How to Catch a Wicked Viscount
by Amy Rose Bennett
The Disreputable Debutantes - Book 1
Publisher: Berkley Jove
Release Date: August 27, 2019
Reviewed by PJ
Shy, bookish Sophie Brightwell is expected to make an advantageous match to improve her family's fortunes. However, Sophie's plans to make a spectacular debut go horribly awry when she and her three closest friends are expelled from a young ladies' academy for unbecoming conduct. Since the ton will be sure to close their doors on these disgraced debutantes, they determine that unconventional means need to be employed in the husband-hunting market. Rakehells—the beau monde's wickedest members—might be the only men willing to overlook a young lady's besmirched reputation.
But how does one catch a rake?
Nate Hastings, the devil-may-care Viscount Malverne, is the older brother of Sophie’s best friend, fellow disgraced debutante Lady Charlotte. When a terribly foxed Nate accidentally compromises Sophie, Charlotte strikes a wicked bargain: in order to avoid a scandal and the parson's mousetrap, Nate must help Sophie snare a husband. But as Nate fulfills his obligation and begins to instruct the lovely Sophie in the art of luring rakes, he soon finds himself battling his own fierce attraction to her.
My thoughts:
I enjoyed this book that launches Amy Rose Bennett's new Disreputable Debutantes series. The four young women who meet at school are each unique, from varying backgrounds, and social classes, yet they form a strong bond that continues beyond the scandal that saw them expelled from school and returned to their respective families. I enjoyed their friendship and look forward to getting to know each of them better as the series continues.
Sophie engaged my emotions almost immediately with her shame over the school scandal (which in comparison to the antics of young men of the time was barely scandalous at all), her determination to be her family's savior through her writing, and her never-ending crush on her best friend's older brother. But she also endeared herself to me through her pragmatism, her honesty, and her loyalty to family, friends and to herself. I love how open and honest she is with Nate. She may be an innocent but she doesn't hold back from exploring her own sensuality as well as her feelings for Nate. And I cheered for her when she put her own well-being first.
Nate is a charmer and he's smitten with Sophie, though he denies it to others, and to himself. He's likable but seemed immature to me even though he'd been through the horrors of war. I understood the need to forget all he'd seen and done by living large once he returned home, and he does grow over the course of the story, but I was looking for a little more substance.
Nate and Sophie's journey is well-paced for most of the book, with sparkling banter, sensual encounters, and deepening emotions. Though those deepening emotions are more on Sophie's side of the relationship until near the end of the book. I would have liked to see more evidence of Nate's feelings before the conclusion, which seemed a bit rushed.
Those few quibbles aside, though, this was an enjoyable book that introduced me to intriguing characters about whom I want to know more. I'll be back for the next book in The Disreputable Debutantes series.
Excerpt
Nate pushed open the double doors to the
library. If only he didn’t have to attend any damnable ton balls or soirees. God, the idea of
courting a simpering debutante like Lady Penelope Purcell was enough to turn
his stomach—
A decidedly feminine gasp and a dull thud
stopped him dead in his tracks.
What the
deuce?
Behind his father’s desk stood a raven-haired
angel. A beautiful young woman wearing nothing but a pale blue shawl over a
thin white night rail, and an expression of sheer terror.
“Lord Malverne. Oh, heavens. Oh, my goodness.”
The angel’s shocked, wide-eyed gaze dropped to the desk, and then, much to his
amusement, he was certain she muttered something not so angelic like blast beneath her breath.
Nate’s gaze followed hers. Blast
indeed. His father’s cut
crystal inkwell was on its side, and a black pool of ink was rapidly spreading
across the dark red blotter, heading inexorably toward the young woman’s
pristine nightgown. In the next instant, as he strode toward the desk to offer
assistance, she whipped off her shawl and pressed it against the inky puddle.
“I’m so, so sorry. What will your father think
of me? I only meant to borrow a little ink. I didn’t think he’d mind.” Her
words came out in a breathless rush as she began to dab furiously at the
blotter. “And now I’ve ruined some of his papers. Oh, Lord, I hope they’re not
too important.” She nodded at a dark splash marring the top of a document that
looked a lot like a draft parliamentary bill. “What a disaster.”
Her long black braid had fallen forward
over her slender shoulder and it swayed with her movements, caressing the swell
of one pert breast. A breast covered by nothing but threadbare cotton. It was
cold in the room and her nipple pressed quite impudently against the fabric.
Holy hell. Nate swallowed as his body tightened with longing.
The sight was so distracting, he had to force himself to lift his eyes back to
the girl’s.
“I’m not sure it’s as bad as all that,” he
lied. His father would be livid. On an impulse, he laid a hand atop the angel’s
slender, ink-stained fingers to stop her frantic attempts to contain the mess.
She stilled instantly, her breath hitching. And when she looked up at him,
Nate’s breath caught too.
At these close quarters, the lamplight
illuminated the girl’s lovely face. Her eyes, as clear and blue as a midsummer
sky, were ringed with a darker liquid navy and fringed by impossibly long,
black lashes. When she dropped her gaze to his hand lying atop hers, they
fanned across her cheeks where a bright red blush was beginning to spread
almost as rapidly as the ink had. God, she was an innocent and he was behaving
like a cad, but he was thoroughly enchanted and couldn’t seem to help himself.
His voice, when it emerged, was
embarrassingly unsteady. “You seem to know me, but I’m not sure that I know
you, Miss . . .”
“Brightwell. Sophie Brightwell,” she
supplied in a voice that was also oddly husky. She clearly felt the sizzle of
attraction between them too.
“Sophie Brightwell,” he repeated, savoring
the feel of her name on his lips. It suited her perfectly. The girl was about
the same age as his sister, and a distant memory stirred. A cold winter’s day
in Hyde Park. Three years ago. This was the awkwardly shy but pretty schoolroom
chit that Charlie had introduced him to. “You’re Charlie’s friend. From the
academy.”
“Yes.” Miss Sophie Brightwell slid a hand
from beneath his and pushed a loose strand of hair away from her flushed cheek.
“Your father and Charlie . . . I mean, Lady Charlotte, have
invited me to stay. For the Season. I know this looks terrible, my skulking
about the library at the dead of night, but I couldn’t sleep. You know how it
is in a strange bed. Honestly, I only meant to borrow a little ink.”
“Yes, you said that before. But then I
barged in and I startled you, no doubt. So this accidental spill”—he couldn’t
resist lightly squeezing her hand—“is entirely my fault. And I shall tell my
father so.” His father would believe him. It wasn’t as though this was the
first mess he’d ever made.
“No.” Miss Brightwell shook her head. “No,
I can’t let you do that, Lord Malverne.”
“I insist.” Removing his hand from hers,
Nate pulled a silk kerchief from his coat pocket, then, rake that he was, he
leaned closer. The heady scent of warm female laced with something delicate and
floral—perhaps it was the soap she used—teased him, enticing him to do
something unthinkable, like burying his face in her sweet neck. To inhale
deeply and run his lips along her collarbone. To taste the silken flesh where
her pulse fluttered at the base of her throat . . .
Jesus Christ and all his saints, what was
he thinking? Less than a month of abstaining from sexual congress had clearly
addled his brain.
He couldn’t seduce Charlie’s friend no
matter the desire thrumming through his veins. She was a young woman alone with
a known rake, late at night. The situation was highly compromising to say the
least.
Dangerous.
Have you read any of Amy Rose Bennett's books?
Are you a fan of the "falling in love with best friend's brother/sister" trope?
One person who comments before 11:00 PM, August 29, will receive a print copy of How to Catch a Wicked Viscount. (U.S. addresses only)
