Customer Reviews

In Scandal They Wed

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Well, if you want a summary of the plot, it's probably best to read some of the other reviews. And, if you don't want a critique of this book, don't read this review because, honestly, as I was reading it, I felt I was reading its first draft, not the final version. The plot has not been fully developed and the characters need fleshing out. This so needs a good polishing and I don't mean with our hero's you-know-what. I have read other Sophie Jordan books and vaguely remember being entertained by ONCE UPON A WEDDING NIGHT, but this particular book didn't do it for me. It has many things going on that I suppose could be interesting: 1) marriage of convenience, 2) heroine's almost-rape in Barbados (that's right, Barbados, and I didn't catch why exactly she was there to begin with) and her subsequent fear of the dark but not, seemingly, a fear of sexual intimacy, 3) mistaken identity because the hero believes the heroine to be his deceased cousin Ian's lover Linnie, although the heroine is actually Evie, Linnie's half sister who is raising Linnie and Ian's bastard son as her own. There is also an over-the-top widowed sister-in-law of the hero, who makes soap opera villainesses look good, and a bunch of other characters haphazardly thrown in, especially towards the end, such as someone named Fallon, whom, I assume, we are supposed to remember from previous books. Maybe this book had promise, but it needed a lot more rewrites to get it publication-worthy. (BTW, I am puzzled by the implication in the book that the marriage of hero to heroine would legitimize the birth of illegitimate child Nicholas. He was born out of wedlock and no subsequent marriage of even his biological parents would change that fact in 1855.)

When Evelyn Cross saves her sister's illegitimate baby from being dumped in an orphanage, she gives up her own future to raise the innocent child. But without the support of her parents, she struggles to survive. The arrival of a handsome stranger, duty bound to help his cousin's offspring, both excites and terrifies her. If he finds out she's not the child's mother, will he take the boy from her?

Spencer Lockhart promised his dying cousin he'd look after the woman and child he abandoned to go off to war. Instead of the gentle, sweet maiden his cousin spoke of, Spencer finds a feisty woman determined to thwart his attempts to help her in spite of her dire circumstances. His father's third son, he'd never expected to become the Viscount and now that he has, he needs a wife. Marrying Evelyn will solve both his problem and hers, and get her into his bed in the bargain.

Both Evelyn and Spencer have baggage and secrets which result in lies of omission that threaten to destroy their budding love. While Spencer is bent on seduction, Evelyn must resist or reveal the truth that will prove she's not her son's real mother.

The stakes for Evelyn in this story are high--custody of her son--and she's convinced she'll lose him if Spencer learns of her deceit. Spencer is torn between guilt for wanting his cousin's woman and jealousy of what he believes is Evelyn's enduring love for the dead man.

Once again Sophie Jordan has created a hero and heroine with real world problems, painful pasts and deep feelings that elevate her books far beyond a stock marriage-of-convenience story. Evelyn's willingness to give her sister's unwanted baby a future at the cost of her own is both touching and heart-breaking. And Spencer's sacrifice to set a wrong right, makes him a hero worthy of the title. A cast of richly drawn characters and their fully realized world captured me on page one and kept me enthralled to the Happily-Ever-After. In fact, I started the book on a Saturday evening and didn't put it down until I reached the end. IN SCANDAL THEY WED is yet another wonderful historical romance from an author who never fails to deliver!

I liked Sins of Wicked Duke (Fallon's story), so I thought I'd like this one. I did. Until the second half. There were several things that I failed to accept/get over/understand:

1. We have no real detail about Ian/Linnie's relationship. Though they were not the hero/heroine (this is only partly true, since Spencer does think that Evie is Linnie), we still needed more information about their background. How old was Linnie? Why did he not marry her to begin with? He claimed to have been madly in love with her the whole time he was away at war, so why not marry her before he went? It wasn't like he was called away to go, from what I understood he chose to go, but why?

2. How could Ian had told Spencer so much about Linnie during their time in the military together that would cause Spencer to fall in love with her by these stories, but not have a clue of what she looked like, or what her real name was?

3. Ian asked Spencer to to look out and care for Linnie and his child (without knowledge of Linnie's death, Evie raising him, and Nicholas not being branded a bastard because of Evie's scheme), not to marry her and legitimize his son. To me it seemed that all Spencer really wanted was what his cousin had--Linnie between his sheets. That seemed to fuel his feelings for her, they did not seem genuine. It was more like he was jealous because his cousin slept with her and he had to prove to himself that he could get her in bed too.

4. Evie's scheme of creating a dead husband just didn't seem to wash with me. She had been back from Barbados for six months, and even if she had been living in the country for that time, it just seems strange that all the sudden after being back for six months she has a dead husband and a child. How was this not questioned or proved wrong long before nearly five years? Even being hidden away it doesn't seem possible that nothing had slipped or suspected upon.

