There was a tremendous amount of squee’ing here at the Bitchery when the eARC of Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover was released. Fans of MacLean, and of the Rules of Scoundrels series had been waiting for Chase’s story FOREVER and the big reveal at the end of No Good Duke Goes Unpunished made the waiting even WORSE. RedHeadedGirl and I dove right in.
ATTENTION. SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST THREE BOOKS IN THE SERIES FOLLOW. BE YE WARNED.
For those of you unfamiliar with the awesome that is the Rules of Scoundrel series, it’s four books set around a gaming hell called the Fallen Angel in Regency London. The Fallen Angel is a place where aristocrats lose their money and their secrets, and the Angel’s founder, Chase is the keeper of those secrets. Chase is known as the most powerful man in London–except now we know the truth: he’s not a man at all.
Georgiana, sister to a duke, fell from grace when she–GASP!–had sex as a teenager and became pregnant. Publicly shamed by her pregnancy, and a horrible cartoon run in a scandal sheet, she retired from society to raise her daughter quietly.
Or so you would think.
In reality she borrowed money from her brother to open The Fallen Angel where she’s been collecting money and secrets for a number of years along with her cohorts Bourne, Cross and Temple. Georgiana is alpha-est of alpha heroines. She does not fuck around. And she will END you if you cross her–as Chase of course.
Now that Georgiana’s daughter, Caroline, is growing up, Georgiana is troubled by the scandal that follows her tainting her daughter as well. She realizes she needs to reenter society in order to ensure that one day Caroline can make a good match. She sets her eyes on a perfectly good aristocratic husband and sets out to snare him.
At her debut ball she meets Duncan West, a self made man who owns those scandal sheets that ruined her years ago. Duncan feels genuinely bad about the shitty thing his paper did to her. When he follows her to The Fallen Angel, he realizes she has connections to Chase.
Duncan needs Chase. He’s got secrets of his own, secrets that the villainous Lord Tremley holds over his head. He wants to break free and he needs Chase and Georgiana to do that. He offers to help Georgiana, through his scandal papers, make a good match if she connects him to Chase. But of course, Duncan and Georgiana can’t resist each other…and Georgiana IS Chase so…yeah…
This book is all lies within webs of lies within tangles of things and it is glorious.
Elyse: I had to wait to read this until I could do it in one sitting because I was so excited. When the eARCs came out there was so much squeeing at the Bitchery.
I LOVED this book. Did it live up to your expectations, RHG?
RHG: IT DID. I’ve been, like, marking off a calendar waiting for this book ever since I got to the “Chase is a woman” reveal at the end of the last book and I like, did a search through the previous books to see if there were any slip ups (did not find any) and I would go and look at the cover once Sarah revealed it and basically was a huge dork about the entire goddamn thing.
What I’m saying here, in my overworked and kind of delirious way, is that this book was built up really high in my head. Like, REALLY high. And it cleared the bar.
Elyse: one of the things I loved so much was the dialogue between Chase and West. It’s this snappy, witty, flirty dialogue that reminded me of Bogart and Bacall. Every word is deliberate. It’s verbal fencing.
Chase in general can flay with her words. There’s a scene right in the beginning where she cuts down a Mean Girl at a ball and it’s amazing
RHG: I saw someone this summer say, “Oh, obviously Chase’s hero is going to be a beta, since she is such an alpha.” I said something like, “Lol what” and Sarah MacLean’s response to that was, “I think Chase would eat a beta for dinner.” West is an alpha, and one of the delightful things about this book was watching West renegotiate everything he knows about dealing with people (especially women), and learn to deal with Chase as an equal. He kept wanting to protect her and fix all her problems (even as he didn’t understand what those problems actually WERE), and she was like “oh my fucking god just stop.”
I think the setup of how The Fallen Angel got started was a little…handwavey, but I love that Chase basically willed it into existence by sheer force of personality: “Leighton, give me a shitton of money. I’m bored and I have these reprobates who need occupation.”
Elyse: I think that’s why this works so well as a romance because the tension between Chase and West is… OMG. You kind of expect them to destroy a room when they do go at it.
I loved that Chase is unapologetically ruthless too, and we don’t have some sort of, “Well my daddy was mean to me” back-story to justify it. She’s just a bad ass.
