Item: The Importance of Being Scandalous
Rating: 5.00
Author: lindseygray

by Kimberly Bell

Ruin awaits them, but neither is sure if they mind...Amelia Bishop would rather spend the rest of her life with her unlikely to wed sister than spend another moment with her insensitive, opportunistic fiance. When she tries to break off the engagement in the wake of their disastrous engagement party, he threatens to ruin her family in a breach of promise lawsuit. Her way out? Entice childhood friend and neighbour Nicholas to help her create an engagement ending scandal. Nicholas Wakefield spent two years touring the continent trying to forget Amelia. Unlike his parents, and the rest of Victorian society, he doesn't seethe Bishop family as undesirable, nor does he look down on Amelia's sister's disability. But the Wakefields are the height of propriety, and his parents have made it clear a Bishop wife would be unacceptable for him. He'd disregard it all for her if Amelia would ever see him as anything more than a childhood friend. But when Nicholas returns just in time for Amelia to ask him for help in sabotaging her engagement, he can't say no.
He'll go along with her schemes, even if it means ruining them both, because he's got a plan that will change her mind about him being the boy next door.

The Bishop family was shunned by society when their eldest daughter was born with a spinal deformity. When their youngest daughter, Amelia, suddenly receives a proposal from an earl, they are thrust back into the social whirl.

Amelia is unsettled by the sudden proposal and her acceptance. She only ever dreamed about the boy next door, Nicholas Wakefield. As a second son, Nicholas will never inherit, but when his father’s mind starts to slip away, he is called home from abroad to help run the estate. As Nicholas arrives home, he learns the love of his life, Amelia, is engaged. Though they have been best friends since early childhood, neither has confessed their love for each other. Once Amelia decides she and her fiancé will never suit, she does everything she can to get him to cry off. Some scandalous things are done with the help of Nicholas, or that of his best friend, Jasper, Viscount Bellamy and heir to the Duke of Albermarle. With two powerful men at her side, she should be able to dissuade her would-be husband. But things aren’t so easy for Amelia.

I fell for Nicholas immediately. His unconditional love for Amelia is tested throughout the novel, but his strength and character create the hero needed to match wits with his lady love. Amelia’s lust for life for herself and her sister, Julia, had me laughing and crying at times. She took some desperate risks on her journey to her happily ever after, but she did it with a little help from her friends!

I can’t wait to read the next novel in the series! Fingers crossed Julia will find the man of her dreams.

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

The Importance of Being Scandalous (Tale of Two Sisters)

by Kimberly Bell

Reviewed by Lindsey Gray on Jun 7, 2017

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