ARC Review: Seduction & Scandal by Charlotte Featherstone

Blurb:

With the scandalous nature of her birth to live down, Isabella Fairmont dreams of a proper marriage—even if a passionless one. She saves her deepest desires for the novel she dares to pen, wherein a handsome lord with dark powers seduces her. But then her courtship with an appropriate suitor is threatened by the sudden attentions of the reclusive Earl of Black…whose pale blue eyes and brooding sensuality are exactly as she described in her book.
Isabella tries to resist the mysterious Earl of Black.

Yet as he pursues her, with inexplicable knowledge of her past and kisses that consume her, Isabella fears she will succumb.

If only the earl could tell Isabella the truth. With very real, and treacherous, thieves endangering her life, Black will need to protect Isabella from the very people she trusts the most….

Caro's review:
Seduction and Scandal is the 1st book in the Brethren Guardians series. I really wanted to love this book. I'm a big fan of Charlotte Featherstone's writing and I was very excited about reading this one. The blurb was warning us of a dark and mysterious hero, that's exactly my kind of hero, so I was looking forward to it.

I won't lie, I was disappointed by this book. It had real potential but too many things irked me. Still I think the series has a lot of potential and I'll be waiting for the next books because I really liked the 2 other Brethren Guardians. I'm pretty excited about their story.

But let's come back to this book. Isabella's past is better left a secret, she'd rather no one knew about her family's scandalous past. She lives with her cousin Lucy. Isabella is obsessed with Death, she writes a gothic novel where the heroine meets Death and he's dark mysterious, handsome...he is there to take the life of the heroine but she falls in love with him. Now, you'll tell me, she's an author, she can write whatever she wants! True, but Isabella, is obsessed by Death. And when she meets the reclusive Earl of Black at a ball she start seeing Death in him. He becomes her muse. I think my main problem was that the book had a huge Gothic vibe and I'm not really interested in those. I tried getting into the story but often the comparisons with Death made me roll my eyes.

I admit that I really liked Black after a few chapters. He's obsessed with Isabella, he knows more about her than she thinks. He'd do anything for her. I was very curious, I wanted to know her secrets too! Talking about secrets...Black is part of the Brethren supposed to guard some very important items with their life. This didn't go well either for me. So these 3 guys are hiding and guarding 3 crucial items but somehow they loose a few. Yes just like that. LOL I'm sorry but I also rolled my eyes there. I had a hard time adhering to this side of the story. The mystery surrounding this didn't grab my attention.

I think it all comes back to 1 thing: the gothic vibe. Charlotte Feathertone's writing was very much in vibe with the feel of the book. The prose was a bit too flowery for me. Black often declares his undying want of the heroine, with metaphors and hyperbolas.

For the whole book though, I was captivated by the secondary characters. I'll admit I wanted to slap Lucy a few times and the ending really was a bit too much BUT, still I will be waiting for their story. And most of all I'll be waiting for book 3 which will feature my favorite characters *g*.

So in conclusion, if you like gothic romance novel you should read this one. It's a good story, it just wasn't really for me.

I give Seduction & Scandal 3 stars.

With a cheesy HEA

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