Review: A Most Scandalous Proposal by Ashlyn Macnamara ★★★ ~ THE DEMON LIBRARIAN

A Most Scandalous Proposal by Ashlyn Macnamara Genre: Historical romance/Regency Romance
Series: n/a
Publication Date: February 26th 2013
ISBN: 9780345534743
Page Count: 352
Rating: ★★★
Review Copy: ARC
Reviewed by: Lynsey

Synopsis: In Ashlyn Macnamara’s stunning romance debut—perfect for fans of Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, and Sabrina Jeffries—two childhood friends in Regency England discover love with the most unlikely of partners: each other.

After watching her beloved sister Sophia pine over the ton’s Golden Boy for years, Miss Julia St. Claire has foresworn love and put herself firmly on the shelf. Unfortunately, her social-climbing mother and debt-ridden father have other ideas, and jump at the chance to marry Julia off to the newly-named Earl of Clivesden…the man of Sophia’s dreams.

Since resigning his Cavalry commission, Benedict Revelstoke has spent his time in London avoiding the marriage mart. But when he discovers that the Earl of Clivesden has set Julia in his sights, Benedict tries to protect his childhood best friend from the man’s advances—only to discover more than friendship driving his desire to defend her. He surprises them both with the force of his feelings, but when she refuses him and her father announces her betrothal, he fears he’s lost her forever—until Julia approaches him with a shocking scheme that will ruin her for all respectable society…

…and lead them into an exquisite world of forbidden pleasures.

Review:

A Most Scandalous Idea.

I really liked the sound of a friends-to-lovers romance story and was excited to start this book. It turns out that A MOST SCANDALOUS PROPOSAL is written a little differently from your standard historical romance, in that it features not one, but two couples; the main character, Julia, and her love interest, and also her sister, Sophia, whose romance takes up almost an equal amount of page time.

The thing is, I liked both sets of characters and both romances, though they were very different from each other. But splitting the readers' attention like that, I think, was a mistake. I was never able to fully engage in either pairing, as we'd just start to build up a little momentum with one, only to abruptly leave them to rejoin the other. Having said that, the two relationships were nicely linked by other characters which meant on several occasions, everyone was in the same scene, which certainly helped. Most notably completing the often complicated circuit, was the rakish Earl of Clivesden, whom Julia's sister Sophia has been madly in love with for years. What, then, is Julia supposed to do when he takes a paticular interest in marrying her instead?

It was a complicated tangle that got sorted out to a satisfying and heart-warming conclusion. The intimate scenes, through rather sparse, were well-written and the characters themselves were fleshed out well to say there were four of them. I just wish we'd had more time to watch each romance bloom naturally.

3.5 Stars ★★★1/2
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.