5. Their first sexual encounter taking place in a rat infested wine cellar. I personally didn't like that. Maybe if there had been no mention of hearing the rats, or knowing they were down there with them, it would have been okay, but as a reader I have always picture in my mind what is going on and I just couldn't help but picturing rats running around while they were laying on the floor...

6. To keep up with her act that she was experienced she wiped herself up after their wine cellar experience, but what about his shirt that she was laying on, how did he not see the blood on it? And when he finally realized that she was Linnie's sister why did he not ask her about her sexual knowledge? During their time spent with the rats in the cellar she did some things to him that only a woman of experience (or a lot of sexual knowledge) would know to do. So why did he not question that? And if he was ready to believe the worst about her why did he so easily accept that she really was a virgin.


7. The end itself was a disappointment for several reasons. First, it seemed rushed, especially considering what he had done that he needed to correct. In reference to actual time that had passed, it had been several weeks, but in pages of the book, it wasn't enough. Second, what she did was wrong, and she really should have told him sooner, much sooner. Once they were married would have been a good time. At that point he really couldn't have done much except fumed. He couldn't really have taken Nicholas from her then, but in order to cause a major conflict and almost break the characters up he finds out by someone else and acts poorly. Third, how he reacts when he finds out is ridiculous. I honestly do not understand what happened in the forrest. She asks what she can do for him to forgive her, and he tells her to take off her clothes (in a snowy forrest no less) and pushes her against a tree and has sex with her. Excuse me but what does that fix? Nothing apparently, except humiliate her, and then he still stalks off mad? I don't understand (if anyone does, please inform me). Fourth, her father tries to intervene, but really what does he do? He punches Spencer, but really doesn't fix anything, nor do his words alter Spencer's opinion or actions. He still waits several days before going to go see her. As for her father, he really needed to do more. He needed to have a scene where he tries to fix things between him and his daughter, or tells the stepmom off. Fifth, when Spencer does go see her, she's surrounded by her friends (which I thought was a sign of promise, and it was at first), her friends take up for her but after only a few minutes she's crying and tells them to stop being defensive of her, then instantly he tells her he loves her and she forgives him! I'm sorry but I don't think he adequately corrected what he had done. Yes, she'd lied, but his actions were by far worse. That scene only lasted like 2-3 pages and it needed to be longer, with perhaps more groveling and the reader actually believing that he's truly sorry.


Maybe I give books too much thought! I know they are just entertainment and not reality, but sometimes I get so hung up on things and this one had several conflicts I couldn't dismiss easily.

I'll say this for Sophie Jordan's writing she seems to have two extremes her good books are great, and her not good books, are awful! There's really not a lot in between. The reason I gave this two stars instead of one is there were several scenes that were well developed and vastly entertaining. I can suffer through a bad scene but I hate a rushed/under developed ending.

I like Sophie Jordan's prose, so I gave this two stars. As for the plot, I'd have given it none if possible! Why write a review? Because I can't have my money back ( I did read it, but it is NOT romantic!) I found the hero to be brutish and the herione was painfully stupid. I am not a big fan of the Big Musunderstanding, but I have seen it work before. This book is NOT one where it does.

Evie, being the kindhearted soul that she is, agrees to pose as a widow and raise her half-sister's (Linnie) bastard child when her evil step mother wants to "get rid of it." Ian is desperately in love with Linnie, who for reasons unknown refuses to marry her or visit her in over 4 years, despite the fact he writes her weekly even without receiving a response. As Ian lies dying he asks his cousin, Spenser, to look after Linnie and the child.

It is a slightly confusing premise based on a lot of miscommunication and deceit. Spenser is the main reason this story didn't work for me. He is just plain mean to Evie. He is nice for only a handful of pages, and also in the end uses sex to "punish" her. That NEVER sits well with me. Because of his antics the ending was utterly unsatisfying, it might had started out that Evie was in the wrong but after Spenser's behavior he was the one utterly and totally wrong and both physically and mentally abusive. If I were Evie I would not have taken him back because of his abusive ways because he might start to abuse Nicholas, the child she is raising, as well as herself.

The idea that Evie never tells Spenser she is not the mother of Nicholas is just ridiculous, she has no reason not to tell, being no judge would ever take a child away from his aunt to give to a bachelor 2nd cousin so her fear is silly, and it's even more ridiculous to thing that after Spenser has sex with her he doesn't realize she has the body of a woman who never had a child. He got around quite a bit so I think that's something he should have noticed, even if he managed to take Evie's virginity without even noticing.

Not trying to give away the ending too much, but when Spenser shows up and declares his love, it is utterly ridiculous that Evie would suddenly accept that he is telling the truth, based on both his past behavior and the fact she was treated like a red-headed stepchild since his father got remarried, being sent away to a horrible school (think something out of David Copperfield or Jane Eyre) and forced to work as a companion (I believe) while Linnie was being groomed to marry a titled gentleman. She should have been too damaged to suddenly believe he loved her when all he did to prove it was show up. There are too many inconsistencies, coincidences and deception to make this one work. No one's past influences the present and no one is willing to communicate or be honest, and then the pot thinks he has a right to abuse the kettle for being black too.

