Guest Review: Notorious by Nicola Cornick

Judith’s review of Notorious (The Scandalous Women of the Ton #4)by Nicola Cornick.

When the ton’s most notorious heartbreaker…

Dangerously seductive and sinfully beautiful, Susanna Burney is society’s most sought after matchbreaker. Paid by wealthy parents to part unsuitable couples, she’s never yet failed to accomplish her mission of diverting a groom-to-be. Until her final assignment brings her face-to-face with the man who’d once taught her an intimate lesson in heartache….

Meets London’s most disreputable rake…

James Devlin has everything he’s always wanted: a title, a rich fiancée and a place in society. But the woman who’s just met his eyes across a crowded ballroom threatens it all. Not because she’d once claimed his heart, or that every sinuous swirl of her ball gown takes his breath away. But because the secrets she carries could cost him everything. To put the past to rest once and for all, Dev just might have to play Susanna at her own wicked game….

Let the seduction begin!

Susanna Burney was indeed a heartbreaker and she was also a woman who supported herself on funds paid to her to break up potential matches not favored by the family of one party or the other. Styling herself as Lady Carew, a widow whose military husband has died of war wounds, she is now accepted into London society as the “friend” of one of the highly placed families. Her real object is to interject herself into a budding romance and distract the prospective groom in order to save the man from a marriage not favored by his parents. As luck would have it, Lady Carew is recognized–by James Devlin, an old beau and a man who, as one of London’s premier rakes, cares little for much except doing “his own thing.” He cares deeply for his sister, the woman who is not favored as a bride for the man in question.

This is a very complicated story and one that was quite surprising in my reading experience. I don’t think I had ever encountered a main character like Susanna, one who wasn’t seeking marriage and who was instead being paid to prevent it. It is one that is quite fun, actually, because Lady Carew’s project is in serious jeopardy due to her being known by Mr Devlin. He had the power to upend her, but in so doing he would expose her, make any future earnings impossible–at least in this line of endeavor–and effectively usher her out of his life. While he loved his sister deeply, he wasn’t sure he was through with Susanna. This is another example of how convoluted situations and relationships can and probably did get in the ambitious and power-hungry aristocracy where men were free to do as they pleased and women were the willing (most of the time) pawns in what could become a dangerous game.

I really like historical romances but I particularly liked this one because it was just so different. Of course, it had the same basic ingredients–balls and soirees, critical dowagers who kept society under their collective thumb, and the underlying purpose of it all–the London marriage mart. Yet Ms Cornick has taken these basic ingredients and made a different literary confection out of it, one that is fun to read and oh, so interesting. I must confess I was quite taken with the story right from the first. That there were such people as Lady Carew is probably quite true. That families would use anything and anyone to make sure their offspring married as they believed to be “fit,” was also absolutely true. So these fictional characters are probably representative of some of the machinations used to secure good matches for their heirs with partners of what they considered good breeding and sufficient wealth to secure a good upbringing. It was all so dehumanizing at its core. External beauty and great wealth were the requirements for acceding to power, and while a woman may have a great personality, extraordinary talents socially and artistically, inner beauty of spirit–these were not commodities that were held in high esteem. James’ sister was a delightful girl, but she just didn’t cut a broad swath in the beauty and wealth categories.

I hope lovers of very inventive historical romances will get this novel and experience the enjoyment I received as I read it. Even with all the fluff and froth of a Regency romance, this story harkens back to some very serious flaws in that society and its treatment of people. It is a story that focuses in on some of the people who got caught in the machinery of politics, on those who were chewed up and spit out, and on those who, in spite of themselves, sought to do good. Thus, there is lots to like in this book.

I give it a rating of 4 out of 5.

The Series:

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

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