Reviews

The heroine is a girl I'd recognize in the mirror, though I haven't lived a life as difficult as hers. Her fears, doubts, her instinct to run, and her deeply embedded belief that nothing can turn out right are all so well expressed that anyone who has felt even an iota of these sensations themselves can relate to them.

Each time I read a Meredith Duran book, I feel like I'll have quibbles about it to mention in the review, that there are things here or there that will make me love the next book less than the last, but the way she digs so deeply into her character's hearts makes issues that normally bother me into non-issues. For example, in this book, there's a bit of a forced dramatic ending requiring irrational behavior on the part of a villain, but I really didn't care, because the real point of this book was how the characters felt about each other, and in that regard, Meredith Duran's writing shines like daylight.

jackiehorne's review against another edition

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4.0

4.5 Duran does Pygmalion, to lovely effect. Not much happens, plot-wise, until the book's very end; character development, and relationship development, are on offer here, and extremely well done.

guiltlesspleasures's review

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emotional informative tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I’ve read hundreds of historical romance novels by now, and while plenty address class difference, none of them dissect it as precisely as Meredith Duran in A Lady’s Lesson in Scandal.

Nell is a desperately poor factory worker whose mother is dying and whose stepbrother is an irredeemable arse. Simon is an earl and poor, too—but in true aristocratic style, he still lives a life of luxury (on credit, of course). When he discovers she might be the long-lost daughter of the previous earl, he hatches a scheme to help her get her hands on her half of the inheritance, and of course reward himself, too. The other half of the money belongs to Nell’s twin sister (OR IS SHE). He recruits her and starts to try to transform her into a lady, Pygmalion-style, which puts them in close proximity, which is handy for him because he is an UTTER HORNDOG for her.

This is such a great examination of what’s behind all the dukes we read about — showing in living color how they use power and privilege without even thinking about it. Nell literally knows the value, in terms of food, of every item in his house: a candlestick, a doily, a spoon. Simon doesn’t even notice them. It is wonderful watching him open his eyes to his immense privilege.

It takes a lot to convince Nell that he’s a good person, though. She was pretty harsh on him, and on herself, for most of the book, and that was occasionally wearying. But overall I loved her, for her bluntness and cleverness and the fact that she was just as horny for Simon as he was for her.

I probably don’t have to say it, but Duran’s writing is exquisite throughout. Absolutely in the top five romance authors in terms of the craft.

So why not five stars? The ending. I won’t spoil it, but there was an external force that came on the scene and helped to wrap things up too easily. So much of this book is incredibly intimate; it’s character driven, and I wanted the resolution to be intimate and character driven too. It felt like one of those Sherry Thomases where you can tell she just couldn’t anymore and just tied a bow on it.

But a beautiful story anyway, and Simon is 🥵🥵🥵🥵, just to end on a note of sophistication.

bamamelereads's review

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emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes

4.5

Meredith f*cking Duran y’all.

This is one of her lower angst books, and I was having a decent enough time with it for the first half. Amazing social commentary on class differences and wealth and power.
And then the second half hit with all the feels. I softly wept for a good portion of the entire second half.
Duran just handles the gritty realities of how this class difference relationship is going to work, how trust works, how to get them to speak the feelings—she does it all so well. One of my favorite parts was a big argument between Simon and Nell. Because they really have it out. Where a lesser author might have relied on miscommunication or non communication, Duran lets them air all their dirty laundry and hurt feelings.
The spicy scenes were great, and the end was great too. I regret not reading this one sooner!

megatza's review against another edition

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emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This maybe feels lower angst than a typical Duran (but perhaps that's because I read it in close proximity to Rachel Reid...)

It's a marriage of convenience/class difference romance on the surface - set in the late Victorian era with a factory girl as the FMC - but Duran has some really insightful and poignant moments with human nature and romance. Of the Durans I've read, this has the best sex scenes truly fitting to the couple. Nell is a factory girl from Bethnal Green, but Simon, Lord Rushdon believes she's the twin sister of an heiress stolen at a young age on retribution against her father. She's worth £900,000. Simon wants the money, and so does Nell. This class difference romance works well because there is compromise and recognition by both MCs that they are from different worlds, and reconciling that can only happen through communication.

procrastinatewithreading's review against another edition

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emotional

4.25

readinginfairyland's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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