A Scandal By Any Other Name

by Kimberly Bell

Jasper De Vere doesn't do sad. Ever since the death of his parents, he's devoted himself to life's many pleasures-while making sure to avoid attachments. It's difficult to avoid your own grandfather though, especially when you're the heir to his Dukedom. Unable to sit by and watch one of the few people he cares about wither away, Jasper flees to his friend Nicholas's country estate.

Julia Bishop leads a life of glorious excitement-in her head. The spinal injury she was born with makes her a permanent pariah in society, so despite being the daughter of an earl, she's spent her life in the country with just her family to keep her company. When her brother-in-law's flirtatious-and devilishly handsome-friend mistakes her for an untroubled debutante, Julia isn't about to let an opportunity for some real, live adventure slip away.

Delicious distraction and flirtation turn into an all-out affair, and slips dangerously close to something more when family intrudes. Can Jasper and Julia return to their separate lives in isolation, or will they take a risk and choose each other?

• ISBN10: 1633758893
• ISBN13: 9781633758896
• Publish Date: 30 January 2018
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Entangled Publishing, LLC
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 300
• Language: English

Reviews

[Lindsey Gray]

This novel could’ve been entitled How to Tick Off a Monarch, because Queen Victoria has more than one reason to be displeased with her cousin, Jasper DeVere. Since his father passed away when he was only six, Jasper has lived the majority of his life as the heir to his grandfather’s title of the Duke of Albemarle. Now with his grandfather’s passing, it’s time for Jasper to take over the dukedom. Seconds before he is supposed to be presented to Queen Victoria and take over the title, he bolts leaving not only the Queen, but his very angry twin sister, Ruby, in the lurch.

Jasper runs off and ends up at his best friend’s estate where he discovers the enticing Julia Bishop. Julia’s sister, Amelia, married Jasper’s best friend, Nicolas, yet the two have never met. A little bit of deception on Julia’s part has her getting to know Jasper better with outrageous flirting and misguided determination. Julia was born with a mild form of Spina Bifida which has caused her spinal and foot deformities. She wants nothing more than to have a passionate romance with a man she’s admired from the shadows for months.

I loved Jasper and Julia separately in the first novel of this series, The Importance of Being Scandalous. Bell took these two leaps and bounds further and gave us two characters to laugh and cry with. They couldn’t be more different to fit so perfectly together. Bell had me shedding tears in more than a few chapters. I also snorted my way through one chapter that highlighted a dinner party from hell that ended on the perfect note. Another five star read!

While the stories of the Bishop sisters and their struggles to find romance have come to an end, I pray Bell will write a story for Ruby DeVere, Jasper’s sister. She was a strong secondary character in both novels and I would dearly love to read a story of her happily ever after!

I received this book for free. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.