Highland Scandal

the Earl of Lambourne, is running from an enemy he knows but winds up in the arms of the enemy he never expected - love!

Jack has been accused of intimacy with the Princess of Wales and as such the Prince of Wales wants to ask him a few questions right now. While Jack has done nothing wrong or improper with the Princess convincing the Prince as well as King George of that is most difficult especially since Jack has a sizeable bounty on his head and bounty hunters looking for Jack everywhere. While on the run in Scotland he is captured by Carson Beal who agrees to keep Jack's secret and let him hide if Jack were to be hand fasted to Carson's niece Elizabeth Drummond Beal. Jack is not looking for anything long term in his life especially a relationship but given the choice of imprisonment or worse death he chooses to stay with Elizabeth for the one year and one day as decreed with the hand fasting. Elizabeth is as warm to the idea of this as is Jack and she tries at every turn to get away from him and the captivity she is forced to endure with him in close quarters behind locked doors. She wants to return to her home, Thorntree and her sister Charlotte who is disabled. Lizzie feels that Charlotte will not survive without her since they are alone in the world since the death of their father. However Charlotte is being cared for by one of their uncle's henchmen and while this is not an agreeable relationship it seems to be working on some level and though she hisses and snarls at Newton there is something beneath the surface brewing between the two of them.

Lizzie was destined to marry another - Mr. Gavin Gordon. She has been courted by him for over a year and if he finds out about this turn of events the relationship is assuredly doomed. No man will want her if they feel she has been compromised. While Lizzie worries about this Jack is convinced that Carson Beal has something up his sleeve and that his reasons for this hand fasting have nothing to do with keeping Jack safe or marrying off Lizzie. Carson along with all Beal men are unable to own land - a fact that came about when his ancestor's picked the wrong side of a battle with England. Carson is on a vendetta to make sure Lizzie stays married to Jack and return to Thorntree but why is he doing this. While Carson growls about ancient family feuds and that is why he does not want Lizzie to marry Mr. Gordon Jack is not buying into any of this.

But while at Thorntree, Jack delights the staff with his stories of life in London, what the royals are like and continues to dig deeper into what is so valuable about Thorntree. After much investigating he decides that the key to success is for he and Lizzie to return to London and while he will face his accuser the main objective is to beg for assistance for Lizzie and her sister Charlotte. Jack does all this not for himself but for Lizzie who has become the centerpoint for his life and existence. While he tells her differently what he really feels is love and this is something he cannot handle as it is as out of control as the hellion Elizabeth. It is taking him places he is not familiar and charting waters best left undisturbed. Once they arrive in London the story takes on a new direction as old friends are reunited, Fiona comes to call and remind her brother why she is marrying and stay ahead of trouble. Easier said than done when you are accompanied by the main reason for all of Jack's recent t

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

HIGHLAND SCANDAL is a wonderful tale as a real event leads to love between two Highlanders

In 1807 the Prince of Wales demands the Lords Commissioners complete their Delicate Investigation into the behavior of his wife. Being the royal heir, George expects one outcome. However, the Lords Commissioners are finding little to uphold the accusations George is making against his spouse Princess Caroline of her sleeping around.

The latest lord the Prince accuses of adultery with the Princess of Wales is Scottish Earl Jankin "Jack" Haines. Jack assumes George will quickly drop the nonsensical charge so he goes home to wait. Instead the Prince, claiming Jack fled to Scotland to avoid conviction of the seditious act of sleeping with the Princess, hires bounty hunters to find the earl. They capture Jack and take him to their clan laird, Carson Beal who forces his prisoner to handfast with his troublemaking niece, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Drummond Beal in order to avoid her possible marriage with Gavin Gordon. Although Carson denies duplicity, Jack thinks his "host" has a nefarious reason to keep his niece from marrying Gordon and he plans to learn what that is even as he begins to fall in love with the shrew taming him.

Based on a real investigation, the second scandal Regency romance (see BOOK OF SCANDAL) is a delightful historical Scottish romance. Jack expects the accusations will soon pass but underestimates the Prince's determination. However, he adapts nicely as he goes from the fire to the frying pan and back into the fire. Lizzie acts inane at first blaming Jack for her situation and behaving dangerously foolish to avoid marrying her uncle's prisoner. She quickly comes around (thank goodness) as she falls in love. HIGHLAND SCANDAL is a wonderful tale as a real event leads to love between two Highlanders.

