Saturday, March 12, 2011

Book Review: Scandal of the Year

Scandal of the Year by Laura Lee Guhrke

There are very few romance authors who I will automatically read based just because they wrote it. There are plenty of names I recognize, plenty I know I have enjoyed in the past, but that will just get me to read the back, not through it in my pile of library books or even actually purchase it. Off the top of my head, I think Laura Lee Guhrke might be the only contemporary one. I will buy any Betty Neels that I don't already own (although that is difficult to do since I can't tell them apart), and any Georgette Heyer is worth having, but those are such special cases. With Ms. Guhrke, I know that the topic might not be my favorite, and the characters might not be the type I normally like, but the ride will be fun and it's always worth reading.

In "Wedding of the Season", the first book with these characters, you knew that Beatrix didn't belong with Aidan. He was clearly the "Baxter" of the situation, he was so straight laced and stuffed shirt-ed and everything. But you still liked him. He was sympathetic. So, while many romance heroes are just "the perfect guy and anyone would be lucky to be with him", this one definitely shows you why some people belong together. Aidan is paired with "wacky" Julia, and while I rather disliked her in Wedding of the Season, here she is rounded out so that the reader understands why she acts the way she does. Her scandalous behavior is not just her being ignorant of social mores, but neither is it a giant middle finger to society. It is protection.

The straight laced guy and manic pixie dream girl with secret pain combo has been done a million times, but this never once falls into those cliches. Julia doesn't bring Aidan out of his shell or anything, because he doesn't need it. Aidan doesn't provide Julia with stability and a calming influence because she doesn't need that. What they need is somebody that they can show their true selves to, and I was caught up in that like no other. My one complaint is that I wanted more time of them together happily at the end. Liking both of those characters made me want to see how they acted together and who they became when they had an every day life of happiness together and I felt a bit cheated at not sing that. If this series continues, I have hopes that Julia and Aidan will be side characters in other books and I can get some of their happy ending that way.