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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
5 blue ribbons from Romance Junkies, July 29, 2008
This review is from: Scandalous by Night (Carlisle Family, Book 4) (Mass Market Paperback)
Townsend Elliot Lidsaw, Viscount Everod, has spent twelve years nurturing his anger and hurt over the circumstances that resulted in his being rejected by his entire family. He was lucky to survive his father's rage, and he blames his step mother's niece for the fiasco. Everod's successfully cemented his membership into a group of rakes known as the les sauvages nobles. He's definitely perfected his power of seduction and now that Maura is amongst the ton, it's time for him to enact his vengeance - only staying detached from the situation could be impossible.
Maura Keighly had played a key role in Everod's downfall but she'd only been ten-years-old at the time and hadn't fully understood the scene she'd had the misfortune to witness. She's all grown up now and her aunt has plans for her to marry Everod's brother Rowan. Maura doesn't have any interest in marrying Rowan; he's more like a brother. Everod, on the other hand, has been the man who's occupied a special place in her heart for many years - even if he has been absent from her life.
When Everod was only sixteen-years-old he gave into hormones and succumbed to his father's twenty-four year old fourth wife, Georgette's seduction. Their liaison ultimately ripped the family apart and almost cost him his life. He still bears the scar across his throat as a constant reminder of his own father's disdain. When he learns that Maura has accompanied his father and his wife, Georgette, to London for the season, he sees his opportunity to have his revenge.
Seduction has been the downfall of many young ladies and Everod's certainly not above using his manly charms against her. It seems simple enough; seducing Maura would go a long way toward paying back Georgette through her niece's humiliation. The situation goes a little awry when his friends and their women become involved. While Everod's taking great pains to annoy Georgette and get close to Maura, his friends' women are taking Maura into their circle and doing their best to protect her from Everod's lusty intentions. Somewhere along the line revenge takes a backseat to his ever increasing love for Maura, but their courtship is going to be far from `socially acceptable.' After all, he is one of the les sauvages nobles and following the dictates of their peers is simply not done. Can Maura and Everod let go of the past to ensure a loving future?
Barbara Pierce continues her enchanting CARLISLE SERIES with SCANDALOUS BY NIGHT. With characters you can't help but laugh with, love, and hate - all at the same time - this is one book that kept me reading long past bedtime. Everod is absolutely lovable and I couldn't help but feel his heartache over his family's rejection. Maura is a lovely young woman with a spunky personality and determination to do what she believes is right - even when it costs her. I absolutely love how Everod's friends and their women take him to task for his boorish attitude and take Maura into their folds. They're simply a fun group of people who seem to enjoy thumbing their noses at propriety. Georgette is the perfect villain. She's such a self-centered leech that I just couldn't see any redeeming qualities about her... which makes you keep reading just waiting for her to finally pay for her wickedness. Ms. Pierce makes Regency England storylines delightfully sexy and fun especially if you enjoy stories where the characters live by their own code of ethics and thumb their noses at etiquette.
SCANDALOUS BY NIGHT is the fourth book in the CARLISLE SERIES. The other books in the series are:
WICKED UNDER THE COVERS
SINFUL BETWEEN THE SHEETS
NAUGHTY BY NATURE
Chrissy Dionne (courtesy of Romance Junkies)
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
To love him could only lead to a broken heart., July 29, 2008
This review is from: Scandalous by Night (Carlisle Family, Book 4) (Mass Market Paperback)
Scandalous by Night by Barbara Pierce
" To love him would only lead to a broken heart."
Everod, the banished son of his father, Lord Worrington still held the pain and brandished the scar on his neck given by his father when he discovered the tryst between his newest wife and his eldest son; the heir. While Everod healed from the near fatal attack, he planned his revenge.
Maura believed her Aunt, the Countess whole heartedly when she was told that Everod had attacked her in the field, forcing himself upon the unwilling Countess. Maura confessed this tale to her Uncle, only coming to realize some years later that what her Aunt had said was a farce. 12 years later she would come face to face with the man that she helped to seal his fate, he was no longer even mentioned in the Worrington household, but that is soon to change.
Vengeance would be sweet. He planned on seducing Maura and ruining her for any man. Little did he know, his younger brother was also vying for the young lady's attention, possibly even marriage. Everod attacks his own brother at the ball, publicly humiliating Maura, now that the ton knows of such scandal... will she run off with a man that she does not love? Or will the brother that has been named "Everhard", one of les sauvages nobles, claim what is his; her heart?
A tale of seduction, scandal, betrayal, and love, Ms. Pierce has captured my heart with her novel, Scandalous by Night. I have been lucky enough to follow the Carlisle series. The author does a spectacular job in penning these historical erotic romances... they are tasteful and full of sassy characters that have just enough bite to keep you enthralled with each turn of the page. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed reading Scandalous by Night, I just hope that it is not too long before the next book in the series is out on the shelves!
5 Hearts
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Nice vengeance plot but fell a little flat, September 18, 2008
This review is from: Scandalous by Night (Carlisle Family, Book 4) (Mass Market Paperback)
The concept of this novel was very good, man is shunned from his family due to a lecherous stepmother and her innocent niece, man tries to exact revenge twelve years later. The problem with the story was in the execution, the characters were interesting, the hero well developed, less so for the heroine, and the plot moved along nicely but the romance between the main characters was problematic. They seemed in lust but not really in love.
When he was only fifteen, Viscount Everod's young step mother, Georgette, seduced him in the garden but they were discovered thanks to his stepmother's young niece Maura. Everod's father viciously stabbed Everod's throat believing that he was raping his wife, something the stepmother claimed. Everod was then banished from his home.
Fast forward twelve years and Maura is all grown up and spending the season in London. Everod sees her in Town and decides to seduce Maura, thereby getting back at his family who adore her. He plans his seduction through gifts and conversations. Maura feels guilty for the part she played in Everod's banishment so she is almost a willing participant in keeping secrets from her aunt and uncle. Their romantic interludes are very steamy.
As stated earlier, Everod is a well developed character with a full range of emotions. He is bent on his course to ruin Maura and when he discovers his younger brother is interested in marrying her, well, that just makes it all the better. Everod does have a temper but this is directed more at his friends and their wives' interference than at Maura. He is a known seducer and his practiced attempts have their effect on Maura but I never felt he really loved her until the very last chapters. His actions were more of a man who wanted a woman in his bed solely.
Maura was both likeable and frustrating. Since her aunt, Georgette was the one who raised her, Maura refused to judge any of her actions even when they were obviously deplorable. Maura seemed almost a different person around her Aunt, acting rather cowardly and Georgette recognized how incredibly naïve Maura was and easy to manipulate too. I understood Maura's devotion to her Aunt, Maura's parent's ignored her, but allowing a horrible lie to exist for twelve years denotes a character flaw.
There were a few loose ends to this novel, mainly the rebuilding of family relationships. I had not read any of the previous novels in this series so the secondary characters, although good, were many and I kept forgetting who was married to whom and who was brother to whom etc. Still this novel does have an interesting hero.
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