Customer Reviews

Scandalous

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

 

 

Katherine Fleming has picked her fiancé with care. She's not looking for love, just a match with friendship and respect. When she meets her future brother-in-law Dominic on a terrace during a party, the last thing she wants is the attraction she suddenly feels for him. However her world suddenly comes crashing down around her with the news that her fiancé's late wife, who had been presumed lost at sea, is alive after all.

Dominic has wanted Katherine from the moment he met her. His brother offers him Katherine's hand in marriage in order to protect both her and family from further scandal. With the added incentive of learning the secret of his parentage which has haunted him for years, he agrees. Neither expects to find love in this marriage of convenience, but the longer that they are together, the more they find themselves falling in love. Can they both let go of the demons of their pasts and take a chance in letting someone else into their heart?


I love historical romances, but it's not often that I find an author who writes a romance that I truly enjoy. Dominic and Katherine are both wounded characters whose past makes them unwilling to trust their hearts. Both are compelling and I found myself quickly absorbed with them and their relationship. Jenna Petersen is definitely an author to watch for those who love historical romance. I, for one, will be waiting to see what she offers us next. With Scandalous, Jenna Petersen delivers!

Melissa
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

I loved both the hero and heroine! THis is a debut author with many good books yet to come. The chemistry between the h/h was tremendous and there was a lot of thought put into their personalities. Both were very likable. The hero was one of those tough-on-the-outside, but sweet and vulnerable on the inside men that I love to read about, and the conflict, I felt, was good. I don't think I skipped a page and I read it in one day.

I thought SCANDALOUS was an extremely enthralling and compelling story, as well as, an excellent debut novel.

The story's hero Dominic Mallory, is a handsome, sexy, charismatic rake and an intelligent self made man of means. Unfortunately, he's also the Mallory family secret ~ a bastard son, who was hated by his supposed father, the late Lord Harborough and who taught Dominic's older brother Cole to hate and despise him as well. Being treated like a pariah has left Dominic cynical, secretive and because of the many issues he has yet to come to terms with, completely disillusioned with the idea of falling in love.

To all outward appearances Katherine Fleming is a soft-spoken, caring and virtuous woman but her seemingly gentle temperament hides a tenacious strong-will and an intensely passionate nature. She has a clearly defined idea of the type of husband who would suit her needs and has spent the last 3 years looking for a man to meet those requirements. She wants a husband with a fortune of his own and because she'd been a lonely only child, someone who would provide companionship and hopefully friendship. Unlike most women, she's not looking for someone to fall passionately in love with ~ she doesn't want the heartache and suffering that she feels will inevitably follow when lust, desire and novelty of love wares off.

Her fiancé Colden Mallory, Lord Harborough, seems the to be the perfect match, until just days before their wedding he shockingly announces that his late wife is ~ miraculously alive. In order to save Katherine from being ruined by the scandal that will surely follow this news, and because Dominic wants the house that he thinks hold the answer to his parentage, they both allow Cole to manipulate them into a marriage of convenience.

The story's hero and heroine, Dominic and Katherine, were warm, likable and compassionate, and both had a remarkably poignant and riveting story to tell. These were in my opinion, fully fleshed out and completely convincing lifelike characters that were caught up, initially against their will, in a tempestuous, deeply emotional, and yet, hopeful and surprisingly tender romance. Although I believe a traditional historical romance novel is primarily about the journey the hero and heroine take to find their way to love and their happily ever after ending ~ there was plenty of sexual tension between the characters and the story contained enough steamy sex scenes to satisfy most readers.

I also enjoyed the secondary cast of characters ~ the good and the bad ones ~ all were interesting and intriguing. They heightened and enhanced the storyline precisely as secondary characters are intended to do.

I felt author's style of writing was both smooth and refined. Her ardent, rousing and sensual descriptions admirably expressed the undeniable attraction felt by Dominic and Kat and her illustrative prose conveyed vivid and stirring imagery that immediately pulled me into the story and kept me turning the pages.

I've been reading historical romance for many, many years and I know what exactly what I like ~ for me this was a thoroughly satisfying story ~ Brava, Ms. Petersen!

Unwilling as I am to be the sole dissenting voice here, I have to own that I found Jenna Petersen's "Scandalous" to be a disappointing read. The storyline was a very basic one, with very few frills -- obviously the book was meant to be a character driven one, that focused on the unexpected relationship that developed between Dominic Mallory, and unlooked for bride, Katherine Flemming. Unfortunately, while the hero and heroine were likable, and Dominic had enough angst and inner demons to make this book interesting, the author seems to have used all her energy and talents to showcase the sizzling and sensual energy that Dominic and Katherine generated between them, and not enough effort, I thought, was spent on the story at hand.

