Reviewer: Tracy The Affair by Lily Maxton
Series: Sisters of Scandal #1
Publisher: Macmillan, Entangled Scandalous
Publication Date: April 14th 2014
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London, 1817.
When a beautiful stranger ducks into his bookshop during a rainstorm, Cale Cameron, well-known rake, is instantly attracted to her.
Elizabeth, Lady Thornhill, is restless and hungers for something she cannot name. Society would never accept a countess and a mere bookseller, so they agree to a one-week affair to indulge their desire. As their passion ignites and their connection grows, Elizabeth threatens the one thing Cale has protected above all else—his heart. Letting her go is the only solution, and the one thing he is not prepared to do.
Elizabeth is a widow who lives with her parents. Her parents are all about making yet another good marriage for her so that her sisters will have good prospects as well, once they head into the marriage mart. She’s also there because there wasn’t much money from her deceased husband’s estate to live on. Now she’s out of mourning and she’s so excited to be wearing colors again! It’s a bit freeing for her and once she leaves there she decides to send the carriage home and walk. That would have been a great idea if it hadn’t started pouring rain. She ducks into a shop and ends up bumping into a man. The offers tea and though Elizabeth is leery she accepts. Once she’s got tea in hand she starts to talk to this man who seems a bit forward. She finds out that he is Cale Cameron who is the owner of the bookshop she’s in and she also knows his reputation as a rake. Even though she’s intrigued by him she doesn’t let him know this and bickers with him.
After she leaves the shop neither one of them can stop thinking about the other. Cale finds her at a ball and they talk. He invites her to a dinner that he’s hosting of authors and he also invites her into his bed. Elizabeth is shocked but again, intrigued. She’s curious but she’s not sure sleeping with him is the best idea. She’s being courted by her dead husband’s cousin who inherited the Thornhill title. Does she play it safe and accept Thornhill’s proposal or does she take a chance on a rake?
This was a quick read that was fun and sexy. Cale and Elizabeth were great together and I loved reading them banter back and forth.
The first meeting between the two was a bit odd, I must say, as I didn’t really feel like they were getting along at all but then Elizabeth couldn’t stop thinking about him. After they talked at the ball I saw the sexual tension and the invisible pull between them and understood the attraction. Cale really saw Elizabeth for the intelligent woman she was and didn’t see her just as a wife and mother. He was a kind man and showed Elizabeth that kindness.
Unfortunately the story was too short as I would have liked to have kept reading about these characters. Despite that I was charmed by the story and found myself smiling by the end.
Rating: 3.75 out of 5