I felt like I should feel sorry for Mary, who Chase ruins after Mary talks smack about Chase’s daughter, but I didn’t. I took some vicarious delight in her destroying Mary. I did feel a tiny bit bad for Langley though. He’s just being a good potential husband, if kind of boring, and he doesn’t get the girl in the end. He doesn’t want her, but that’s not the point. He should get a consolation prize. Like a puppy.
RHG: I took a LOT of vicarious delight in destroying Mary. I know precisely who she resembled in my mind. And I loved how Georgiana threw Sophie a cookie for not being a terrible person by using her pull to get Sophie a dance with gossip fodder.
I also loved how the Fallen Angel came about because of Georgriana feeling powerless against society and deciding, “Fuck ‘em. I’m gonna have the power to destroy them ALL.” And yet, in the end, that power wasn’t enough to protect Caroline from Capital-S-Society.
Elyse: It’s interesting how powerful Chase is, yet as Georgiana she has to stand there and take shit because she’s a woman. It’s an interesting tension to watch play out.
I can’t imagine being used to being in charge, and still have to assume the role of a proper lady in public.
On a different subject, what did you think of West?
RHG: I like him, and I liked his reasons for building a swimming pool. I got tired of his jumping to conclusions about the nature of Chase and Georgi/Anna’s relationship, even as Georgi/Anna is dropping hints left right and center regarding the Truth About Chase. I do like their compare/contrast relationship with “rising above adversity” and “how to make everyone respect you.”
What’s your opinion on the villain?
Elyse: I saw a pin on MacLean’s Pinterest comparing Tremley to Frank Underwood from House of Cards, and I think that’s a good comparison. He’s evil and self absorbed, but ultimately I think he provided less conflict that Society did.
I think we’ve pretty much covered everything. I’d give this book an A. You?
RHG: A, absolutely. I’m just sad this series is over.
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YAY! have a hold on this at the NYPL but I think I’m gonna have to buy it. Patience is not one of my virtues (if you guys give something an A, that is).
A suggestion: Maybe edit this review to start with the info that this review contains spoilers for the first three books? The ZINGER REVEAL about Chase at the end of Book 3 should come as a blindside to new readers!
Good grief- you’re right. My apologies.
I’m a hoor for connecting stories, but the fact that we ‘met’ young Georgiana in a book from a previous MacLean SERIES (“Ten Ways to be Adored When Landing a Lord”) is utter freaking catnip to me. I don’t pre-order very many books, but this one? Yeah. Can’t wait to read it.
Woke up at 2a.m. and realized Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover had been delivered to my Kindle and read for an hour. Read in bed for a bit before I got up, And THEN because I am off today, went to Audible and debated using a credit (maybe?)? Buying the book for $10.49 (but of course!)? And my headphones will never leave my ears today until the book is done.
~spoilery stuff below~
When I read the ending of the last book and and did some online research I realized who this character most likely was. As mentioned in the podcast with Sarah MacLean, this reader went back and read the previous books looking for clues (see! it worked!). Part of the reason I was so looking forward to reading NJALBHC was to see what happened with the daughter. After reading a pretty much spoiler free review of the book, I understood Georgianna’s motivation for her actions *is* her daughter.
BTW… loved the Reading Lives podcast with Ms MacLean.
I loved this book so hard. It was everything I’d hoped it to be and was perfect from beginning to end. Even the acknowledgements where MacLean apologized for lying about Chase’s identity to a woman who accosted her in a Texas bathroom back in 2012. 🙂
But I do find I’m left wanting for one more thing– Caroline’s story.
Question: does one have to have finished No Good Duke Goes Unpunished in order to not be completely lost in the plot? It’s the only one of the series that was a DNF for me, and I want to know if I’ll be super-confused about other events in the book.
I love this series, but I didn’t even know this was out!! Another reason to resent my children. 🙂
@NCK, nope you can read them out of order if you want.
*Slight spoiler*
Somewhere in the middle of the second book, something with the pronouns (or some turn of phrase or something) made me realize that Chase was into men. I kept expecting “him” to fall in love as a side plot/B-story in the third book. When the reveal happened, I thought “yeah, that works, too,” but I was more surprised that it was a series of four books instead of a trilogy.
I am so excited to buy this, even more excited to hear that it met your collective sky-high expectations because that’s how high mine are, too. It was *thrilling* to discover Chase was a woman!
