Customer Reviews

Scandal

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I am usually the first to rave about a book by Amanda Quick (Jayne Castle/Jayne Ann Krentz) but I'm afraid I have to pan this one.

While the dialogue was, for the most part, as witty and charming as usual, there were many fatal flaws which completely ruined the experience of this books.

Blade was a character I just wanted to strangle. He was cold and calculating and did everything he could to crush Emily's sweet adoration of him. It was rather reminiscent of the early scenes between Demetrius and Helena in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". The usually undercurrent of the hero needing the heroine's love to fill a void wasn't developed enough and when Blade finally comes to accept and love Emily due to her "sacrifice," it seems a little too abrupt. Yes, I see how AQ was working him up to that point but it still didn't come off right.

Emily became rather annoying at times. She was so blinded by her infatuation that I wanted to shake her (which is rather silly considering she's a fictional character). Yes, the few pages where she actually shows a shrewdness is refreshing but there simply isn't enough in there to make me like her.

I'm used to characters I can grow to love and *respect* and for the first time in my history of reading Amanda Quick, I was disappointed. I do not recommend buying this book but it can still make for an interesting time-killer if you can get it from your local library.

Overall, badly done.

SCANDAL was probably one of the first Amanda Quick books I read (before all her heroines started intermingling into one "Amanda Quick heroine" in my mind). Recently I picked up another copy of this same book and decided to re-read it. It was a good thing coming back to an early Quick after having given up on reading her for many years.

The plot is essentially the same: A young lady of good birth with a scandal in her past and with a somewhat unrestrained tongue (at least in the use of swear-words) meets up with a mysterious stranger. Except that she has been corresponding with this man for some time under his name, and not his title. Except that the man is out for revenge against her father and indeed her entire family. One of Quick's trademarks (for me at least) is that she quickly identifies what drives the hero - usually a past family or personal disgrace, coupled sometimes with financial ruin. If you don't like guessing at the hero's motives, this Quick habit is great. On the other hand, it makes some plot devices fairly obvious.

In this book, the mysterious stranger is an Earl whose father was ruined by Emily's father. We never quite learn what Simon (the Earl) had planned for Emily, but his plans rapidly change. He realizes that Emily is a financial and business genius, and that she is keeping her family afloat. He will marry Emily, and in so doing, revenge himself by ruining her family financially. After all, after they are married, Simon can forbid Emily to help her father and brothers. Or can he?

There are some other Quick trademarks - loyal servants, a genuinely evil villain, a relative who is absolutely indifferent to the heroine's plight. At least, I have come to think of them as Quick trademarks. That does not mean that the story is not interesting. It is - if only because Emily deliberately or inadvertently furthers Simon's plans for revenge and then neatly foils them. Her reasoning is that revenge is pointless, that innocent people will be hurt, and the greatest villains of the piece were their fathers. But she cannot have her own father hurt, and Simon's father is dead.

Is this a boring book? I did not find it boring. The book, like all of Quick's book, requires a certain suspension of disbelief, in that Quick creates an alternate Regency world in which women are permitted to engage in business (and have their business skills appreciated by men, if only for the sake of profit), in which a young lady can say "Bloody hell", in which an impoverished young earl can accumulate both power and wealth rapidly (without the sources of his wealth being completely clear). In some ways, Amanda Quick's heroes and heroines are thoroughly modern people transplanted to the Regency era, in other ways they are not. For example, Emily is still ruined when she elopes with a young poet; Quick does not go that far in ignoring Regency conventions.

The reason that some people love Quick's books is because her heroines are independent women with modern ideas, and with a fierce drive to prove themselves equal intellectually to the hero and other men. They are frequently learned, always intelligent (if sometimes naive) and always ready to be seduced by the hero. The hero is always a gentleman, almost always rich from the outset and frequently mysterious, but always skilled at the sensual pleasures. On the other hand, some of Quick's most faithful readers have deserted her, precisely because her books all began to sound alike.

I find her earlier books and middle period books to be the most readable.

Personally I prefer SCANDAL to some of her other books published in the early to mid 1990s. There is less intrigue in this book than her typical work, and less drama. The heroine is once in danger, but she is never kidnapped. And there are only three villains in this book, although the villainy of two of the men consists mostly of egoism and extreme selfishness. If you like a quieter read, try this one. It has only a few sensual scenes, but it is a read with its own charm.

I rated this book at about a 3.4, which is slightly less than the grade assigned to DESIRE, one of her two medievals.

Eight years ago, I was drawn to this book by it's beautiful stepback cover...what a pleasant surprise!

Great story! My first book by this author too--I ran to buy the two she wrote previously to this as well.

Emily is fun, funny, and very likable. Blade is so sexy. The lovescenes are hot but not too overdone. (The scene with the necktie is quite memorable.)