The black sheep of the Mallory family, Dominic Mallory has spent a great many years avoiding his family and trying to discover the identity of his biological father. Now however, he finds himself at home again in order to celebrate his older brother's, Cole, upcoming marriage to the beautiful heiress, Katherine Flemming, and unexpectedly in the middle of another scandal when Cole's thought-to-be-dead first wife turns up, very much alive, three days before the wedding.

Because he needs Katherine's money, Cole makes Dominic a dirty proposition: if Dominic agrees to marry Katherine, Cole would deed over Lansing Square to Dominic (Lansing Square is the house where their mother had had her affair, and where Dominic is sure that the clues to his father's identity would be found.) And loath though he is to do his brother's bidding, Dominic needs to know who his father is; and so he agrees to Cole's proposal. Of course the fact that he would be marrying a woman that he also desires helps make this agreement a great deal more palatable. However, while getting Katherine to agree to marry him proved easier than he had anticipated, what Dominic hadn't counted on was how quickly Katherine would become a vital part of his life, or how much claim she would have on his heart. And how difficult it would be for him to acknowledge that's he in love with his wife and that he desires her love in return...

That Dominic was so obsessed with discovering the identity of his father that it blinded him to everything else, I understood. I even thought that the author did a rather good job of making me see why even though he hated being a pawn in Cole's master plan, he would agree to Cole's terms. And if I didn't like that Katherine would keep forgiving Dominic for his idiotic and secretive behaviour over and over again instead of braining him every now and then, that was my outlook. No, for me the problem with "Scandalous" was how the back story was never really developed enough -- like why Larissa, Cole and Dominic's mother, seemed to favour Cole over Dominic, and why, even after her brutal husband had died, she refused to reveal anything to Dominic. Because I do think that Larissa would have added a nice texture of complexity to the book if she had been more than a mere whisper in the book. The other thing that bothered me was that there was nothing to give me a clue as to which period this book was set in. Was it a Regency-era novel or a Victorian or even an Edwardian? I don't require that the historical romance novels I read hit me on the head with minute period details, but some basic information would have been nice -- like which county Lansing Square was in for example. If it wasn't for the mention of a few titles here and there and London, this novel could even have taken place in a galaxy far, far away.

Ultimately, "Scandalous" didn't hold my attention or interest because the story was very spare and was really nothing that hadn't been offered before. And while the hero and heroine were nice enough, theirs wasn't (I felt) a poignant enough story to pull at the heart strings and to make one become involved enough with their fates. In all, a bland 2 star read.

Do authors really believe we readers can't see through 'staged' reviews? It's so obvious when their friends and fellow authors write glowing reviews for their less than glowing books. As if we readers are complete idiots. Look for yourself, the differences between the real reader reviews and the advertisements are so obvious. Of course the ruse is quickly discovered when the book is actually read, so why bother at all?

I can see someone liking this book if an element is found appealing... it's readable, inoffensive, pretty well written. But 5 stars? Come ON! Even Harriet Klausner gave it a four and the lowest score I've ever seen her give is 3 (and even that's incredibly rare)! 5 stars is for works of the highest quality, originality and memorability. And this simply isn't.

It was a slow read. The hero/heroine were likable, but I've met them before in plenty of other romances, and they were little more than Regency Barbie and Ken dolls - three dimensional but still plastic. The supporting cast never became more than South Parkian construction paper puppets.

The dialogue was stiff and unnatural, and the characters' actions were often exaggerated and inappropriate to the dialogue/situation. As for the near constant stuttering, that was downright annoying -though it could have worked had Kat been given a real speech impediment (and it would have made the story actually memorable). The storytelling itself, while not bad, is lackluster. The setting never came to life; it was supposed to take place in Regency England (I think) but it felt more like a historical vacuum.

It didn't help that the author used cliched descriptions, and over used phrases throughout. This story was littered with tears sparkling in the corners of eyes, wide eyed stares, and ebony tresses. So many people were 'pinned' by intense gazes I was starting to picture the characters in dissection pans.

There were a large number of love scenes, but it didn't make the story very sensual for me. While the author has a good grasp on the english language, she really doesn't have a great talent for erotic scenes. These read like nearly every other generic romance love scene, and never really felt connected to the story.

