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Title:
Suitors and
Scoundrels

Author:
Karen Woods

Published By:
Awe-Struck Ebooks

ISBN:
1-58749-417-5

Copyright:
2004

Format:
Electronic

After the death of her sister, Jane, Sarah Elham stayed with her new niece and nephew and Jane’s grieving husband. One night, she goes to talk with Lord George Chisholm, Duke of Chisholm, and it turns into more. He ruins her on the floor of the library while calling out his dead wife’s name. Sarah refused to marry him if there was no pregnancy. He reluctantly agrees.

Six years later Sarah is the head of Elham Park. Her family died one by one, and left her in mourning most of her life. She took care of her younger brother and when George would visit, his twins too. Rumors had it George was about to ask for her hand in marriage, and Sarah wasn’t sure that was the best course of action. Did he still love Jane? Sarah refused to be second in his heart, and besides, she had a tendre for the Marc Barrow, the Earl of Barrow.

Twists of fate surround Sarah as Marc is severely injured and recuperated at Elham Park. Did his service to the Crown place him and the rest of the household at risk? Could the person who hurt Marc also have anything to do with the murder of her older brother years before? Meanwhile, George arrived and pressed her agreement to marriage, much to the delight of his family. When she was alone with him, and he took her in his arms, nothing else seemed to exist. Was it lust or love? Her heart was torn, but she refused to be pressed. She would marry for love only.

Suitors And Scoundrels is a sweet Regency romance of a strong willed woman and the men who love her. Between all the men that want to marry her, readers wonder who she really will end up with. In fact, it is never truly clear if she ever feels love for any of her suitors.

This love story features the classic love triangle. Should she end up with Marc, who loves her for years, and abided her dead father’s refusal to court her; or George, who wants her more than anything, even though he agrees their marriage is not a love match? Think George is a scoundrel? Oh, that’s nothing until Sarah finds out about his London mistress and their ‘natural’ child. So, who would be the best match for the head-strong Sarah?

This book was a good Regency, but the love triangle complicated matters. This reviewer was never clear on who Sarah really cared for. George was physical temptation, and Marc was emotional satisfaction. Even in her inner thoughts, readers aren’t given an insight of who she prefers until the last page. And all it took was to find out he loved her. She never really admits to her own feelings. So, readers are left asking, did she love him?

Reviewed by: Miriam