As far as Chase’s desire to rule society by way of information does anyone see that at St. John’s influence on her life? I felt like it was her homage to him. I would have liked to have seen some interaction there, but I loved this book as it met my high standards as well.
I’m so torn. I DNF’d the last book, which I hated. The second book was ok, I really loved the first one. This one is getting such rave reviews I may have to bite the bullet.
I cannot WAIT to read this 🙂
However. Can anybody help explain the mystery of the NPR connection?!? Every week the team from “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” posts another entry in their inevitably hilarious Sandwich Monday satire blog. Never Judge A Lady has made a prominent appearance in the past three! I’ve been so happy and so confused…
(5th picture)
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/11/24/366345445/sandwich-monday-the-thanksgiving-hot-durkey
(3rd picture)
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/11/17/364720868/sandwich-monday-papa-johns-frito-chili-pizza
(2nd picture)
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/11/10/363052805/sandwich-monday-the-dunkin-donuts-cronut
So this has become a thing for me. It was pointed out in an article I read how men are trained to think of women as an object in part by the romantic movies where a dude goes through all kinds of hardships and at the end, his prize is the girl. He gets the girl. She is a thing to be won. I struggle with how to change that because if a dude does go through all kinds of trouble, danger or hoops, he should be rewarded. I would be sad if the love interests don’t get together just to try an de-objectify women, but somehow these two things need to become separate – do good things to save the world or simply trying to entice a woman to fall in love with you AND a couple ending up together in love, NOT that someone was won as a prize for the actions taken.
I’ve got no solutions, just saw the text above and had this thought triggered.
I do not know, but it’s the most hilarious Easter Egg – by the end of December that poor book will be in tatters!
I want to like this story, because MacLean made me laugh in her first tales, which I enjoyed for their smooth writing and sly wit. And, like every other fan, I’ve eagerly awaited the uncovering of Chase, the ruthless senior partner, who we know is even tougher than the hardened fallen angels of the previous stories in this series.
MacLean’s talent is certainly evident in Never Judge a Lady by her Cover. Readers are provided with some great lines, none more so than when Chase/Anna/Georgiana is pointing out to Duncan his double/triple standards in how he changes his behaviour to her, depending on which persona he is dealing with – particularly when he offers to “support” the aristocratic Georgiana and touches her with respect, but offers a “deal” and blackmails the “whore” Anna, then drags her into an alcove and has her dress pulled to her waist only seconds later. And who could not enjoy the reversal of the usual scene in romance land, where it is the h who is nearly always the first to whisper endearments and be met with silence, or a practiced lie? I appreciated Maclean’s clever creation of Georgiana’s response to Duncan’s needy, jealous and repeated utterances of “I love you” with the more guarded “I choose you”.
I very much liked Georgiana’s daughter, who didn’t whine about her lot, was clever and tough and independent, who loved and tried to protect her mother and who challenged her when it mattered.
But, otherwise, I found this story to be crammed with one implausible scene after another, a sex scene I found distracting, diminishing (and even tedious) and, finally, an element I downright disliked. For anyone interested, I’ve detailed them in a review on Amazon.
I wanted to enjoy this story unreservedly, as I did some of MacLean’s earlier work, but this one doesn’t do it for me.
MAJOR SPOILER
Forgot to include my most serious objection.
To be added to above:
And, finally, TWO elements: the first I disliked. The second is abhorrent. Georgiana could not be redeemed for me because of it.
She has someone investigated, develops a “secret” file (nothing is secret, when other people are involved in the sleuthing) and is prepared (as she indicated she was) to use this to blackmail someone (when disclosure would mean he would be treated even worse than her daughter) into marrying her? If someone did this to my brother, I’d want to do whatever I could to destroy her reputation, but we are supposed to forgive her intentions – just because they are shelved as no longer required? I don’t think so.
I liked the portrayal of the gay character in this. In too many of the older romances, gay characters were villains. It’s encouraging that McLean portrays him as as a good, decent, possibly even heroic, man. It makes Chase’s consideration of blackmail against him even worse, as the revelation of his secret carried potentially devastating consequences for not only him, but for the men whose names he provided as part of his secret. Chase is not rendered unsympathetic for this ruthlessness because she’s in momma bear mode, which is always a trump card.
MOB – being “in momma bear mode” in no way eliminates being “rendered unsympathetic”. Moreover, being rendered unsympathetic would be letting her off too easily, in my view. Pity the world if being in momma bear mode excuses blackmail, let alone any other violent act against a person offering no threat to one’s child. Defend one’s child, by all means, but undertake a creepy attack against a man who has only exhibited kindness and grace? Yuck!
