LORD OF SCOUNDRELS by Loretta Chase
Publication Date: March 30th 1995 by Avon
Summary: They call him many names, but Angelic isn’t one of them…
Sebastian Ballister, the notorious Marquess of Dain, is big, bad, and dangerous to know. No respectable woman would have anything to do with the “Band and Blight of the Ballisters” – and he wants nothing to do with respectable women. He’s determined to continue doing what he does best – sin and sin again – and all that’s going swimmingly, thank you… until the day a shop door opens and she walks in.
She’s too intelligent to fall for the worst man in the world…
Jessica Trent is a determined young woman, and she’s going to drag her imbecile brother off the road to ruin, no matter what it takes. If saving him – and with him, her family and future – means taking on the devil himself, she won’t back down. The trouble is, the devil in question is so shockingly irresistible, and the person who needs the most saving is – herself!
Heroine: I LOVE Jessica. (But her name? Not so much… Hm.) I loved how she (and Sebastian) recognized and admitted the flaws in their thinking and actually analyzed where they went wrong. I usually don’t see this at all in romance novels so it was so refreshing.
Hero: Sebastian was wonderfully flawed. I loved how he was self-conscious of his looks due to his childhood. While he may act like an arrogant prat, it was fun to read that he definitely did not think he was at all that attractive.
Supporting Cast: Much of the supporting cast really wasn’t much to my liking. They were just okay. The exception? Jessica’s grandmother, Genevieve. The femme fetale that Jessica takes after, she was very much an unconventional grandmother who still attracted the attention of many men despite her old age. She was so much fun to read!
Plot: This is a bit the stereotypical (or stereotypical to me, I should say) romance plot. I can see that a lot of other romance books follow this kind of formula and I can’t help but wonder if they are just copy cats of this wonderful book. Definitely formulaic but this is the best.
Romance: The progression in this romance was just amazing. I loved that the characters realized the difference between lust and love and how there was definitely a progressing shift from one to the other. Steamy scenes? Check. This book has it all!
Love Potion Strength:
– Exceeds Expectations
I guess there’s an excellent reason why this was rated so high at my favorite romance blog, Smart Bitches Trashy Books. This is definitely one of my new favorites and I look forward to reading other books by Chase.
I just read this a few months ago. I can’t say I loved it as much as everyone else seemed to “Best love story ever” but I did really like it a lot – I thought it was far above average because of the characters and the slower progression of the romance.
I’m still not sure if I would rank this one to be one of my favorites since I would think I’m still fairly new to the genre, but I do agree that this was definitely above average.
Loretta Chase is pretty awesome. I loved her Regencies more than I’ve loved her Historical Romances, but I still count Lord of Scoundrels among my favorites. I loved Jessica, too.
Ruby
I can’t wait to check out her other books. What is/are your favorite(s)?
I’ll see if I can find this one, on my nook (still to shy to go actually buying a paperback lol)
LOL! I read this one on my nook as well. It was only 99 cents when I got it!