Fast paced, never boring, a great intro to regency romances in general and Amanda Quick in particular.

Revenge is sweet, especially when it leads to love, as it does for Emily Faringdon and Simon Traherne, Earl of Blade, in _Scandal_ a phenomenal book by acclaimed Regency author Amanda Quick. _Scandal_ is a new and exhilarating twist for Ms. Quick. As opposed to the usual mystery that drives the plots of her books, we are presented with a matter of revenge.

Forced long ago to flee his home, Simon Traherne harbors a dark and brooding hatred for the man who won that home in a frivolous card game -- Broderick Faringdon. In order to extract vengeance, Simon vows to wed the daughter of the man who ruined his life and destroyed his family. Starting a correspondence with Broderick's daughter Emily, Simon spins a web of romance and love that leaves the whimsical and fanciful Emily powerless to resist his charms. Married for all the wrong reasons, Simon soon finds out that he got more than he bargained for in Emily. Her fierce love and devotion breaks the hard ice that covers his heart and shortly he finds himself in love with a member of the family he vowed would pay for his pain.

Without fail, Amanda Quick always wields a tale so full of romance and adventure that it keeps the reader enthralled from the start and _Scandal_ is certainly not an exception. The characters are lively, witty and endearing. Simon is a dark, forbidding dragon and Emily is a charming, brilliant, and highly intelligent elf and together they heal each other and grow strength from their love. There is a great chemistry between Simon and Emily that fairly crackles from the pages. They are so completely different while being so much alike. Both were forced to grow up way too quickly and thus are the perfect match for one another. Emily's unfailing faith in Simon will touch your heart as she strives to prove that love is worth more than revenge. I also really loved the symbolism of the dragons and the way Emily incorporates them into her wardrobe to display her absolute devotion to Simon for all to see.

Though possibly not the book you should start with if you are a first-time Quick reader, _Scandal_ will invariably please the long-time fan as Ms. Quick's wit, style and talent reinforce the reason we love her books so much.

Emily Faringdon was a simple country miss when she made the mistake of running away with a man she thought she would marry. By the time she realizes she doesn't want to be with him, she's already been gone overnight and the word has spread that she's spent the same night in a room with a gentleman who is not--and never will be--her husband. Shamed and embarrassed, Emily devotes herself to her family, a group of men who have a reputation for risking it all on the gambling tables, and losing. With a keen eye for investments, Emily rebuilds her family's dwindling fortune and spends her free time working on her poetry. It's a simple life, but Emily is content with it... until she starts receiving correspondence from a mystery man named S.A. Traherne who shares her interest in romantic poetry and metaphysical planes.

Simon Augustus Traherne, the earl of Blade, strikes up a relationship with Miss Faringdon in order to gain revenge on her father, who bankrupted Simon's family and caused his father's suicide. Having spent a number of years in the East, Simon believes that the sins of the father should fall upon the entire family, and he is determined to make all the Faringdons pay. What he doesn't expect is that he will actually fall for Emily and want to make her his countess. Soon Simon and Emily find themselves married, while Simon tries to determine if revenge is more important than love.

Scandal is the story of a young girl who has an Unfortunate Incident in her past, and the dashing earl determined to make sure that it stays in the past. It is also a story of revenge and scandal. This story is typical Amanda Quick--full of wit, charm, and suspense. But it lacks the depth of some of her other stories, and the hero and heroine are utterly forgettable. While I enjoyed reading this story at the time, I have no doubt that a week from now I won't be able to recall a single thing about this book, and that isn't a good thing. If you're in the mood for a funny story that you will enjoy at the time and forget about shortly after, you should read Scandal. If you want something that will have a bit more impact, and that you'll enjoy more, try another Quick novel like Lie By Moonlight or Mistress.

This book would really rate between a 3 and a 4 star read for me but I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt because I feel its overall good qualities came out on top. It is not the best Amanda Quick I've read.

Emily Faringdon had an Incident in her life five years ago. The author used the capital I in each instance to indicate that the Incident had great importance in the life of this character. The Scandalous Incident happened because Emily lived her life inside a rosy haze of poetry and romantic literature. When she began to correspond with S. A. Treherne she allowed her imagination free reign to romanticize the heck out of this situation. After all, she knew she would never meet her literary soulmate. But, meet him she did. Because of the Incident Emily never had a London season, she never even traveled outside the small village of Little Dippington where she lived. It is my idea that her father used the excuse of the Incident to keep Emily at home so she could concentrate on her investment strategies which kept him supplied with money to gamble and buy horses. Her brothers also benefited from her gifts in the analytical lines. Now here is where I have some niggling feelings of uneasiness about this heroine. Would a woman with such outstanding analytical reasoning faculties really be so totally naive about men? Not just once, remember the Incident, but twice?