I loooooooved this book but I will say one thing: I noticed it in Book3 but it was more grating here. MacLean has come to rely on sentence fragments a great deal in her narration. This is fine, except when it is overdone (I felt her editor needed to redpen more aggressively) the narration starts to sound like Shatner.
I have to say that I loved the first book. I really liked the second. I made it through the third. And after waiting with bated breath for this one, I barely finished it. I had to skip half of the book and just managed to make it to the end without straining my eyes from the excessive eye-rolls the book induced. This book was the classic “as long as we don’t tell our secrets there is a plot”. It really drove me crazy. The writing was great, but I just couldn’t really like either of the main characters, the villain did everything but twirl his mustache, and I wanted something surprising to happen with the story.
This was a novel about secrets, but it felt like a much better version of the secret trope. The secrets made the dialog seem that much more snappy because each character had to counter the other without crossing that line of revealing something that would destroy them. I also like Chase’s journey that strength to destroy is not really redemptive. And her plot moppet is unrealistically wise beyond her years, but utters the teenage theme of “Let me live my own life” in a convincing way. I’d have to go back, but I think in the epilogue, there’s a brief reference of letting Lady M– out of jail. Perhaps, I just wanted Chase/Anna/Georgianna to have realized that meanness doesn’t deserve a life sentence.
***Spoiler detail***
One more thing… I loved the cover. But it actually reflects the book and the surprising white room. No fake flowery, comforting pastels or odalisque jewel tones. Bravo for something so different!
I also didn’t like the third book at all (I disliked the heroine a lot and she constantly justified her terrible actions) but I really enjoyed this one. One thing that I liked so much about it is that usually, when the hero and heroine are keeping secrets from each other, it drives me crazy, and I’m shouting “My God, just tell him! Tell her!” But this time they both had real and legitimate reasons not to tell, and not to trust one another. I enjoyed their slow path to trusting one another a lot, especially since both of them trust almost no one else.
I didn’t like West’s jealousy towards what he thought was the Anna/Chase relationship, though, that got old really fast.
A few lines from the first exchange between Duncan and Georgiana distracted me from fully appreciating MacLean’s deft writing:
Wasn’t this literally what Mara Lowe just did in the previous book?!
A few lines from Duncan and Georgiana’s first exchange distracted me from fully appreciating MacLean’s deft writing:
“No one’s ever done what you’re about to do,” he said, finally.
“What’s that?”
He returned to his relaxed position against the marble balustrade. “Returned from the dead.”
Wasn’t this literally what Mara Lowe just did in the previous book?!
Might be sort of spoilerish here.
Just a quick point: Chase’s file on Langley existed because of his membership at the Angel. That’s the status quo (whether one disagrees or not). This was before Chase’s decision to enter the marriage mart. We see repeatedly that Chase does regret that she has the file, and she does try all means at her disposal other than blackmail, which she plans to save as a last resort. She never actually uses it. Her determination to do so if she has to is not the actual act. So, to me, forgivable.
I can’t count the regency (and contemporary) romances I’ve read where it’s the male-lead-trope of “I’ll use her to get my revenge!” but he comes to know her as an individual and regrets his actions. In these stories, that guy typically already puts the blackmail into play, or does something to harm the heroine and then must make amends. That’s “worse” to me because that kind of character has used an innocent, whereas Chase/Georgiana seems to have only used her information against those deserving (again, because she never actually threatens Langley). So, no judgment with this, but are the folks unhappy with Georgiana’s ruthlessness only feeling that way because it’s coming from a female character? (I do for other traits, just not this).
I think in regency, we’re a lot more forgiving of this kind of machination because the whole world in which the story exists seems to operate that way. Who needs a dowry? Who needs a title? What connections can I use? I’ll let you marry my daughter if you pay my debt to that gaming hell. It may not be blackmail, but it’s very scheming and most often the marriages are business. In this context, Chase is just more capable of societal manipulation.
In the interest of full disclosure, I wasn’t able to read NJALBHC until yesterday, so I went into it having read the above. I guess I was waiting for Georgiana to be more cold-blooded, but I didn’t find her unfeeling or truly mercinary. I wouldn’t want her to cave too easily or be weak-willed. I’m not a fan of milquetoast in either hero or heroine.
