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rjordan19 's review for:
The Scandal of It All
by Sophie Jordan
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Humor: A touch?
Perspective: third person with time in both the hero and heroine's head (I feel like it was fairly balanced, maybe at touch more on the heroine's side)
Should I read in order?
It would work to do so - there is some mentions of prior characters and you'll get a bit of background on the whole family situation - but I also think this one is fine as a stand alone. (though I do think this one is a good one to read before picking up book 3 - the pain for book 3's hero is established here and the reason he goes on a trip in the first place. And at the end of this book, he returns - married.)
Basic plot:
Graciela is widowed and ready to live life a bit. She finally gets the gumption to visit a pleasure house, but is horrified when she immediately runs into her step son. Colin protects her identity from him, while discovering new feelings for her himself.
Give this a try if you want:
- Medium to higher steam - there are 4 full scenes here
- Age gap/taboo feel - heroine is 7 years older than the hero and has a 14 year old daughter. The hero is her step son's best friend
- You have to be okay with a touch of dubious consent - the hero is a bit pushy when it comes to the heroine (we are in her head and know the reason she is backing away)
- English hero, Spanish heroine (she's lived for 17 years in England)
- Hero loves first/hero pursues heroine
- Majority of the book focused on the relationship (no mystery to solve and only a minor bit of villainish action)
Ages:
- Heroine is 36, hero 29
My thoughts:
I really enjoyed this Sophie Jordan! I liked the taboo feel of Graciela forming feelings for her step son's best friend Colin. The book starts off with a pleasure house scene that really set the tension for me - there was only a kiss but the holding, whispering in ears, and possessiveness and protectiveness really made me fall into the story and be more invested into their relationship.
I loved that they spent most of the book together and there was a lot of push and pull with their relationship. I am usually into hero pursues story lines and this one didn't disappoint. I think some might find Colin too pushy or annoying but I really, really loved him here.
Plus it was fairly steamy, which is a plus for me. :P There have been a couple of Jordan's I've read lately that were so slow burn I was a shriveled up husk of desperation for a scene by 70% - not here!
Here’s a few random parts that I wanted to note from the book
Shows how it can have a dubious consent feel - yay for me! (But note for those that don't prefer that behavior
I’ve thought over your proposition and my answer is no.
She’d given him her answer. Perhaps the flowers had been too much and scared her off. He reread the note and smiled to himself. Not for one moment did he believe she meant those words. Scared or not, it didn’t change anything. It wouldn’t do any good.
He was still coming for her.
When the hero scales a second story window to get into her bedroom when he hears she’s leaving and she shares a bit of her insecurities
She tensed, her hand coming to lock around his wrist.
“I-I’m not young,” she murmured, a shake to her voice. “And...I-I bore a child. I’m not like the girls you are accustomed to. I-”
He silenced her with a full-mouthed kiss
Content Warnings:
Infidelity remembered from heroine's dead husband
Attempted sexual assault of heroine resulting in hero doing physical violence to the perpetrator
Grandmother pushes the pregnant heroine down the stairs
Possible miscarriage on page
Locations of kisses/intimate scenes - I had a hoopla ebook and couldn't see the pages accurately so I just marked the chapters of the scenes
Chapter 4 - kisses
Chapter 8 - fingering/oral orgasm for her on a table
Chapter 12 - missionary sex, followed by remembered/alluded to 3 times, followed by doggy style
Chapter 18 - oral for her, missionary on the floor
Chapter 24 - kisses/oral for her/missionary sex
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Humor: A touch?
Perspective: third person with time in both the hero and heroine's head (I feel like it was fairly balanced, maybe at touch more on the heroine's side)
Should I read in order?
It would work to do so - there is some mentions of prior characters and you'll get a bit of background on the whole family situation - but I also think this one is fine as a stand alone. (though I do think this one is a good one to read before picking up book 3 - the pain for book 3's hero is established here and the reason he goes on a trip in the first place. And at the end of this book, he returns - married.)
Basic plot:
Graciela is widowed and ready to live life a bit. She finally gets the gumption to visit a pleasure house, but is horrified when she immediately runs into her step son. Colin protects her identity from him, while discovering new feelings for her himself.
Give this a try if you want:
- Medium to higher steam - there are 4 full scenes here
- Age gap/taboo feel - heroine is 7 years older than the hero and has a 14 year old daughter. The hero is her step son's best friend
- You have to be okay with a touch of dubious consent - the hero is a bit pushy when it comes to the heroine (we are in her head and know the reason she is backing away)
- English hero, Spanish heroine (she's lived for 17 years in England)
- Hero loves first/hero pursues heroine
- Majority of the book focused on the relationship (no mystery to solve and only a minor bit of villainish action)
Ages:
- Heroine is 36, hero 29
My thoughts:
I really enjoyed this Sophie Jordan! I liked the taboo feel of Graciela forming feelings for her step son's best friend Colin. The book starts off with a pleasure house scene that really set the tension for me - there was only a kiss but the holding, whispering in ears, and possessiveness and protectiveness really made me fall into the story and be more invested into their relationship.
I loved that they spent most of the book together and there was a lot of push and pull with their relationship. I am usually into hero pursues story lines and this one didn't disappoint. I think some might find Colin too pushy or annoying but I really, really loved him here.
Plus it was fairly steamy, which is a plus for me. :P There have been a couple of Jordan's I've read lately that were so slow burn I was a shriveled up husk of desperation for a scene by 70% - not here!
Here’s a few random parts that I wanted to note from the book
Shows how it can have a dubious consent feel - yay for me! (But note for those that don't prefer that behavior
I’ve thought over your proposition and my answer is no.
She’d given him her answer. Perhaps the flowers had been too much and scared her off. He reread the note and smiled to himself. Not for one moment did he believe she meant those words. Scared or not, it didn’t change anything. It wouldn’t do any good.
He was still coming for her.
When the hero scales a second story window to get into her bedroom when he hears she’s leaving and she shares a bit of her insecurities
She tensed, her hand coming to lock around his wrist.
“I-I’m not young,” she murmured, a shake to her voice. “And...I-I bore a child. I’m not like the girls you are accustomed to. I-”
He silenced her with a full-mouthed kiss
Content Warnings:
Infidelity remembered from heroine's dead husband
Attempted sexual assault of heroine resulting in hero doing physical violence to the perpetrator
Grandmother pushes the pregnant heroine down the stairs
Possible miscarriage on page
Locations of kisses/intimate scenes - I had a hoopla ebook and couldn't see the pages accurately so I just marked the chapters of the scenes
Chapter 4 - kisses
Chapter 8 - fingering/oral orgasm for her on a table
Chapter 12 - missionary sex, followed by remembered/alluded to 3 times, followed by doggy style
Chapter 18 - oral for her, missionary on the floor
Chapter 24 - kisses/oral for her/missionary sex