Really disappointing read, when it could have been so much better if the characters were just a little more emotionally and mentally intelligent.

2 stars.

I usually love Sophie Jordan books so I was so let down by this one. Throughout the entire book I just wanted to scream at the characters for being SO STUPID! When the main conflict of a book is not believable and just stupid you know you have a problem. The reasoning behind the conflict is not believable as well. I really don't think Spencer would have cared that Evie took her dead sister's baby to raise instead of it going to an orphanage! The only part of the book I liked was the basic premise of the story. I just hated how that premise was developed into the horrible plot line and characters. There was also some interesting back story and sub plots that were never addressed and wrapped up so the end wasn't as satisfying. Hopefully this is just a one time mistake for Jordan because I have enjoyed all of her other books. If you must read this, DON'T spend the money to buy it. Go to a library!

I regularly read Sophie Jordan which is why this book is such a disappointment. The entire plot-line of the book is based solely on the misconceptions of the heroine. This is a very uncomplicated plot device, which is why a lot of authors have used it. However, it is so easy-to-use, the author appears untalented. That is what this book felt like, a quick written book to fulfill a deadline with no craft involved.

This book is about one big lie that becomes many more. The characters are stupid and ridiculous for not revealing the truth, especially for there being no valid reason not to. The book is completely pointless because the entire plot thread could easily be reconciled by one simple conversation between the hero and heroine. Instead we have to read page after page, waiting for the truth to finally be revealed. However by that point, I didn't care much for the characters, especially their hem and hawing over this whole foolish thing. I despised the character Evie. She came up with one different reason after another to not like Spencer and yet I still couldn't figure out why. Spencer was an idiot and I could never figure out why he wanted to marry her. Also, what man can't figure out his own wife is a virgin? Most of all though I hated the ending. I despise when authors make the heroine a goody two shoes who can never do wrong even when she does. Evie had everyone backing her up despite her lies, even Spencer's staff that hardly knew her took her side. They BOTH did wrong in the end. But never-do-wrong Evie had an entire entourage defending her. Spencer had no one. I hate it when authors use cheap humiliation techniques in order to make a character feel worse while apologizing. The apology didn't seem real. I was waiting for Evie to stand up for herself instead of letting her "groupies" handle Spencer. I waited for her to take Spencer aside so they could FINALLY TALK. But no. That is when I threw the book across the room.

This book is not well written. The author relies too much on gimmickry rather than good writing in order to bring her characters together. Instead of striving for originality Sophie Jordan instead recycles the same story lines that have been done so often before and work so badly. I have no interest in continuing this series, especially since the first one relied on lies for a plot as well.

Evelyn Cross has sacrificed everything for her son. While she may not be his biological mother, she has loved him unconditionally as a mother ever since he drew his first breath. Because of the circumstances of his birth, Evelyn has moved away from home and now resides in the country where she is barely able to support herself and her child. Each day is a struggle to keep her growing boy healthy and when Spencer Lockhart shows up at her cottage, Evelyn knows she is looking into the eyes of the man who fathered her son. And then she agrees to marry him.

Spencer Lockhart has been searching for the woman his now deceased cousin loved and hurt. Finding information about her has been sketchy at best and almost impossible to obtain. Finally, however, Spencer finds himself at her home and he is hard pressed to refrain from demanding that she and her child leave with him immediately. Politely poor is one thing, but his cousin's son is living in almost squalor. Before he knows what he is doing, Spencer implores the boy's mother to marry him in order to alleviate a scandal and she agrees. And so, In Scandal They Wed.

Talk about mistaken identities and well-kept secrets! In Scandal They Wed begins with Evelyn's son's birth and the drama never lets up. Spencer and Evelyn both have the best interests of their loved ones and while their attraction to each other is instantaneous, both feel guilty for the feelings they feel for each other. Evelyn wants to hate Spencer for something he didn't do and Spencer in turn wanted to remember that Evelyn was a fallen woman. Imagine their surprise when the truth came out!

Secrets abound, passions ignite, and love is found in Sophie Jordan's In Scandal They Wed! It is truly a historical romance readers will want to read again and again!

Talia
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

I loved this book for the reasons that other people seemed to have not liked it for. This story moved along and was a fast read. But more importantly it was interesting and I liked the charachters. Out of the @15 or so Historical Romances I read this past couple of months, it was on my top 3. A keeper.

I have to agree with the person that said "was this a rushed publication?" OMG...the first 200 pages is a bunch of cat and mouse between the hero and heroine. The story does not become a little more interesting until the end. The hero and heroine don't say much through out the book, so I really did get to know the personality of the characters. I'm just not sure about this one. SJ is one of my favorite authors. And up to now I have enjoyed all of her books. Maybe this was a rushed publication.