Book: Wedded in Scandal by Jade Lee

Rating: 8/10

Pros: I enjoyed this book because the author has managed to balance "the chase" with the element of true love. What I mean is... the main characters have a huge contrast between one another: (Warning: some spoilers ahead!) one is a "fallen woman" who is also a businesswoman while another is her best client's older brother who also happens to be viscount and has a secret of his own. He offers for her to be his mistress, but what he doesn't know is her secret as an innocent and her past as an earl's daughter before scandal ruined her and her family. He chases her and tries to seduce her into complying to be his mistress. In the meantime, she is battling her upbringing as a lady and refuses him while she also can't help the way he makes her feel. I believe it is difficult for an author to balance a good chase and still end up letting the audience feel that these two are in love without making the book too long. The fact that this book also shows the difficulties women must face without a protector is a nice touch. I also liked the fact that the female is a strong character - resisting temptation and picking up her mother and the debts after her father disappeared. The male lead also has the tough job of taking care of his own family since his father drunk himself to death and his mother basically became invalid (not sick... just seems to be a soulless shell and doesn't like leaving her room). He had to learn at a very young age to take care of the house and all the earl's businesses as well. It is a refreshing story full of real life trials and I can't wait to read another book by this author.

Cons: Everything seemed to fit too easily. For example, his family loves her and accepts her too easily. I was also curious about her seamstress' love affair and the expensive scarf. What happened to Irene? What about Penny and the mysterious death of her parents?


Bits and pieces from Wedded in Scandal by Jade Lee:


“My lord?” asked Dribbs as he pushed open the library door unbidden.
“No, Dribbs,” Robert said quite firmly.
“Well, yes, my lord. There is a visitor.”
“No, Dribbs, there is not.”
“But she is most insistent.”
“No, Dribbs, she is not. Because there is not a visitor to see me.” To further make the point, he dispensed with the swirling and airing of the alcohol and took a healthy swig straight from the bottle. It was almost gone anyway.
“Well, yes, my lord, there is.”
“No, Dribbs, there cannot be. My father has already been here today, so he cannot have purchased another mine or an interest in a gold venture in Antarctica or discovered the secret to stuffing genies into bottles to grant his every whim.”
“No, sir, it is not the earl.”
Robert exhaled in relief. “Thank God—”
“It is a woman.”
“No, Dribbs, it most certainly cannot be a woman. Because, you see, I have already spoken with Gwen about her upcoming nuptials just this morning. My mother is in bed where she always is at this hour. And as for all those future in-law women who have let the house next door, I have just this moment escaped from the upstairs salon where the baroness and her sister were rearranging Mama’s figurines. They were arguing about whether sunlight was bad for a porcelain shepherdess. Porcelain, Dribbs. Why would anyone ever be concerned about a porcelain complexion? Especially since the damned thing has a bonnet!”
Robert forced himself to take another swig of brandy. When had his life become so dashed ridiculous?
“Very true, my lord. Most odd. But the woman who wishes to see you is not destined to be your relation.”
“Thank heaven.”
He dropped down behind his desk, pushed aside the mountain of papers to set the bottle
down, then looked up in confusion when Dribbs had still not disappeared.
“You can go now.”
“Well, no, sir, I cannot.”
“Of course you can. Just step backward and shut the door.”
“Well, yes, I could do that, my lord, but if I were to do such a thing, you would damn me for it in a day’s time. Perhaps even sooner.”
“Perhaps. But at least you wouldn’t be damned right now.”
“Excellent point, my lord. But you see, the lady in question is a Mrs. Mortimer. And she has a trifling matter for you to deal with.”
Robert snorted. In his opinion, all female matters were trifling. But that didn't stop them from plaguing him with their nonsense day and night. Still, something about the name tickled the back of his brain. He knew that name, but from where?
“She is the dressmaker for your sister’s wedding,” supplied the butler.
Ah! There it was! Gwen had been waxing eloquent on the lady’s dressmaking skill just this morning. The woman had done this and that, tucked something in or let something out. And then Gwen had blushed a deep pink. That was what stuck in Robert’s mind: that his sister had blushed a deep, embarrassed pink. Because the dress made her look more attractive. In a sexual kind of way. And dashed if that was something he absolutely did not want to know about his sister.
He took another swig from the brandy bottle, only to discover that it was empty.
“I shall find you another bottle directly, my lord.”
“Good man.”
“But first you must speak with Mrs. Mortimer.”
“No, Dribbs. I must not.”
“But if you don’t, she will inevitably tell your sister that she was denied your presence. And then your sister will commence quietly sobbing in her bedroom because this wedding is already more than she expected and you will of course hear her or notice her red eyes. And then you will find out the reason for her tears and be furious with yourself for being such a callous brother. And then, my lord, you will instruct me most specifically to not allow you to say no to visitors anymore.”
“I would never say such a thing!” he said indignantly.
“You did say such a thing just last week when your mother was distraught over a lost delivery of perfumes.”
“I most certainly…” His voice trailed away. Damnation. He most certainly had.
“Bloody hell.”
“It is a trifling matter, my lord. Best deal with it now and be done. Then no more tears, and you can have your brandy straightaway after it is finished.”
Robert released a heavy sigh. “Damnation, Dribbs, I don’t know whether to sack you or double your pay.”
“Double my pay, sir. Indeed, I believe you promised me that last week.”
“I most certainly did not! That I would remember.”
Dribbs paused a rather telling moment. Then he tilted his head.
“Are you sure, my lord? Are you absolutely sure you would remember?”
“Yes. I most certainly am.”
Dribbs released a dramatic sigh. “Yes, I am afraid you would.”




“Stop it!” ordered Wendy without even looking up from her work. “I can hear your brain yapping all the way over here.”



"... Got the milliner’s daughter Francine coming tomorrow, and we need you to design her something that
will get her wed.”
Helaine sighed, the sound coming from deep within her.
“I’m not sure anyone can do that.” The girl was fat. Not even plump, but decidedly fat, and she had a mean temper to boot. The first could be hidden. The second made any efforts at dressing moot.
“Well, if you can do it, then we’d be established for sure.”
“Wendy—,” Helaine began, but her friend just shook her head.
“Jus’ talk to the girl. You can tell her things about how to be sweeter.”
“But there are some things—”
“Tut-tut!” the girl said as she pointed her needle straight at Helaine’s heart. “They can’t all be like Lady Gwen. You just think on that and not our prices. Teach that fat girl how to be nice on the inside, and then she’ll find her man.”
Helaine plopped down by the worktable and pulled out her sketchbook. She didn’t need it. She already knew what would look best on Francine. “It’s not about being nice,” she said as much to herself as to the seamstress. “It’s about feeling happy inside. Then nice is easy. As is husband hunting.”
“There you go,” said Wendy with a grin. “You just teach her that and we’ll be rich. Easy as stitching a straight line.”
“Well, maybe for you,” said Helaine. Her stitches had always wandered willy-nilly.