Rowena’s review of The Scandalous, Dissolute, No-Good Mr. Wright by Tessa Dare.
Hero: Mr. Harrison Wright
Heroine: Lady Eliza Cade
(Originally appeared in the e-book anthology Three Weddings and a Murder.)
Miss Eliza Cade is a lady in waiting. And waiting.
Because of a foolish mistake in her youth, she’s not allowed “out” in Society until her three older sisters are wed. But while she’s trying to be good, she keeps bumping elbows—and, more distressingly, lips—with notorious rake Harry Wright. Every moment she spends with him, she risks complete ruin.
The sensual passions he stirs in her are so wrong . . . but Eliza just can’t resist Mr. Wright.
Tessa Dare delivers yet another historical short story that I couldn’t put down. I read this whole thing in one sitting and loved every minute of it. This story follows Lady Eliza Cade and Mr. Harrison Wright as they take years to finally get together.
They met at a ball, hosted by the heroines family. A ball that the heroine was not allowed to attend because she hadn’t yet had her coming out but she was watching the action from the morning room and that was when she meets Mr. Wright for the first time. He’s also in the morning room and he’s there for some reasons that made Lady Eliza blush at the same time that she gasped in outrage. Harry Wright makes no apologies for the way that he lives his life. Society thinks that they have him all figured out and that he’s this scandalous, no-good guy when he’s anything but.
This story takes place over the course of a few years. They meet when Eliza was just a kid and then they don’t see each other for years and then come across each other again a few years later. Every time they meet up, they spar with words and Eliza makes it clear that she’s not a fan of Harry’s. Harry is taken with Eliza because he can’t help himself. He sees her for the person that she really is and not the person that everyone sees her to be. I really liked the way that Harry loved Eliza and then how Eliza came to love Harry. Their romance was sweet and it was funny and it was everything that I love in a romance.
Tessa Dare always writes such fantastically entertaining stories that I lose myself in and this addition to her backlist is no different. She’s wrote a well rounded story with two characters that made me laugh out loud more than once and kept me wanting more. I adored this book and can’t recommend it enough. It’s another good one from Dare. Can’t wait for her next release…she seriously rocks!
4.75 out of 5
This book is available from Avon Impulse. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.
It was really fun to see this couple spar over a period of years as well as realize that they were not the bad people others had painted them to be.
@Bookworm1858: Too true. I loved that Harry turned out to be such a good guy and that Eliza was oh so wrong about him.
I loved this one, too! It’s not easy writing a REALLY convincing love story in about 100 pages, but Tessa Dare pulls it off in this one. Harry and Eliza were perfect for each other!