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Secrets of a Scandalous Bride
The Widows Club series

By Sophia Nash
       

         Take an emotionally damaged horse trainer on the brink of bankruptcy and a desperate young woman on the run from a ruthless general who wants to marry her, and you've got Secrets of a Scandalous Bride. Elizabeth Ashburton, known for her beauty, outspokenness, good cooking, and horse-riding ability, pretends to be a young widow living under the protection of others. While escaping from the soldiers who are searching for her on orders from General Leland Pymm, Elizabeth jumps into the nearest carriage for shelter. The owner of the carriage, the notorious womanizer Rowland Manning, decides to punish her as payment for his aid in helping her elude the General.

Short on staff due to financial woes, Rowland puts Elizabeth to work cleaning his home. With her love of cooking, Elizabeth naturally ends up in the kitchen trying to befriend the workers and cook a few meals. Hoping to save money by serving shabby meals, Rowland becomes infuriated with her gourmet cooking that wastes his money and spoils his servants. This is just one of many battles fought between the two before the relationship between Elizabeth and Rowland evolves into a romance.

Although Rowland comes across as quite harsh in the early chapters, when we learn of his background and his current circumstances, it's possible to generate some understanding – if not sympathy for the man. Despite his apparent power and strength, he needs helps as desperately as she does, and most readers will enjoy watching them find ways to help each other with their rather significant troubles. The author presents Pymm as a classic one-dimensional villain to be outdone by the hero and heroine. However, just when you think you have it all figured out, you'll be surprised and delighted to discover that you don't.

The Book

Avon Books
March 2010
Mass Market Paperback
978-0-06-149330-0
Romance – Historical (London, 1814)
More at Amazon.com
Excerpt
NOTE: Violence, Sexuality

The Reviewer

Leslie Halpern
Reviewed 2010
NOTE:
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