Chase, Loretta - Last Night's Scandal

[oyceter]

Olivia Wingate-Carsington and Peregrine Dalmay, Earl of Lisle, are now no longer the trouble-making children they were in Lord Perfect. Instead, Lisle is back from Egypt and trying to deal with his overly dramatic and demanding parents, while Olivia is breaking engagements left and right. And when Lisle's parents come up with yet another scheme to keep him from returning to Egypt, Olivia comes up with one of her own.

First off, Olivia was one of the best parts of Lord Perfect, which was sadly boring, and she continues to delight in this book. She's prone to writing letters with sentences like "If I am caught, IMPRISONMENT IN THE COUNTRY awaits me—but as you know, I regard my own Safety and Happiness as of No Consequence in the pursuit of a Noble Cause." Furthermore, she has no morals or ethics whatsoever (and admits so freely) and would probably try to con everyone she met if she could get away with it.

Lisle, on the other hand, protests that he has no imagination to counter Olivia's overabundance of the thing, but he has imagination enough. As evidence, when he meets Olivia after a five-year separation, he notices she's grown up in quite a few ways and dubs one of them her "satanic bosoms."

Truly, that is not a phrase I see often in books, much less in a romance describing the heroine's assets.

Soon, they're off to repair a haunted Scottish castle. Normally I would roll my eyes at ghosts and Scotland, but Chase pokes sly fun at Scotland. I'd take more offense at this, except my feeling was that she was poking fun at all those dreadful romances set in Scotland with the kilts and the lairds and the accents.

I also sighed in relief when I saw it took place mostly in Scotland, as the terrible racism has made Mr. Impossible, one of my former favorite Chases, impossible to reread. There's definitely a lot of annoying references to Lisle's time in Egypt in here (dancing girls ARGH), but at least it's not as bad as it could have been?

The book isn't one of Chase's best, and even though Olivia breaks with most romance heroine molds, Lisle can be a bit annoying at times. It's mostly a very fun romp without the genre-convention-overthrowing that would make it one of Chase's better books, like Lord of the Scoundrels. Still, a fun romp from Chase is heads above a lot of romances, and I enjoyed this one a great deal.

Comments

[kate_nepveu]

I've been halfway through this for months. A little too much "oh just talk to each other already" in the middle. Which makes me sad because, Olivia! I'm sure I'll get back to it eventually.

[oyceter]

Yeah... I definitely want to whack Lisle on the head at times (more Lisle than Olivia, but I am biased), especially when he is being all humoring toward Olivia. Lisle! You should know better!

[lnhammer]

Truly, that is not a phrase I see often in books

Or, at all.

---L.

[oyceter]

You never know! I figured if I posted "Never seen in books" someone on DW would immediately come up with a counter example!

[gwyneira]

I was so glad I liked this one after bouncing off Your Scandalous Ways and barely making it through Don't Tempt Me. I'd have been disappointed if Olivia and Lisle hadn't gotten a decent book of their own.

[oyceter]

Yeah, me too! I ended up liking Your Scandalous Ways after bouncing off of it the first time (I was SO disappointed the courtesan was the more emotionally vulnerable one that I didn't finish for a year), but YMMV.

[seraphcelene]

First of all posting from my phone. gah. Second, and more to the point, I think I need to read that book. Sounds like perfect post-midterm fare.

[oyceter]

Hee! New smartphone? I stopped doing long comments and emails from mine because I typo so badly.

It is very fun and fluffy, and I am sad it didn't come out when I was in grad school... I could have used it then!