I DO hope we see more Langley! I think authors are getting more comfortable having positive gay characters take a larger role. I cannot WAIT for Meljean Brook to write her Scarsdale book, for example. And, abruptly, I am done!
Beth K : I most definitely would also despise a man who behaved in such a repellant way and expect a romance story to have noble characters who would eliminate him as a threat. Irrespective, I could never accept the blackmailer as a H, in romanceland or any other story. I note that you precede your comment, expressed as a question, with “no judgement with this”. To ask that I might forgive a man for such an action, but blame a woman and then suggest no judgement is implied? It doesn’t seem that way from my point of view.
Furthermore, I’m well aware that Chase and her cohorts (including the H) had access to files on many, many people and that they used them ruthlessly. I made no criticism of them generally (or her, in particular) when they were doing so, as it was clarified that they were using the information to bring down wife beaters, thieves and other villains. That is another issue (one with some potential questions) but I did not address it. I was, instead, quite specific about what I found distasteful. It was Chase’s planned blackmail, as well as the fact that the story implied that she was not the only person aware of why she planned to use Langley’s sexuality (and that of other innocent parties) against him, if necessary.. Yes, she grapples with whether she will need to use the file, but never rejects its use. The introspection hardly exonerates her from trawling through her many (yes, I know they already existed) files and deciding that Langley best fits the bill of being titled but, very importantly, vulnerable enough to be forced to marry her. I remain of the view that, having chosen this device, the author could only redeem Georgiana by having her come to the conclusion that her plan was so ghastly she couldn’t use it, even if it meant she didn’t marry a member of the ton. And for that decision to be clearly expressed. By all means give him a wonderful love affair in a future story, but this minimises Georgiana’s intentions not one whit.
Danker, I sincerely meant no judgment. I read this on Nook and noticed a lot of reviewers on B&N mention as you did, so I was only looking for clarification from one among many, especially since you ARE so much more articulate with this stuff than I. This format appeals to me for back-and-forth more than Amazon where one always encounters a die-hard fan who believes the author can do no wrong.
As a reader, there are things that I’m okay with in real life but don’t want to see in a book, and vice versa. This is, of course, personal preference. IRL, I completely agree with you that the manipulative actions of this type of hero and heroine are NOT virtuous. Ends do not justify the means (at least if we have a conscience). But it does make for good literary tension. And Batman. In contemporary books, especially, I think myself a bit biased against the “ball-buster” corporate type woman (as opposed to a man, who *naturally* mustn’t have to put up a tough-guy front–that’s facetiousness, btw), even as I understand from personal experience how necessary that is.
I find myself drawn to books where the male or female does something horrendous (face it, usually the male) and then makes amends. I always scream at the book, even as I can’t tear myself away, because I think I could never be so forgiving. Particular catnip for me is the “he thinks she cheated/lied/betrayed and kicks her to the curb only to discover his error much later, whereupon he begs forgiveness” storyline. I don’t know that I could get passed some of this stuff if it actually happened to me, but I love to read it. And I find it a lot easier to forgive a female character some kind of unilateral decision to protect the male than I do when man pushes away a woman for the same reason. Likely because I am a woman. So, again, sincerely meant no judgment, but wondered whether Chase’s sex had any honest bearing.
Thanks for having a dialogue with me!
I liked but didn’t love this one — the sky-high expectations did not help (I BLAME YOU PEOPLE) (no, I don’t).
I wasn’t troubled by the Langley dirt — I never for one moment thought Chase would use it. I liked that he was a mensch. Add me to the folks hoping he’ll get his own story, perhaps digital-only.
What bugged me was the incessant back-and-forth between Duncan and Georgiana in the second half of the book! I wish I could tell! I cannot! I hate! I love! I destroy! I wish I could tel! I cannot! I hate! I love! It got tiresome for me. But I really liked both characters and the humor and hotness, and MacLean is never less than fun and smart to read.
AarthiD, you made me laugh with your Shatner line! I didn’t. Notice. But then. I am. Not always. The. Most Observant. Reader.
Ok, No one has commented on Lucia’s posting (#13) about this book appearing in three of NPR’s Wait,Wait,Don’t Tell Me’s satirical blog posts about food.
What goes here? The book is actually used to prop up the food in one of the photos. In another some guy in the background is clealy reading the book. In another it is on the table where the fake turkey is placed.
