Title: Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover
Series: The Rules of Scoundrels, Book 4
Author: Sarah MacLean
Genre: Historical Romance
Sensuality Rating: Steamy
Source: review copy provided via Edelweiss
Published: November 25, 2014 by Avon
She is the most powerful woman in Britain,
A queen of the London Underworld ...
But no one can ever know.
He is the only man smart enough to uncover the truth,
Putting all she has at risk . . .
Including her heart.
The fourth book in New York Times bestselling author Sarah MacLean’s incredible Rule of Scoundrels/Fallen Angels series. These four dark heroes will steal the hearts of their heroines and the readers alike! This is the last in the Rules of Scoundrels series—Chase’s story
By day, she is Lady Georgiana, sister to a Duke, ruined before her first season in the worst kind of scandal. But the truth is far more shocking—in London’s darkest corners, she is Chase, the mysterious, unknown founder of the city’s most legendary gaming hell. For years, her double identity has gone undiscovered . . . until now.
Brilliant, driven, handsome-as-sin Duncan West is intrigued by the beautiful, ruined woman who is somehow connected to a world of darkness and sin. He knows she is more than she seems and he vows to uncover all of Georgiana’s secrets, laying bare her past, threatening her present, and risking all she holds dear . . . including her heart.
Reviewed By: J9
In a Nutshell: You should be so lucky to read this book!
Why I Read This Book: I am a total fan girl of MacLean. Her smart, sexy, feminist historicals are some of my absolute favorites of all times!
What I Liked: I can’t be logical with this book review; I simply adored e-very-last-thing! Georgiana and Duncan are stellar characters with such an amazing connection to each other that is layered upon itself to form an incredibly intense romance. Georgiana is a very unique romance heroine in that her character is powerful and seductive at the same time and she doesn’t change who she is to get Duncan. Georgiana is brilliant (too rare for heroines, IMO!) and we are shown her brilliance. She’s also ruthless, which I adored, but it’s tempered with ethics that usually only heroes get in romance. For instance, someone does something malicious to someone Georgiana loves and how she responds is not the high-road many heroines in historical novels would take; oh no! Georgiana uses all her power to squash this person and I LOVED it! Women are rarely given stories of vengeance like men are but Georgiana has hers in a way that suits her as a woman and I absolutely adored that this theme carries from novel’s beginning to end.
Duncan is always a wonderful character. His passion and emotional seduction of Georgiana is delightful. Duncan is powerful in his own right so to see how he and Georgiana play off each other in the plot and the relationship is romance GOLD! Seriously, the emotional and sexual intimacy in this book couldn’t be more awesome. Duncan is possessive of Georgiana but doesn’t degrade her, even when he thinks she’s slept with others. It’s rare in any romance, let alone historicals, to have a tone of true equity between the hero and heroine so this was like rolling around in reader heaven for me!
What I Also Liked: I’ve adored every book in this series (and that the author ever wrote!) and I loved the return of characters from the previous books. It’s wonderful to see how happy the couples are from the previous books but also to see their strong, enduring friendships.
The plot was brilliant as well. The focus is secrets and who owns them but it never got stale or boring. I never once felt like the secrets were dragged out for the sake of tension. There is a natural progression to the plot, just as in the romance, and it paced beautifully.
What I Didn’t Like: Absolutely-friggin’-nuthin.
IMO: Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover is so good, I could squeal like a fat kid at summer camp when care packages from home arrive. I stayed up way too late to finish it and had reader-butterfly tummy so many times I could barely contain my sighs of happiness. This is an absolutely brilliant way to end a stellar series.
J9’s Rating:
Add to Goodreads | Buy on Amazon
J9’s reviews for other books in this series:
One Good Earl Deserves a Lover, Book 2
No Good Duke Goes Unpunished, Book 3
Lol is it horrible that I totally added this book to my tbr based on the cover? I just love that the woman is in pants, it suggests a lot about the book and I guess I was right! I'm with you, a book where a woman instead of a man is seeking vengeance has great potential!
ReplyDeleteIt's so good! Move to the top of your TBR, like next!
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