Duke" and Christie Kelly's
Every Time We Kiss" !!

I enjoyed this book. It wasn't quite 5 stars but 4 for sure. My first book from this particular author. She's wonderful. Definitely looking forward to reading more from her. :)

I loved this book. The relationship between the protagonists developed like true love can - attraction, problems, getting to know each other, overcoming problems, more attraction (and passion), love for each other while understanding each other. It isn't the most, and certainly isn't the least, historically accurate book in this genre. "A Most Sinful Proposal" made me want to scream w/ frustration due to the historical inaccuracies. "In Pursuit of a Scandalous Lady" made me want to buy all Gayle Callen's books, and pre-order the sequel to this one. Which I did.

I've read a million of these, I only review the ones that are worth buying - there are a few problems but generally good read

A nude portrait, an fabulous stolen jewel and a hero and herione that you can't help but root for... make In Pursuit of a Scandalous Lady a great read.