Saturday, October 17, 2009

The Scandals of an Innocent by Nicola Cornick

The Scandals of an Innocent is the second in Cornick's The Brides of Fortune series, following The Confessions of a Duchess. I didn't read the first book and didn't feel like I was missing anything.

The book takes place in the village of Fortune's Folly in Yorkshire in the year 1810. The book gets off to a strong start when the heroine, Alice Lister, is caught by the hero, Lord Miles Vickery, in an act of theft (it's not as bad as it sounds.) Miles is in a terrible financial bind and tries to blackmail Alice into marrying him so he can have her money.

Alice is a very interesting and unusual heroine because she was a former maid who inherited a fortune from her former employer. I liked how the author explained how she had to go through a great deal (dance lessons, speech lessons, etc.) and only achieved limited acceptance in society, which made her position seem more realistic. I liked Alice's personality very much, she would be the perfect friend. Miles, on the other hand, was a total and complete cad for much of the book. You gradually learn why he acts how he does and he does change thanks to Alice's influence and his love for her. It was frustrating that he took so long to see the light, but maybe that long wait made the ending all the sweeter.

I'll rate Scandals 7.0 out of 10 and will look for the next in the series.

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