Review: Before the Scandal by Suzanne Enoch.

Posted July 30, 2008 by Rowena in Reviews | 3 Comments

Hero: Colonel Phineas Bromley
Heroine: Alyse Donnelly
Grade: 4 out of 5

It Was a Scandal Waiting to Happen . . .

Colonel Phineas Bromley is a legend—on the battlefield and in the bedroom. Though he’s won many wars, and even more hearts, nothing could prepare him for his new life. When Phin discovers that someone has been pushing his family toward ruin, he assumes the role of a legendary highwayman. Riding out in the middle of the night, hidden behind a mask, Phin heads straight into trouble . . . and into the arms of the ravishing girl next door.

Coming face-to-face with a masked man did not frighten Alyse Donnelly as it should have. Instead, she finds him rather dashing. But her foolish heart has led her into trouble before, and helping a fugitive may mean jeopardizing her own plans, no matter how enticing his kisses. Now, as the danger grows, Alyse must make a choice between freedom . . . and the chance for true love.

This is the second book in The Notorious Gentlemen series by Suzanne Enoch. I read and thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the series, After the Kiss. This story is about Sullivan’s friend from the Military, Phin. Phin wasn’t in AtK that much so we didn’t get to know him as good as we got to know Bram. I’m itching to read Bram’s story but I can be patient.

This story revolves around Phin coming back to the family fold and trying to figure out what’s going on and all that. It made for some very interesting storytelling especially since the story is told with such mystery surrounding, why Phin’s younger sister Beth lied to him about their older brother, William being on his deathbed in order to get him home to help them out. You see, over the past few years a string of bad luck has surrounding Phin’s childhood home. Things like the dam breaking, causing floods on the west side of their property, making William spend money to fix it and each string of bad luck is costing too much money and if they keep going on as they have been, they’re going to be forced to sell the property since it wasn’t deeded to them and Phin, William and Beth will be out of a home, their childhood home.

Aside from Phin coming home to help make that problem go away, there’s also the problem brewing between William and Phin. Phin’s been gone for the last 10 years and William has been left to take care of their little sister, Beth and run the estate, all the while working double time to get around since he’s paralyzed from the waist down. Phin’s responsible or so he thinks. After the accident 10 years ago, Phin’s been running away, not wanting to come home and face the fact that he ruined his brother’s life. So they have that to deal with as well in this story which made for a well rounded story that dragged only a little bit in the middle.

The characters were great in this story, I really enjoyed both the hero and the heroine but one of the things that irritated me to no end was that Phin waited so long before he called for help. He tried doing way too much on his own and I just wish that he would have called Sully and Bram long before he did but when those two were brought back into the story, gosh the smile that spread across my face could have lit up an entire city. I really loved seeing these three men together again, we saw them together very briefly in AtK and well, they were just great fun to read about in action.

My favorite among the three is definitely Bram, I’m most anxiously awaiting his book to see if he ends up with who I think he might end up with, I’m having my doubts but you never know.

Phin was a great hero, he was strong, indepent and his sense of honor was phenominal. He knew how to get the answers that he sought and he was fearless in getting them. He cared very much for his family and felt he needed to take care of them now since he’s neglected them for so long and the scene between William and Phin was long overdue and just a great, great way to show the love that each brother had for the other underneath all of the hostility. I really loved Phin’s family and I’m so glad that I got to know each of them better in this email.

Alyse. I really , really liked Alyse’s character. I loved how she dealt with the scandal and with her life the only way she knew how and I loved how she didn’t let herself get too down in the dumps that she took her eyes off the prize. She was smart and she was a romantic and she was just a great girl who deserved the things she wanted as a child. I was so glad that Phin was able to give her what she wanted and what she deserved, it made for some really great reading. She was strong and patient and just, great.

The storyline and the other characters added depth to this book and it added to the reading adventure. There wasn’t much that bothered me with this book, other than the slight lag in the middle (too much words that I didn’t feel I needed to read to get to the drama) so I would definitely recommend this book. I’m very much looking forward to reading Bram’s book because he made me laugh in this book and I seriously, seriously love him! Does anyone know when his book comes out? Gosh I hope it’s soon!

Another good book by SE that I’ve read…kudos to SE!

This book is available from Avon. You can buy it here or here in e-format.