Customer Reviews

Scandalous (Silhouette Shipping Cycle)

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

 

 

Set in the Victorian era, heroine Priscilla is the epitome of prim and proper, actually she takes her properness to a degree which becomes a bit frustrating. She is not an easy heroine to like because she tries to manage everyone around her to include the hero, her father and even villains.

Priscilla is a dedicated spinster who lives in the country and she is quite happy taking care of her befuddled scientific father. She has no desire for children and even less for a husband; I guess the overseeing of her father's daily activities is very fulfilling. One night a naked man lands on her doorstep and after a long discussion with her absent minded father, Priscilla takes charge and brings the unconscious man into her home. When he awakens, he has no memory of his name or life so Pricilla calls him John and concocts a story about him being a distant American cousin.

John desires Priscilla but also wants to protect her. He remembers the ruffians who tied him up and left him in a shack and believes they are the key to his memory. He tries reasoning with Priscilla's father when she wants to lead an investigation of his abduction but her father is so wrapped up in himself he hardly listens. When he tries to reason with Priscilla she becomes snippy and finds ways to manage John, it's what she does best.

Together this couple follows leads to John's abductors but not to his past which remains cloaked in mystery. Pricilla desires John but masks her feelings with cool indifference and when she does not get her way she can become icy. This couple did not generate a lot of passion and the sexual tension is not there until very late into this novel. John's memory does return but that poses a new set of problems, mainly Pricilla is way too concerned about what people will think of her which came as a surprise as she never seemed to mind what others said about her being a confirmed spinster. Pricilla was just too prissy and she lacked a sense of humor, I don't think she laughed in the story and I pictured her wearing a frown in every scene.

I picked this up on the fly one day at the grocery. I recognized the name, but had never read anything by Ms. Camp. The cover was beautiful and the blirb had potential. Boy was I mistaken. Cardboard characters, predictable plot. I suppose I should be grateful for the gawfaws sparked by the ridiculous love scenes. In mortal danger, need to be really quiet? Let's pause and make out, 'cause that's what any intelligent person would do. Geesh. And by the way, that lovely pink dress had absolutely nothing to do with a single scene (good marketing, though!). So, I will leave Ms. Camp to her loyal fans, but I won't be one of them.

I read SO WILD A HEART (and another book whose name I can't remember) and fell in love with Candace Camp's style. Naturally I rushed to Amazon.com and ordered another book by Ms. Camp. That book was SCANDALOUS. The description was too much to resist but the actual story was a little bit of a let down. It is a somewhat light weight story compared to the other two books I've read by Ms. Camp. Not as much tension, sexual or mystery wise, the characters were too perfect (I like a little character flaw in my hero), and the story in general just didn't grab hold and make you want to stay up all night reading. Not a keeper but an okay read.

I thought I would like the heroine, but I couldn't even get in to the story. The characters were corny and had to discuss everything, it got boring.

I discovered Candace Camp quite recently. I read A Lady Never Tells and really liked it. I than read Suddenly and LOVED it. So naturally I was eager to read Scandalous, but it's kinda a hard book to follow with a little too much going on... Two missing heirs, kidnapping, woman's suffrage and predictable couplings everywhere.. usually I can read a book fairly quickly, but I struggled with this one... I still like Candace Camp's style, but I don't think I'm going to hang on to this particular book.

... Or maybe read all of the reviews next time. I got trapped into reading this one because it looked promising: Guy with amnesia shows up on girl's doorstep (nekkid) and mayhem ensues. Since I'd read a couple of other Candace Camp books I thought it would be good... I was sorely disappointed. I'm almost mad at myself that I kept reading it to the end! I wish I had that time back so that I could read something worthwhile!

Priscilla is the daughter of a scientist who spends more time blowing up his laboratory than on what his daughter is up to. Her "big secret" is that she writes adventure novels under a male pen name. She's not concerned what people think about her especially since they live in a small country town.

One night, an American (nekkid and beaten) shows up pleading for help before passing out. Pris convinces her father and former governess to take him in and nurse him back to health. Once he comes to, he can't remember whom his is.

Pris thinks that it will be an adventure to help him recover his memory and so the predictable story goes. Our hero eventually remembers, the bad guys get caught, a 30-year murder mystery is solved, and lots of people get engaged.

I had several issues besides the predictability of the storyline. The heroine starts out not caring what anyone thought of her to turning down the heroes marriage proposals because she's scared of gossip. Then, there's her penchant for jumping to amazingly absurd conclusions (i.e. Oh, he remembers who he is, he must have been lying to me for weeks!) There were several times that I wanted to throttle her!

Don't even get me started on her father's character. I thought he was completely ridiculous along with the flighty former governess.

The best of it were the couple of scenes that were so retarded that I had to shake my head and say "WHAT?!" Hero rescues girl from bad guys. Common sense would be to RUN AWAY from the hut with no windows and a semi unconscious villain right outside of the door right? Nope! Make out time...almost to the point of total ravishment.

Then (Yep, Again!) after sneaking into an "evil" cousins house to look for evidence, they are almost caught by said supposedly evil bastard. Our hero and heroine quickly slip into a convenient priest hidey-hole where you'd think that they'd be too worried about being discovered to make a sound... WRONGO!! Those damn hornies come right out to play and somehow our hero just can't resist getting the girl naked and starts playing with her girlie parts!

Overall, I'd say skip this one unless you've got absolutely NOTHING else to read/do/accomplish that day.

This might be one of my all time favorite romance novels. I laughed out loud, because Candace truly captured my heart with the characters in this book. This book has it all, from the dark & mysterious hero, to the adventurous & lovely heroine, & the supporting characters were so real to me that I could almost reach out and touch them. The love scenes were beautiful & unexpected. I loved this book from cover to cover!

Candace Camp continues her wonderful ability to create a twisting plotline in Scandalous. The story is alternately bittersweet and emotionally draining, resulting in a fabulous read that you won't want to put down. The story is one of her best.