Customer Reviews

Scandalous Miss Howard (Mira Historical Romance)

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In Mobile, teenagers Ladd Dasheroon and Laurette Howard fall in love, which leads to deep resentment and jealousy from their friend Jimmy Tigart. Though Ladd and Laurette make love, they hold off their plans to marry until he returns from fighting for the Confederacy. The Northern soldiers capture Ladd and incarcerate him at Devil's Castle. Northern soldier Jimmy learns about Ladd's imprisonment and sends word to Laurette that her beau died. He travels to Alabama and in 1865 Jimmy marries the grieving Laurette.

Fifteen years later Sutton Vane arrives in Mobile. He courts Laurette with a passion rarely seen anywhere. Reluctantly and scandalously Laurette falls in love with Sutton who reminds her so much of her beloved Ladd. That is because Sutton is Ladd seeking vengeance on the woman who betrayed him during the Civil War. The only problem for Ladd is that he still loves his Laurette even if he does not trust her with his heart.

THE SCANDALOUS MISS HOWARD is an exciting post Reconstruction Era romance that shows that as late as 1880 the impact of the Civil War and its aftermath on people. The strong story line is filled with depth, yet trivializes the war through how easily Ladd, Jimmy and another associate "meet", which leads to the feel of a local skirmish rather than the vast destruction. Still fans of nineteenth century tales will find Nan Ryan's betrayed lovers a powerful tale.

Harriet Klausner

Not since Cassie Edwards have I come across such poorly developed plot and characters. This was supposed to be about the pain of losing a childhood sweetheart, then--part 2--revenge on Ladd's (Sutton's) part. To begin with, I see nothing special about our heroine Laurette. She grew up rich and pampered, and not even during/after the Civil War did her character fully mature. I was not able to see the extent of her grief and pain over the loss of her family, and her young lover, Ladd. Upon learning of his death, she marries another man within weeks...she could not even see through his deceitful nature. Laurette seems very weak and gullible, one of those spineless females I hate reading about.

Ladd, on the other hand, while suffering the violence and brutality of war, also came out quite the same in terms of emotional maturity. All he cares about is his so-called revenge. He felt Laurette had betrayed him by marrying his tormentor Jimmy Tigart. He never stopped to consider what might have happened to Laurette (or what sort of news had been filtered down to her) while he'd been imprisoned. His attempt at being a heartless rake was lame and unimpressive, and I can't believe Laurette actually fell for this virtual stranger. About the only thing "scandalous" about their affair was her willingness to engage in oral sex in broad daylight. Yawwn...nothing new there.

To add insult to injury (which, in this case, is an extremely lackluster story) the author finishes off with a very abrupt ending. Not my kind of romance at all. Definitely thumbs-down for me.

Set in the incendiary Civil War era of 1860s, Nan Ryan scripts her latest novella THE SCANDALOUS MISS HOWARD about a pair of childhood sweethearts in Mobile, Alabama separated by treachery and betrayal. Ladd Dasheroon and Laurette Howard both from distinguished Southern families are torn apart when Ladd is conscripted to the Confederacy to fight the Union. Captured and exiled by the Northern soldiers to the Devil Castle, he survives the bitter imprisonment with hopes of returning back to Laurette. When his best friend Jimmy Tiggart now a major is posted to Devil Castle, his hopes of escape is revived. Little did he know that Jimmy has set his eyes on Laurette. He collaborated with LaKid, the supervisor to banish him to the heathens and lies to Laurette that he is dead as a prisoner of war. The betrayal is seething. The devastating news of Laurette's marriage to Jimmy extinguished his hope for life.

He desires revenge and fate intends for him to befriend Finis Schaefer, a benefactor who taught him arts and culture and passed him a map to hidden gold he stole. When he escapes, he returns to Mobile as Sutton Vane to seek revenge on Jimmy and ultimately his sweetheart who hurt him the most - Laurette....

THE SCANDALOUS MISS HOWARD sounds risque for a love drama set in the throes of war, yet the languid sensuality scorches with its passionate scenes and seduction. Nan Ryan smoothly intertwines the mechanisms of factual political intrigue and war to give credibility to her romance. However the part on his imprisonment and escape bears an uncanny resemblance to Alexandra Duma's The Count of Monte Cristo and hence its originality suffers.

Nan Ryan delivers a romance packed with emotions and seething betrayal as usual but it cannot be compared to her 1996 romance, You Belong To My Heart of a similar theme which boasts more developed characters and gratifying story-line. THE SCANDALOUS MISS HOWARD is nonetheless an enjoyable treat from Ms. Ryan who pens a scorching hot read.

I enjoyed Nan Ryan's latest offering and I enjoyed the two main characters, but there seemed to be underdeveloped story lines in the book. For instance, Ladd best friend Jimmy's attempt to keep the two lovers apart fell short. The ending was rather abrupt too. I would have like to seen everything resolved in a better manner.

Long, unnecessary first half, with too many chartacters and point of views. The first part of the story is a step by (unecessary) step of the first half of Ladd's & Laurette's lives. The setting could have been portrayed in half the time, and the author should have delved into the guts of the plot much earlier on. The character development (after all that) still seemed vague. But when the story really did start to "kick", with a bitter Ladd (Sutton) returned home, it became interesting, but the ending was aprupt and sudden and very anticlimactic. It had such potential! A very difficult read and no gratification. The author should have done a little more editing to perfect this story.

I am a long time fan of Nan Ryan's. However, her new book The Scandelous Miss Howard, falls short of her usual caliber. The story line is an interesting one, but she fails to put much depth into her characters, or into their interaction. I am just disappointed at how similar this story parallels that of "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexander Dumas. Right down to the map to the stolen conferderate money. Not very original.

This book had alot of potential, both in the plot and the chracters. But I felt that Ms.Ryan failed to fully explore the deeper levels of both points, which left this book sorely lacking in warmth and feeling. I read through this book in a day and a half, and never felt a close connection to either Laurette, or Ladd. Surprisingly, Ms. Ryan seemed to put more color into her secondary characters, such as Jimmy Tigart and Bones, then she did with her two main ones. Throughout the book, frank sexuality is used in place of having to write about more subtle and deeper actions, that even the most branded "Sex novels" actually use. No doubt most of the scenes were very sensual, but the sheer number of them could have been limited, and more emotional actions put in their place. Also, I felt that Ms.Ryan really did not understand the era in which she placed her story, and many of the scenes had a contemperary feeling to them, and that the dates held no meaning to the plot, other then throwing in the civil war to split up the hero and heroine. I guess from all this I can say the book wasn't the worst I've read, but definatly not one to go on my favorites list.