Reviews for Marriage Most Scandalous

The average rating for Marriage Most Scandalous based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-10-17 00:00:00 Wayne Johnson When I heard about Marriage Most Scandalous was about I was intrigued. The hero was described as a mercenary which made my ears perk up. I love dangerous romance heroes. What can I say? I was tempted, despite my limited financial funds to buy the book when it came out (from Walmart at a considerable discount), but since money wasn't good I elected to wait. And lo and behold, my patience was rewarded when I found it at the library. I finished the book in 2 days (because I saw three movies also in that time period), and I was totally satisfied. Sebastian Townshend is in a word, a fantastic hero, despite his flaws: broody, rude, short-tempered. But also principled, vulnerable, and heroic. I pictured Christian Bale with a ponytail: tall, brawny, beautiful, brownish eyes, brooding. Perfection. Although I could not find an actress who fit Maggie's description, I had a very good picture of her in my head. This book definitely had elements that I love in my romance novels: dark, brooding hero, with an air of danger, who is disgraced for a past event that isn't totally his fault. A strong-willed, intelligent heroine who can handle him. And loads of chemistry. Sebastian's sexuality fairly erupted off the page. He makes such a very determined assault on Maggie's virtue that I know if I were in her shoes I would find very hard to resist, especially since their pretend marriage puts them in very close quarters. I felt the need to fan myself as I read the book. Lovely in a word. The secondary characters were also quite interesting and well-drawn. Of course there's never enough time to delve too deeply but JL tantalized the reader enough to wish that the book was 300 pages longer. As I finished this book I knew that my Johanna Lindsey slump was broken

Review # 2 was written on 2015-03-11 00:00:00 Robert Sheriff 2.5 I might be at the end of my binge Stars I occasionally go on a romance run and binge read romance novels back to back until they start to seem silly and tedious…I think I'm there. It isn't necessarily that this is a bad Historical Romance….but it isn't a great one either. I LONG for a really good HR story where both the romance and the plot line up and are both good. For me this had a decent plot that I liked the revelation of at the end and the romance had moments but that was about it. Most of the time it was just blah for me. First the Plot: I actually liked this most about the book. Sebastian killed his best friend in a Duel, was disowned by his family and had to leave the country. That all happens in the prologue so not a spoiler. He is working as a type of mercenary when Maggie finds him quite accidentally and convinces him to return to solve the mystery of who is trying to kill his father. Okay so I really wasn't impressed at first because I thought I had figured out the mystery really early, in fact I was sure of it. But in the last 30% I found out I totally misjudged the mystery and then the plot became infinitely more interesting to me. A book that had been just ho hum was now, way more interesting and I did very much enjoy how the mystery played out. Second the Romance: I wanted desperately to like it but I didn't. I liked the bad boy persona of 'The Raven' but it came and went too easy and one minute Sebastian was a devilish rogue with ambiguous morals and the next a perfect gentleman. I much preferred the rogue, I admit it I sometimes like it when the hero is a bit of a jerk. Then there is Maggie who is all prim properness. I liked her for the most part, she was headstrong and stubborn and a little bit wild. What I didn't like is the initial sex scene. Sebastian asks her to say "yes" before going all the way and she says "no". Okay it is very clear from what is happening that she is into the pre love making but she still said "no". He says "okay as long as we both know you mean yes." I am a huge proponent of No means No, no matter what the signals say. So that definitely ruined the initial smexy times for me. I would have enjoyed it better if he left her wanting what she said she didn't want. The romance ended up turning out cute in the end but some of it just really left a sour taste in my mouth. So overall I liked the mystery, but wasn't sold on the romance (which is really what I read this for).