Rating: 5 Stars
POPSUGAR Challenge Update: A book you can finish in a day
This, the ninth book of the ever interesting Maiden Lane series brings together Asa Makepeace and Eve Dinwoody in a most unexpected coupling! It’s actually the third book to join my favourites of the series after Scandalous Desires and The Duke of Midnight.
Asa Makepeace, the crude and broad shouldered owner of Harte’s Folly, a pleasure garden, is in dire need of funds in order to get his garden in working conditions again. But unfortunately for him, Eve Dinwoody, the plain illegitimate sister of the Duke of Napier holds the purse strings. The book opens with a very funny argument, and through a series of misfortunes and a number of steamy scenes the couple finally gets closer and better. I say better because before I started reading I did not like Asa very much and there wasn’t much about Eve in the earlier books either. She just popped out from nowhere so it took me a while to like her.
Eve went through something horrible as a child which has left her wary of men. Especially a super masculine man like Asa makes her feel vulnerable but she cannot help being attracted to him. Asa, on the other hand, is a hot headed man who has faced a lot of hurdles all alone in order to get to his current status but he finds himself enthralled by the tall and thin semi aristocrat. They are as similar as chalk and cheese but the way they gel together is beautiful. If I’d have to give one reason for liking this book so much it’d have to be their banter. Yes they argue and sparks definitely fly but even then there’s such warmth that neither has experienced before.
Another MAJOR reason is the intimate scenes! Oh I have read a lot many books but this one truly takes the cake for building up the tension. Each and every encounter is more tender and steamier than the last and they all left me quite breathless! Moving on, another great thing is the backstage experience. Usually the most we know of the stage and opera is the singer who is a mistress of some or the other but here we get to see the people who give the acts the finishing touches.
The super plus point? We get to see many of the previous characters! We meet the entire Makepeace family- all brothers and sisters along with their spouses. It was so good to catch up with them. Another engaging character was of Jean Marie, Eve’s bodyguard of ten years. He’s the only family that Eve has had apart from her brother and he takes such good care of her. Then of course there’s Valentine Napier, the Duke. Even his name sounds ominous to me! I just cannot wait to see how Miss Hoyt is going to redeem this villainous guy.
I sincerely cannot think of even a single drawback of Sweetest Scoundrel. Therefore, I’ll highly recommend it. A perfect read for those who love from enemies to lovers trope and for all those who love a happily ever after! 🙂
Whimsy Journals 