Review: Lord of Scoundrels

At this moment you're probably asking yourself, "How is it possible that Wendy is JUST NOW reading Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase?!"  Well reader, let me tell you - the answer is hype. It is a truth universally acknowledged that the more a book is hyped the more years it will take me to read it - if I read it at all.  I'm well aware this is very contrary but I've never denied my contrary nature.  So what finally brought us to this moment? The sheer horror of the other SoCal Bloggers that Wendy had never read it.  It's our "book club read" for June which means my hand was forced.  So what did I think of this book? This book often consider THE very best of the genre?  Well, I loved it and then I didn't.  Let me try to explain....

Jessica Trent is firmly on the shelf at 27 but continues to receive marriage proposals because she's a rare beauty and damned intelligent.  Which means she's smart enough to not want to toss aside her independence. She's devoted to her delightfully scandalous grandmother, has practically raised a dozen of her numerous relatives' children and is now in Paris to bring her younger brother to heel.  Bertie is a bit of a nitwit and has fallen under the spell of Sebastian Ballister, Marquess of Dain.  To call Dain notorious is just a wee bit of an understatement.  Lucifer himself has a more sterling reputation.  The man is a demon, a degenerate, a debauched whoremonger.  He's also wickedly smart and has more money than Midas.  Bertie, dimwitted pup that he is, does not have the same resources and Jessica is tasked to bring him to heel before he squanders the last of the family finances.

This kicks off a war of wit and words.  Dain, naturally, has a tragic past which Chase expertly lays out in a rather lengthy prologue. The guy is damaged goods shortly after birth, to a coldly stern father and a young second wife thrown to the wolves (or wolf in this case).  Matters aren't helped at all by Dain's less than refined appearance upon birth (gawky and "ugly").  This is a man who discards others before they can discard him, who has very stern views on "ladies" and pays for whores to satisfy his manly needs. He has surrounded himself with a group of "friends" who are just as debauched as he is, but it's Dain with the fearsome reputation.  That is until he meets Jessica.  Our fearsome, jackass of a hero has finally met his match and Jessica, bless her heart, makes this poor misguided sap run his paces over the course of the story.  Dain has no idea what has hit him.  You'd almost feel sorry for the guy if, you know, he wasn't such a jackass.

The first 40% or so of this book is set in Paris and is sheer bliss to read.  The adversarial relationship between Dain and Jessica as they match wits is exquisite and expertly crafted. This book was originally published in 1995. I started reading romance nearly exclusively in 1999.  Believe me when I say picking up this book in 1995, reading a heroine like Jessica, would have been a goddamn revelation.  She is perfection from the moment she steps on the page to the last.  This is a heroine who goes toe-to-toe with a jackass rake of a hero and always wins. She always comes out ahead.  And that's even before she shoots him.

Yes, she shoots him and yes, the jackass deserves it.

Original cover

And that's kind of where the book started to slide for me.  No doubt this is an A read for the first 40%.  I loved every spectacular minute.  But then the couple leaves Paris and the pacing, quite honestly, starts to sag for me.  On top of that we find out that Dain has a bastard son (of course he does - Dain has boinked everything in a dress....) and, of course, the child's mother is an opportunistic whore looking to blackmail a better lifestyle for herself by having a wealthy aristocrat's by-blow.  This is Old School (to be sure) and certainly the book was published over 25 years ago, but my tolerance for the double standard between profligate heroes and the women they slake their lust with is at a low ebb in the Year of our Goddess 2021.

Yes, yes historically accurate, blah blah blah. Whatever.

Here's the thing, by the time the kid appears on stage I can't help wondering why the hell Jessica is even bothering anymore.  Dain's self-pity party carries on for the entire book and she is so epically glorious - like really girlfriend?  You can do SO much better.  

I'm torn, but not really.  When I say Jessica may very well be my favorite heroine of all time?  I mean it. She's that good. She's that amazing. She is a diamond of the first water and leads Dain around by his nose (and other parts of his anatomy...) for the entire story.  Even when you think our girl has her back against the wall and Dain has gotten the better of her?  He hasn't.  He's a mere mortal and she is a Goddess.  And that's my problem.  She's great - him, not so much.  Jessica, girlfriend, you deserve better.

Final Grade = B+