Mystery, mystery. Someone do some sleuthing and let us all know!
Beth K: thanks for your kind reply. In fairness to you, as I’ve mentioned in the comments under my review on Amazon, I also thought for some time about whether I might feel the same if the action was planned by a man. If there had been a group of other readers on this site who had shared my position I would perhaps have been less uptight. I have a short fuse about rape and violence, but also about victimisation of LGBTI people. So thanks for explaining the Nook reference and thanks for the clarification. On my side, I didn’t need to be so defensive.
I really wanted to like this book and, while the planned blackmail was my major turn-off, I was also left cold by a series of implausibilities. The alcove scene is just one (for the setting only – no door, just off the floor where she had just been assaulted, with men milling around? No.). And the Chase unmasking scene? It was like something out of a bad film. It was me! No me! Etc, etc. And then NOT ONE of those people who had rushed to the club for the story of the year went home and told the wife, or the mistress or a friend? No again.
I find that if I love the h and H I forgive all sorts of weaknesses in a story. Conversely, once they’ve lost me, I’m hyper-sensitive to every flaw. Sadly, this is what has happened with this book for me.
Elyse: Could 32 be deleted please? I thought I had lost it and wrote a subsequent version. I can’t figure out how to delete it. And then this one? Thanks.
No worries, Danker – I removed the duplicate.
I have no idea how that’s happening, but it’s hilarious, I agree!
I don’t mind putting aside believability in historical romances. I like pirates, happily ever afters, etc. But I want them to be smart. There were so many stupid decisions made by both characters throughout the book and those same decisions/assumptions were made over and over again. Problems and conflicts are boring if they’re never replaced with new ones. Sorry but I thought this was the worst book of the series.
This book was MAJOR let down. I am not a huge fan of this author because I think her scenes and characters are too contrived. The premise of the books is interesting but the writing fails to deliver.
These character did not act like themselves at all!! Chase/Georgiana was supposed to be a strong woman, but she did not act that way. Duncan is supposed to be a ruthless newspaper person…did not act that way. There was too much talking…too much back and forth about stupid things.
I thought they should have just had sex. They agreed to and then it was all like…you hurt my feelings I am going to leave. I don’t know what is going on…I am going to leave.
Plus, the long sentences and editing kind of annoyed me.
I would have given this a D and that’s being kind! Duncan was an idiot if he couldn’t figure out how to get out of being blackmailed especially since there didn’t seem to be any evidence or witnesses. And he had the upper hand: stealing a horse vs. treason? As for the heroine, she was unbelievable. A teenager tuned business woman in a man’s world who is also pretending to be a prostitute? Yet all she wants for her daughter is a place in the ton she despises? ugh!
I was also disappointed in this book. I loved some of MacLean’s earlier books, but I always had trouble suspending my disbelief around the premise of the Fallen Angel. The first two books in the series were OK, the third was problematic, and this one left me shaking my head.
How does Duncan get access to enough clean water to keep his swimming pool clean in the days before chlorine treatments? I know too much about antique plumbing and municipal water supplies to suspend my disbelief there.
The sex scene where Georgiana told Duncan not to pull out just made me RAGE. At that point, they believed they could never marry each other. The only other time she was inseminated, she had a child out of wedlock. Did she figure it was OK because she could just drop a cuckoo in Langley’s nest, or was she simply playing fertility roulette? We know how she loves games of pure chance. I lost my last shred of sympathy for both of them there.
I also had trouble believing in Duncan’s brilliance, since he was utterly perplexed by Georgiana’s connection to Chase once he accepted that they were never lovers. He had already assumed that Chase was a high-ranking aristocrat, so why wouldn’t he conclude that he was her brother, the Duke of Leighton? It’s a simple, logical solution, and a little digging into Leighton’s finances might have revealed his role in bankrolling The Angel.
I read this series due to the review that Never junge a Lady… Got here. I absolutely adored the Story of Cross and pippa. I have to admit, that once I start reading a series, I just Need to finish it.
I agree with those saying there is too much misunderstanding between Duncan and Georgiana as they are suposed to be extremely intelligent.
However, I can very well see the blackmailing on the heroines side. Power corrupts and so to me it is logical that Georgiana is tempted to use her power. It is a pity that this storyline and the Point of view of the victim have nlt been Explored in Detail.