Cassandra Dean, $0.99, ISBN 978-0463777084
Historical Romance, 2019 (Reissue)
Cassandra Dean’s Scandalous is a reissue, as it first appeared in some kind of anthology for the RWA. It’s also a good example of how, sometimes, it’s not a good idea to tackle a complex plot in the form of a short story.
The story is this: 10 years ago Sofia Hargrove gave in to temptation and was utterly ruined by the Earl of Edgington. She had to flee to the Continent, and today, she reappears in London as a triumphant cosmopolitan darling. One of the first people she meets in the ball is, of course, him. What will happen next?
Well, here’s the thing: as far as Sofia is concerned, he ruined her and then left her all alone. She should be, at the very least, not give him any time of day. Instead, she is mad for a few paragraphs and then she’s putty again. Is this where I go: “Yeah, I see why she was so easily ruined in the first place…”?
Edgington is the usual “Oh, look at me! I’m a brooding edgelord drunk and what not because I’m so edgy that way!” nincompoop. I don’t get what the author is trying to do here. If he cared for Sofia that much, why let her go in the first place? Why wait until now to decide, oh, he wants in—in more ways than one—permanently?
When he says that it’s been 10 years and she shouldn’t care about the scandal anymore, because hey, he never cared in the first place… yikes. I don’t know which one is dumber. Him for not realizing that things are different for a woman of his time or that he has inadvertently admitted that he doesn’t care about Sofia’s reputation or well being, or her for buying the whole nonsense and not making him beg for mercy for what he’d done to her.
This is a well-written story, mind you. The prose is easy to read, and the conversations flow nicely. It’s just that this theme of forgiveness is too big for a short story, and the author’s flippant use of a time skip to show me that these two have a happily ever after after all just trivializes the issues facing the two characters even further.
Scandalous should have been a longer story… but then again, considering how the hero trivializes the heroine’s social ruination, maybe this one should have been a longer story from a different author.
