Scandal and the Duchess by Jennifer Ashley 

Narrated by Angela Dawe

Scandals, games, and adventure abound in Scandal and the Duchess. I will say that, strangely for a book of its length, the underlying plot of this title started a bit slow. I did eventually warm up to it, especially towards the end, where some unexpected and intriguing suspense kicked in.

As tends to be the case in most novella length books (this one is only 4 hours and 40 minutes), the romance had a bit of an instalove feel to it. Still, I enjoyed the characters. Steven in particular is an admirable, strong alpha natured hero, who is always looking to protect a damsel in distress, and the heroine is also equally compelling with her independent spirit and courage to face the mounting negative public opinion against her and continue to march strong irrespective of it.

For those of you who are wondering if this title can be read as a standalone, I would say yes. In fact, this is the only book of this series that I have either read or listened to. As is frequently the case in historical romance series, it appears that the hero has previously been introduced, but as the romance and immediate danger that the couple must surmount is wholly contained within this book, it still works well solo.

Rose Barclay is not a stranger to scandal. Given her humble upbringing and large age difference, society has been gossiping about her since she married the much older Duke of Southdown. Now that he has unexpectedly passed away on their honeymoon, no less, the gossip has gone into overdrive, particularly given that the Duke’s son and heir has made it his mission to invalidate the marriage at all costs.

So when Rose is caught by reporters in an innocuous, but nonetheless seemingly compromising position, with Steven McBride, a soldier who is well known for his vices (namely women and gambling), Rose is poised to face an even bigger onslaught of negative press. Steven being the dashing gentleman that he is, however, proposes what he terms to be a mutually beneficial solution – claim they are to be wed, at least until Rose’s inheritance has been resolved and Steven needs to return to battle.

As her stepson escalates his game to ensure that Rose is left a penniless widow, however, two things become clear. Rose is in incredible danger, and their charade of a romantic connection is anything but a farce. But will Rose, with Steven’s help, be able to defeat her stepson before its too late? And will true love reign victorious in the end?

Angela Dawe is a seasoned narrator with over 200 titles available on Audible, and it shows. She does a great job of providing gender appropriate voices for the large cast. Additionally, she properly imbues the Scottish and British characters with genuine accents. Moreover, she is great at conveying the particular emotion or pace of the scene, always managing to add an element of excitement where it belongs, as well as, a sense of steaminess when the love scenes take front stage.

Interestingly, as soon as I heard Steven, I had that strange niggling sensation that I had heard him before. Sure enough, when I went back through my titles, I realized why. It’s pretty much the same voice as the hero’s in Hannah Howell’s Highland Barbarian (see my AudioGals review). So I will say that was a bit jarring to me, at least until I was able to sleuth where I had previously heard him! So if you are sensitive to associating a particular voice with a prior character, and have listened to Ms. Dawe’s prior Scottish historical romance titles, you may want to take note. That aside, if it was a deeply masculine hero that I adored, I probably would have willingly overlooked it.  Steven, however, has a very unique hoarse quality to his speech, which I have to admit is not my favorite.

All in all, Scandal and the Duchess was a decently entertaining historical romance with elements of suspense. If you have been a fan of this series, you likely will not want to miss it. For those that are new to the MacKenzies and MacBrides series, it makes sense to start with one of the earlier full-length titles to get a full sense of the range of this series.

BJ

Narration:  B-

Book Content:  C+

Steam Factor:  Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence:  Minimal

Genre:  Historical Romance

Publisher:  Tantor Audio

Scandal and the Duchess was provided to AudioGals by Tantor Audio for review.