The ending is this book's biggest flaw. I don't want to give away any details to ruin the end, but this has to be mentioned. The hero finally finds what he's been searching for his whole life, there's a great opportunity for a truly meaningful emotional scene -and the chapter ends. Then suddenly it's a year and a half later! Talk about an annoying let-down. I don't know if this was the author's choice or another case of stupid editor interference, but it stinks!

Had the ending been satisfying, I might still have given this 4 stars. Well, maybe 3 1/2 -what it really needs is a little more time in the creative oven, and maybe a brutally honest critique. But as it stands now, I give it 3.

How delighted I was with the pleasurable erotic historical romance anthology "Parlor Games" and one of the stories by the author Jess Michaels aka Jenna Petersen. So it is no wonder why the historical romance debut of "Scandalous" has wonderful sensual shades of Jess Michaels' erotic touch. On a terrace in the moonlight the handsome and sensual Dominic Mallory sees the beautiful Katherine Fleming enjoying the snow and the stars. Immediately he thinks of this beauty in his bed, but later when he discovers that she is the fiance of his estranged brother Colden, he must back away. But in a strange twist Dominic finds himself quickly engaged and married to the sensual beauty, when his brother's dead wife returns from the dead. Colden insists that Dominic marry Katherine in order to avoid scandal, as Colden has already spent her dowry and in turn he will give Dominic the family lands he has always wanted. As Dominic and Katherine begin their life on his new estate, the passion and desire builds to love, but little does Katherine realize the treachery and lies that she has married into with the Mallory family. When Dominic's identity is revealed to her and she discovers he married her only for access to the lands so he can discover his father's identity, and that Colden, his wife Sarah and other family members were involved in the lies, she is devastated. When Dominic realizes that in his lifelong quest for truth about his paternity, he may lose Katherine, he makes a decision to keep Katherine, but is it too late? The story is sensual and mysterious with underlying treachery that culiminates to an intense conclusion making the reader realize that no matter how scandalous, true love conquers all.

Ms. Petersen's debut effort is a fair beginning to her writing career. She has created a fine pair of lead characters and the storyline was good...but could have been a tad better if the various elements introduced had been expanded on.

Katherine is in a very bad situation. Her fiancé Colden Mallory has just found out on the eve of their bethrothal announcement that his dead wife is actually very much alive and on her way to him. Needing what Katherine can bring to the union he devises a way to keep the money in the family while still keeping face. He uses his brother's desire for Lansing Square as initiative to fill his shoes. Dominic agrees but his decision does not sit well with him. One reason is due to the fact that he actually finds himself attracted to his new wife and two he does not care for the lies that he has encouraged through his actions. Will these two really get to the bottom of the secrets and bury the scandal or will love make everything all right?

For a debut effort this was a nice read. This would have been a tad bit more fulfilling if there were clues to the time period, if the secondary storyline had been expanded on, and if the ending was not so abrupt. Kat and Dominic were fine characters and truly one of the saving graces about this read.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this book. Sure there are elements of the plot that could have been explored and explained in further detail, however, I think this is an excellent debut effort. I look forward to reading more books by Jenna Petersen.

Thank you Jenna for gifting us with this great book.

With her wedding only a short time away, Katherine is distraught to learn that her fiancé's first wife isn't really dead, but has been alive and living abroad all this time. What is she to do? Why marry his brother, of course!! Dominic Mallory has come home to gain what is rightfully his, Lansing Square. But to obtain it, he must marry his brother's fiancé and save the family name from scandal, of which he really couldn't give two figs about. Then his brother offers him a deal; marry Katherine and Lansing Square will be his, there's a catch...of course, there's always a catch. But I won't tell you what it is, you'll have to read it yourself!

Jenna Peterson has a very bright and shining future ahead of her, if this first book is anything to go by. Her characters are superb. Katherine and Dominic are very believable characters and are so well written, that the reader can just imagine herself as Katherine, feeling everything she is going through. You will fall in love with Dominic, especially when you learn all of his `sorrid' secrets. The settings are beautiful and the supporting cast only add to the majesty of this story.

A real keeper!

I really enjoyed this book. I would have like a little more history on the ex-fiance and his wife that came back from the dead. But overall I really enjoyed the book. She was a little to bit forgiving and tried very hard to be the understanding wife to a husband that didn't really like to share his feelings or his thoughts. But overall a very good book.