Scan barcode
A review by _once
A Little Scandal by Patricia Cabot
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
📚#4 in My Meg Cabot Read Through
Meg Cabot's fourth novel A Little Scandal took me some time to finish. In part, because I put it on hold to finish up some other books before December ended. However, after reading those books, I didn't feel particularly compelled to finish up A Little Scandal. Compared to Meg's first three books as Patricia Cabot, I felt that this one was the least interesting. I think this had mostly to do with the one-note male love interest. But... first things first.
The book is set in 1870 London. Kate Mayhew is a twenty-three-year-old governess, whom the tempestuous Marquis Burke Traherne hires to chaperone his somewhat wayward daughter Isabel. [Burke is thirty-six-years-old btw. Another older man lol.] Kate and Burke basically fall for each other at the same time, though they mistake the feelings for lust [ofc]. As a couple, I'm kind of neutral on them which I will explain why in a bit. As for Isabel, I can't help but dislike her. I don't know how anyone could deal with her.
I will discuss what I think the book does right first. It has a good mystery to it, which Meg has done in the previous books, but I really liked how she wrote it here. Basically, Kate's past is slowly told to us over the first half of the book. Burke doesn't learn until near the end of the bookand I appreciate that he is one of the few people to believe her without question . Even after the mystery is revealed, there's a good sense of foreboding. Kate as the heroine I liked. My only complaint is that she's sometimes too stubborn, which includes her tug-of-war about whether she'll marry Burke or not. I did like that she just left when he asked her to be his mistress. I would've done the same lol.
Addressing the elephant in the room, I'm looking at you Burke. Another typical "rake" stereotype, of course. However, this time it's extremely violent man. [Keep in mind that he's not particularly violent towards Kate.] His backstory is reasonable enough to justify his behavior to a point. For me, his violence and possessiveness is just a complete turn-off.[Doesn't help that he says "Mine" after having sex with Kate for the first time.] Though I might've got over this, if he went through some character development. Yes, he learns to love again but he ends the novel just as violent and possessive. I will say that this is probably just a preference thing, because it's not like he's some toxic man. I personally wasn't completely a fan of him.
Another note, while the sex scenes were very sexy and smoldering, it was too much at times. Burke's all over Kate in the last fifty pages.
Okay, A Little Scandal was not my favorite but I can still say I liked it. The first half of the book was very good and I really liked Kate's and Burke's "meet cute." It's just that the pay-out wasn't fully there, because I was never 100% liking Burke. Lady of Skye is up next!
Meg Cabot's fourth novel A Little Scandal took me some time to finish. In part, because I put it on hold to finish up some other books before December ended. However, after reading those books, I didn't feel particularly compelled to finish up A Little Scandal. Compared to Meg's first three books as Patricia Cabot, I felt that this one was the least interesting. I think this had mostly to do with the one-note male love interest. But... first things first.
The book is set in 1870 London. Kate Mayhew is a twenty-three-year-old governess, whom the tempestuous Marquis Burke Traherne hires to chaperone his somewhat wayward daughter Isabel. [Burke is thirty-six-years-old btw. Another older man lol.] Kate and Burke basically fall for each other at the same time, though they mistake the feelings for lust [ofc]. As a couple, I'm kind of neutral on them which I will explain why in a bit. As for Isabel, I can't help but dislike her. I don't know how anyone could deal with her.
I will discuss what I think the book does right first. It has a good mystery to it, which Meg has done in the previous books, but I really liked how she wrote it here. Basically, Kate's past is slowly told to us over the first half of the book. Burke doesn't learn until near the end of the book
Addressing the elephant in the room, I'm looking at you Burke. Another typical "rake" stereotype, of course. However, this time it's extremely violent man. [Keep in mind that he's not particularly violent towards Kate.] His backstory is reasonable enough to justify his behavior to a point. For me, his violence and possessiveness is just a complete turn-off.
Another note, while the sex scenes were very sexy and smoldering, it was too much at times. Burke's all over Kate in the last fifty pages.
Okay, A Little Scandal was not my favorite but I can still say I liked it. The first half of the book was very good and I really liked Kate's and Burke's "meet cute." It's just that the pay-out wasn't fully there, because I was never 100% liking Burke. Lady of Skye is up next!