Harriet Klausner

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

The threat of being accused of treason has Jack Haines, Earl of Lambourne, leaving London for the safety of his castle in Scotland.

One of the coterie of rakehells in the Book of Scandal, Jack has been embroiled in gossip around the Princess of Wales. En route Jack is waylaid by Highland Laird Carson Beal and is forced to agree to a handfast with the laird's niece, Elizabeth Beal else be turned over to the King's bounty hunters. Elizabeth, too, is forced to do her uncle's bidding. Why is the laird so keen on this 'marriage'? What's his interest in the impoverished sisters to whom the threadbare estate of Thorntree is entailed? What's in the north of their property? To keep his distance from the enticing Lizzie and to keep warm and his belly filled, Jack turns to repairing roofs, recounting tales of the ton, and doing some tracking of his own. The arrival on the scene of suitor Gavin Gordon complicates matters. For Jack the only recourse is go back to London with Gavin and Lizzie in tow to meet with the king, plead her case, and face the prospect of being hanged for treason. Thus is the rake transformed by love. Colorful secondary characters and plot: Charlotte Beal, Lizzie's crippled sister, and Mr. Newton, Carson's man who's there to guard Jack, but who shows Charlotte that invalids can enjoy a full life.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

It is very romantic. I was waiting when it came out. Loved it. Cant wait for next in her list.

I was waiting to come out it was very thrilling to know what would happened to Jack. It is very entertaining.

Scandal is right!

I was eagerly anticipating this new series from Julia London, because I am a highland romance junkie. I mean what's not to love, men in kilts, the oftentimes romantic Gaelic language, the raw beauty of the landscape, and did I mention men in kilts.I think you get the picture. I have read many of Ms. London's romances, and have never been disappointed.until now. When I read the teaser line "You deserve to know what it is like to be wholly seduced" I thought, "wow", which unfortunately turned into more of a "huh".

I'm not going to go into much into detail about the book, because frankly the blurb on the back cover pretty much covers it all. It wasn't until I got to about page two hundred, that the story final started to become somewhat interesting, but even then their story wasn't scandalous. It all seemed like words on a page, and most of them forgettable. The emotions and the characters of Jack and Lizzie never really seemed to come alive for me. I thought the story might become more interesting when it is revealed that Jack's father was an emotional and physical abuser, and Jack fears becoming like him. Yet very little is done with this fact. Lizzie is "almost" engaged to another man, but she and her almost fiancé give each other up without too much thought, or guilt. The few romantic scenes came off to me more "cheesy" than heartfelt declarations of love. But the biggest revealing disappointment for me was the moment Jack decides to appeal to the king on Lizzie's behalf, knowing by doing so he could be sent to his death. This kind of sacrifice almost always gets to me (we're talking major tears and heaving sobs...I'm a sucker for it), but in Highland Scandal this element failed to induce any sense of loss, or sacrifice, which is sad.

The story that I wish Julia would have written was the secondary romance between Lizzie's handicapped sister Charlotte and the highlander sent to protect her, Newton. Charlotte was the family beauty, sophisticated and charming, with her pick of eligible and wealthy suitors, whose world came crashing to a halt after she became paralyzed from a horse riding accident. After the accident she becomes reclusive and bitter, mourns the loss of her dreams, resents the fact that she is dependant on the people that she loves, and feels guilty for being an added burden on their meager resources.

Newton is a modest highlander, who is sent to protect Charlotte when Lizzie is taken to her Uncle's castle to become hand fasted to Jack. Despite Charlotte's abrasiveness, a friendship blossoms between these two unlikely people, and Newton finds endearing ways to bring happiness back to her life. The reader is given very brief glimpses into their romance, but the few scenes we are gifted with are sincerely touching. I wanted more of Charlotte and Newton's romance, and less with Jack and Lizzie. Unfortunately, the epilogue written at the end of Highland Scandal concludes both love stories, so sadly we will never get to fully enjoy the more compelling love story between Charlotte and Newton, and that for me is truly scandalous.

Booklover1335 for Seductive Musings

Great romance...

Wonderful, rich characters coupled with an unusual plot and awesome, sizzling sexual chemistry made this a book that I could not put down- literally read in one (long) afternoon. I could really relate to Jack at male lead because I think I had an ex-boyfriend somewhere down the line with similar personality (minus the wealth, though!)

See my recommendations below for other great reads with similar characters, chemistry, passion, plot development...

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