She’s too intelligent to fall for the worst man in the world… He’s determined to continue doing what he does best–sin and sin again–and all that’s going swimmingly, thank you…until the day a shop door opens and she walks in. No respectable woman would have anything to do with the “Bane and Blight of the Ballisters”–and he wants nothing to do with respectable women. Sebastian Ballister, the notorious Marquess of Dain, is big, bad, and dangerous to know. They call him many names but Angelic isn’t one of them… I do wonder: what are the other must reads in Chase’s backlist? Also, what classic romances should I read next? Impossible, hoping that it’s as good as Your Scandalous Ways and Lord of Scoundrels. (I like Dain, as some appear not to, but he’s clearly playing second fiddle to Jess.) Many romances survive on the hero’s appeal, but Lord of Scoundrels stands out by relying on the heroine’s strength. Between this and His at Night by Sherry Thomas, I am going to demand that all historical heroines beat a man half to death during the course of the novel. I can see why Lord of Scoundrels continually tops favorites lists: Jessica. (Does the Beaumont, Esmond, Beaumont’s wife triangle reappear in another of Chase’s books?) Likewise, Dain’s friends Beaumont and Vawtry remain important to the plot until the end, but Esmond disappears without a trace. At the beginning Jessica talks of setting up her own store, but after the opening her skill at finding antiques remains mostly forgotten. I was, however, puzzled by a couple of dropped plot points. I also enjoyed Jessica pushing Dain towards adulthood and responsibility. His idolization of Dain is leading him toward the poorhouse, and Jessica prefers to live comfortably on her fortune (earned in trade) rather than using it to continually pay his debts. Her brother Bertie Trent is pretty close to being the dullest tool in the shed. Luckily he runs into Jessica Trent, an aging beauty who won’t put up with his nonsense. He can still be frustrating, but his character remains coherent and makes sense. The opening contextualized Dain’s protracted childhood. This mainly leads to the reason seeming smaller than it actually is and thus extra frustration with the hero’s behavior. Too often authors draw out revealing the trauma that turned the hero into a jerkass.

Due to the “Beauty and the Beast” theme (I love fairytales), I started with Lord of Scoundrels.Ĭhase, smartly, begins by recounting the Marquess of Dain’s past. Impossible and I recently picked up both for cheap. I read and enjoyed Loretta Chase’s Your Scandalous Ways, and I’ve seen countless recommendations for Lord of Scoundrels and Mr. While I’ve now been reading romances steadily for two years, I’m still new to the genre and catching up on the classics. Historical romance released by Avon, reprinted Dec 2007 Liviania’s retro review of Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase

Scoundrels series loretta chase