Review: A Scandalous Wife (Scandalous #1) by Ava Stone

Print Length: 302 pages

Publisher: Night Shift Publishing (January 26, 2011)

From Goodreads.com: A Regency Historical Novel - Book One of the Scandalous Series

As the head of his family, Robert Beckford, the Earl of Masten, was accustomed to dealing with various problems his siblings had caused of one sort or another. However he wasn’t prepared when his cad of brother ruined and then abandoned a young lady. To right the wrong, Robert married the girl himself; but his chivalry only went so far. He didn’t want a wife, and most certainly not a scandalous one. So after repeating his vows, he sent her packing, off to a secluded estate and expected her to stay put. 

After years of mistreatment at the hands of her family, Lydia was prepared to be an accommodating wife; but her rigid and unforgiving husband asked too much of her. After languishing for years in her opulent prison, Lydia leaves her country estate for the glamour and excitement of London—and unfortunately her husband’s path.

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My Rating: 3 stars out of 5

For me, this book was simply ok. It wasn't horrible (although I can understand why it received so many negative reviews), but at the same time it wasn't great either.  The characters seemed to be lacking in a lot of aspects - one moment they hate each other (even going as far as to call one another names and throw accusations around like candy) - and the next they have fallen in love with one another seemingly without reason. Then despite Robert's best efforts to make amends, Lydia continues to be a waspish and hostile towards him for the first half of the book, automatically jumping to conclusions at every turn. To be quite frank, I found them to be grossly immature, and to me their behavior took away from the story instead of adding to it. 

If you can overlook that, (and their sordid history together), their romance is actually quite sweet with a healthy mix of humor and drama thrown in. However, I must stress that this is NOT a clean romance. There are several scenes of a sexual nature included in this story.  

Overall, it was a decent way to kill some time on a rainy day, and perhaps one day I will read more by this author (either in this series or in one of her others), however I doubt that will be happening anytime soon. 

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A Scandalous Wife (Scandalous #1) is available from Amazon.com