Review: A Lady's Lesson in Scandal by Darcy McGuire*

*I received a copy of this book in eBook format in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity. This review is being posted as part of the A Lady's Lesson In Scandal blog tour hosted by Rachel's Random Resources.

Title: A Lady's Lesson In Scandal
Author: Darcy McGuire
Genre: Historical Romance

Trigger warnings:  Sex Trafficking, Hanging Frequent References to Torture, Abuse By Parents,
Physical Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Homophobia, References To Death Of A Parent, Brief References To Death Of A Sibling, Implied Sexual Abuse By A Parent (of a side character)

Rating: 

Spice Level: ðŸŒ¶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ (Explicit Open Door) 

Wallflower at risk of ruin…

Secret femme-fatale in training Millicent Whittenburg needs to escape her unpleasant betrothal. Taking matters into her own hands, she plans her eventual ruin! Then she can disappear from society to carry out the Queen’s deadly missions. Step 1: seduce the one man who despises marriage more than her!

However, she hugely underestimates her target. Major General Beaufort Drake. Fearsome private investigator, he’s notoriously cold and visibly battle scarred. But Millie’s scandalously public kiss awakens a deeply suppressed desire in Drake. Instead of allowing them both to succumb to shame he does the unthinkable, and offers for her hand in a convenient marriage.

Nothing prepares them for the fireworks when a fearless damsel collides with a dangerous Major General! And as their secret missions align they face their hardest test on the glittering battlefield – a week long wedding house party where there is nowhere to escape…only new and wicked lessons to be learnt!

A Lady's Lesson in Scandal is the latest historical romance from author Darcy McGuire and the second instalment of her series The Queen's Deadly Damsels. This novel is the perfect blend of the historical romance and crime thriller genres, set against the backdrop of Victorian England. Packed full of strong female characters and page-turning drama, in this beautiful age-gap romance we see a swoon-worthy ex-soldier, who bears both physical and mental battle scars, meet his match in an intelligent and witty wallflower who has her own secrets: she’s a secret femme-fatale in training for Queen Victoria herself.

This was my first time reading anything from Darcy McGuire and I was completely enthralled by her compelling writing style to the point that I could barely put the book down and read it in nearly a single sitting. Darcy McGuire has an incredible storytelling ability and her brilliant world building made the setting come alive on the page, remaining authentic to the time period in which the book is set. All of the beautifully written characters were so complex and I loved the choices to include little snippets of first-person writing throughout the narrative as insights into Millie and Beau’s internal dialogue amongst the rest of the third-person narrative, it really helped to make them really multidimensional characters we are readers could really connect with. The narrative was perfect-paced narrative which took so many unexpected twists and turns I really had no idea what would come next, particularly with regards to the crime element of the plot.

Millie was an absolutely brilliant protagonist and the definition of as strong female character. She was strong-willed, so intelligent and really fought against societal expectations of her because of her gender. I warmed to her instantly and it was brilliant to see her grow throughout the book. Our MMC is Major General Beaufort Drake, known to his friends as Beau. He was a beautifully written and very complex character I’d challenge any reader not to fall in love with immediately; I know I definitely did. He was the perfect match for Millie and I loved the many similarities we gradually began to see between the two of them, including their past traumas, and the way this formed the foundations for their relationship. They had brilliant banter, constantly verbally sparring throughout the book. If as a reader you love the trope of a MMC really looking after a FMC you will particularly adore Beau and this formed some of my favourite scenes in the entire book. This is a spicy romance and this aspect to the plot was beautifully written. I also loved how the characters navigated their different experiences levels when it came to intimacy and getting to see Beau introduce Millie to her own sexual pleasure.

Millie is just one of a whole host of strong female characters we see throughout A Lady's Lesson in Scandal and a particular shoutout must be given to Lady Philippa Winterbourne, Millie’s mentor and one of my favourite characters I’ve ever met in a book. I also particularly adored young Billy as a supporting character and he had me smiling every time he appeared in a scene. Darcy McGuire also writes antagonists incredibly well. Whilst I won’t go into detail about some of the antagonists and risk spoiling the whodunnit element, I will say that the character of Patricia was particularly vile. She is Millie’s cruel, heartless and abusive stepmother (please see the content warnings at the beginning of this review) who made me shudder every time she appeared on the page.

Although this is the second book in the The Queen's Deadly Damsels series, this was my introduction to it and to Darcy McGuire’s writing as a whole. It does still work fantastically as a standalone story but it has also made me really excited to read the first book ‘The Secret Life of a Lady’ to delve deeper into the romance of Lady Hannah Simmons and Duke Robert Killian, who both played supporting roles in the plot of this book. I am also now eagerly anticipating the release of the third book which is due to be published next year. I do already have my predictions for who this next book will feature as a protagonist and I’m very excited to see where Darcy McGuire takes the rest of the series.

Overall, A Lady's Lesson in Scandal is bar far the best historical romance we’ve seen this year and an absolute must-read for fans of the genre, especially those who are also partial to a crime thriller plotline that keeps you on your toes throughout.


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