Simon Augustus Traherne, Earl of Blade, had nursed his need for revenge for twenty-three years. He purposely sought out Emily and began a correspondence with her in order to have revenge on her father for the loss of his family home and fortune in a card game. Traherne also blamed Broderick Faringdon for the suicide death of his father. Simon was willing to use Emily in whatever way he could to get his revenge. He actually did not originally plan an engagement to Emily. Oh, no, he planned something much more ungentlemanly than that. When she literally begged him to marry her, well, what was a fellow to do? By separating Emily from her father and brothers he was putting an end to her financial help for them. They would certainly collapse under their debts within a very short time. She had handed him a revenge sweeter than any he had ever planned himself.

Simon seemed cold and heartless and yet he began to immediately come under Emily's optimistic influence. He did things for people just because it would make her happy or it would keep her from being hurt. His character grew and matured throughout the entire book. He tried to remain a villan but it just didn't work. My problems with this book came in the constant conversations in which Emily used "romantic and poetic speak". I got exceedingly tired of hearing her refer to every interaction between herself and Simon as "...an intellectual connection. It is a noble thing of the mind, a relationship that takes place in the metaphysical realm." She thought they had "a noble passion". They were "...cast adrift on love's transcendent golden shore". Gosh!! I felt at times that I needed hip boots to wade through the treacle. She also became totally fixated on the "dragon" motif. Simon was her "dragon" she had dragon jewelry for her hair and to wear with dresses which had been embroidered with dragons. She even had dragons painted on her fans. Please, Ms Quick, couldn't you have given it a rest after just several mentions?

All in all, recommended for the Amanda Quick fan who has already read books by this author and who has enjoyed reading them. For the first time Amanda Quick reader, choose something else first. She has lots and lots to choose from.

Despite the fact that Emily Farringdon, this book's heroine, annoyed me off and on throughout, I just couldn't stop reading.

At first Emily seems overly naive to the point of stupidity, but throughout the book we begin to see that she is not as naive as she seems...rather, she is more, optimistic, and determined to be so. I think Amanda Quick tries to make this clear, but in the beginning the message is lost.
I liked that the plot began to complicate itself in the middle...although there was one subplot involving a certain manuscript that I would have liked to have been more developed. Also, the first "sex" scene comes pretty early on and is sufficiently steamy, but then it goes downhill from there.

Overall, though, this was a wonderful and fun book to read, and I recommend it for anyone looking for something quick and light.

Well, I must admit that I couldn't stand the naive romanticism of Emily initially. And I found it hard to imagine how Simon was attracted to her (which it appeared to be so), even though he meant to marry her for revenge. Anyway, as the story progressed, it was getting more interesting. Simon ended up not as mean as one would expect from someone seeking revenge but Emily's naivety bordered between boldness and stupidity. Nevertheless, I do find myself enjoying the read, minus some of the literary lines. It's always sweet to see Simon falling in love with Emily through his behaviour.

Amanda Quick is probably the best Regency writer of all time. This particular genre can be very enjoyable but the main problems with at are that they are often based on the same premises-- damsel in distress, though she is not the usual "milksop" of the time; rich, dark, strong hero who is convinced that love does NOT exist, goofy house staff, ridiculous relatives. Oh, and don't forget the fops of the ton.

Amanda Quick's actual writing is very good, not strewn with too many "love" words but enough to make you anticipate what will happen next. Yet all the books that she writes under this pseudonym seem to be variations on the same theme. Maybe the hero is somewhat taller, stronger, shorter, thinner, bespectacled, scarred. But he's always handsome. And down-to-earth. Her heroines are all cute and spunky, with her little obsessions, such as books, metaphysics, or ancient history. (All of you faithful Quick readers know what I mean.) And the girl is either a virgin or a chaste widow, but the first or second time the hero tries to sleep with her, she complies willingly, even if she doesn't trust him very much. I wish Quick would change the plot line sometimes, allow the heroes and heroines more gaping faults because they are often indistinguishable from each other.

This one was not one of Quick's better books. She seems to be doing what most writers, particularly those in romance, tend to do once they gain name recognition-- use the tried-and-true formulas and just change the names, a scene or two, and, TA-DA a bestseller! This heroine is, as another reviewer put is, always "spouting" about metaphysical, er, junk. No woman with any intelligence would let herself get THAT carried away by metaphysical bonds. First time readers, choose another Quick to read.

I really enjoyed this one. I laughed out loud throughout. There were quite a few twist and turns that I did not expect. My niece recommended it and I in turn told my sister. We all had a mini book review and laughed about our favorite parts. I will definitely read this one over and over again. Simon became a likeable character slowly thanks to Emily. She was always one step ahead of him.