A Note of Scandal

Nicky
Penttila
ISBN Number: 
9781771300
Genre: 
Historical

Miss Olivia Delancey is getting rather desperate. She needs money, rather urgently, and unfortunately, she doesn’t have it lying around.  What she does have is her music and a plan. Simply sell her music and the story that comes with it. She can’t do it in her own name, but if she did it through her former music teacher Martin, it might actually work!  All she needs is a publisher willing to take a chance on her.

Roses aren’t blooming in the life of Will Marsh either. His brother is hounding him to sell the paper which is his life, and he simply hasn’t got the bank roll to buy his siblings out. What he needs is something to pull readers to his paper.  It seems that the war veteran Martin and his music could be his salvation. If only the meddlesome female that comes with it didn’t arouse his feelings so.
This is an unusual and solid regency romance with a rather realistic portrait of the life in England after the defeat of Napoleon (not all moonlight and roses). Our hero is not a nobleman, but a the son of a tradesman. He is also strong, principled, but lonely and wounded as well.  Olivia is also strong, loyal, and generous to a fault (something that got a bit annoying after a while). While the story and characters were pleasing, the execution could have been better. There were moments when the story dragged, or when characters did something that simply irritated. Even so, it was a book well worth reading, the best part was seeing two wounded and lonely people come to trust and rely on each other, then experience the wonders of love!
Ana Smith