It Started with a Scandal
By Julie Anne Long
Publisher: Avon
Release Date: March 31, 2015
Enter Elise Fountain. Elise, the unmarried mother of a six-year-old
son, lost both her home and her livelihood when the vindictiveness of a
student’s sister forced Miss Endicott of Miss Endicott’s School for Girls to
fire Elise, albeit reluctantly. Favors were called in and Redmond influence
secured Elise an interview for the position of Lavay’s housekeeper. She refuses
to be intimidated—at least visibly--by her own lack of experience or by the
surly nobleman with a reputation for throwing objects at his housekeepers. When
Lavay questions her about her qualifications, she responds,
“I’ve taught classrooms full of
unruly children possessed of a variety of natures, and I know how to make them
listen and learn and like it. I understand the concerns and politics of
household staff and am prepared to address and manage them. I have experienced
a number of, shall we say, economic conditions, and can adjust to any of them.
I am scrupulously organized. All in all I have a very good brain. And I am
afraid of nothing.”
Of course she does have fears, and one of them is the fear
of not securing the position she needs desperately.
Despite her calm façade, Lavay recognizes her desperation.
He also recognizes her breeding and her pride. He offers her the housekeeper’s
job on a two-week trial. In the weeks that follow, Elise transforms Lavay’s
home and his life. Untrimmed candles, inadequate fires, and layers of dust have
been the norm as lazy servants neglected their responsibilities and waited for
the temporary tenant to leave. Elise organizes the servants, challenges them,
appeals to their pride and soon has them working diligently, except for the
fierce, thieving cook whom Elise fires but not before rescuing the treasures
the cook has stolen from Lavay. He cannot ignore the newly industrious
servants, the clean and shining house, or the plentiful apple tarts that are
Elise’s specialty. Neither can he ignore Elise. In fact, his awareness of her
increases with every contact, and he cannot resist ringing the bell that
ensures their contacts are frequent. Elise is no less aware of him. “"Why make me a woman, why make him
a man, why make him charming, why make it such a pleasure to touch him, why
must it feel as though I'm touching flame, why must I be tempted like this?”
she questions.
This unlikely pair is
surprisingly similar. Both have lost their homes and family members, and both
are unalterably committed to protecting their surviving family. But the gap
between a French aristocrat and his housekeeper is huge, and class difference
is not the only obstacle between them. Lavay has devoted his life to restoring
the property his family lost in the French Revolution so that his grandfather
and his younger sister can live the life to which their birth entitles them,
and he must act quickly to secure the family estate before it is sold to the
highest bidder. Such action requires an immediate and sizeable infusion of
funds. Since his injuries make returning to the dangerous work that almost
killed him a foolish risk, he is left with the option of marriage to an old
friend who is willing to exchange her family’s wealth for his family’s status. Elise,
having been abandoned by her son’s father and disowned by her parents, is wary
of relationships and ever conscious of her responsibility to avoid anything
that would make her son’s life more difficult. Passion and love, powerful as
they are, cannot erase these barriers.
I admit to being a Julie Anne Long fan from her debut book on
and to waiting impatiently for the next Pennyroyal Green book since I read the
first one in the series. But It Started
with a Scandal exceeded even my high expectations. It is an extraordinary
book. Lavay in this book, wounded in body and spirit, is a more complex and
substantive character than a reader encountering him as a handsome charmer with
a dangerous edge in I Kissed an Earl
would have guessed. Elise is the kind of strong heroine I most admire, one
whose strength stems from her growth, her tenacity, and her ability to prevail
against the odds. Long has a gift for capturing her reader’s interest in a few
words that offer a compelling invitation to discover more about the characters,
and she uses that gift to its full potential in this book. Lavay is “not so much rough-hewn as sleek and
hard as a rock polished over and over by wave after wave of time and
experience.” Elise’s life as housekeeper and mother is “stitched together by an
intricate network of barters and favors of time and skill and knowledge, of
baked goods and canned goods, unused bolts of cloth and hand-me-downs, and herbs
and cheeses and books and advice and tutoring.” If Lavay and Elise are
fascinating as individuals, they are even more so as a couple. This book could
serve as a textbook for aspiring romance writers who need to study how to
maintain sexual tension. The pages almost smoke although consummation scenes
are few.
Secondary characters are also vividly drawn. Young Jack is
an engaging mix of energy, imagination, curiosity, vulnerability, and love.
Some of my favorite scenes are those between him and his “Giant” as he claims
his own place in Lavay’s heart. Seamus Duggan, whom some readers will remember
as the heroine’s brother in A Notorious
Countess Confesses, is an Irish rogue with a good heart and a touch of
melancholy. And Everseas and Redmonds make brief appearances and are alluded to
in scattered references that range from Jack’s affection for “The Ballad of
Colin Eversea” to an act by Lavay that sets up The Legend of Lyon Redmond, the eleventh book that will be released
September 29, 2015.
I give It Started with
a Scandal my highest recommendation. It is one of the best books in one of
the best series in historical romance fiction. If you enjoy historical romance
with characters who jump off the page and into your mind and heart and story
lines that demand your investment, you owe it to yourself to read this book. I
plan to reread it just as soon as I add it to my short list of the Best of
2015.
