Book Review
Title: Scandalous Liaisons
Author: Sylvia Day
Genre: Historical/Romance
Rating: ****
Review: So I don’t normally read romance books but there are some exception namely anything written by Sylvia Day and the Black Dagger Brotherhood. I remember reading the first three books in the Crossfire series years ago and I am planning to re-read those and finish the series, as well as reading most of Day’s published works. What I didn’t know about Scandalous Liaisons before picking it up was that it is a bind-up of three interconnected novellas, so I will be reviewing and rating each story individually and the bind-up as a whole.
Stolen Pleasures - *****
Stolen pleasures follows Sebastian Blake also known as the infamous pirate Captain Phoenix and Olivia Merrick and this was by far my favourite story in the bind-up. We meet Sebastian after he has stolen himself a bride but not in the way you think. We meet Olivia Merrick was has been married by proxy to Sebastian who has raided a ship belonging to Olivia's father and kidnapped his supposed wife. Initially the pair don’t get on that well despite the sexual tension radiating between them but the banter between them is amazing as he tries to proves that he is her husband as well as a pirate but Olivia is much smarter than Sebastian gives her credit for in the beginning.
Initially he tries not to give into his passion for her as he has no desire to return to England, his title or his family but this quickly fails when he realises that she wants him as much as he wants her, so he plans to return her to England as his wife. However, he doesn't plan to stay only return occasionally, Olivia meanwhile, is fighting over whether she wants that lifestyle or a far more attentive husband. The sex scenes between these two are hot wild and filled with passion but there is much more to the novella. We learn that Sebastian has made an enemy of two vicious twin brothers who wanted Olivia as their compensation but Sebastian refused as he is protective of her, not just as his wife but because he also cares for her. Upon returning to England they fall into the roles of husband and wife but not before discovering that Olivia was meant to marry Sebastian's cousin resulting in a violent encounter between Sebastian and his father. They also have prove to Olivia's father that their feelings for each other are genuine and that the rumours surrounding Sebastian aren’t going to harm Olivia’s reputation but it is too late for their marriage to be annulled despite the fact that neither want that.
The night after their return Sebastian isn't sure he has made the right decision for Olivia and is going out to find a whore when she uses all of her charm to get him to vent his anger at his own cold and abusive father on her, not violently but sexually. This turns out to be the best sex they've had yet and Olivia admits that she loves Sebastian and he knows he can't bear to be parted from her so he needs to settle his affairs at sea.
That night he leaves leaving her a note asking her to trust that he will return and it breaks Olivia's heart. He does return months later but Olivia tries to close herself off from him because she is angry with him but this fails since she loves Sebastian and he knows it. Despite the seemingly forced nature of these scene it doesn’t feel rapey at all as Olivia herself even admits that you can’t rape the willing and she is more than willing. It takes some convincing but he manages to explain that he left to deal with his ship and crew but also to take care of the twins that wanted her so badly. He explains that he killed one but the other escaped and he immediately returned to her side to make sure she was safe and that he is never leaving again and will be with her as a husband should. Olivia is still angry with him but does give in to his charms, although she doesn't say I love you even though he does for the first time. During one trip the wife of a friend realises that Olivia is pregnant but she is quickly targeted by the escaped twin and held at gunpoint. Sebastian tries to reason with him and can't so he shots Olivia but only injures her shoulder. After they return home Olivia tells Sebastian that she is pregnant and we see their relationship return to normal with their banter sparking up again and we see Olivia’s characteristic wit return but this pair got their happy ending. Stolen pleasures was a delight to read and was a solid 5 stars.
Lucien’s Gamble - ****
The second novella is called Lucien's Gamble and it follows the couple who Sebastian and Olivia met towards the end of their novella, Lord Lucien Remington and his wife Julienne, however this is before their marriage. Considering how happy they were in Stolen pleasures I am eager to see how they got there as Julienne mentions giving her husband 2 children which is how she recognises that Olivia is pregnant. So we know that Julienne has got into Lucien’s gentleman’s club disguised very poorly as a man in order to find her brother, Hugh. Lucien is instantly struck by her beauty and wants her for his own but understand that she is a highborn lady and he is unworthy of her. Julienne has always had to take care of her brother since the death of their parents when they were young, this thrust Hugh into a role he wasn’t prepared to take and he has developed a huge gambling habit which has put their family on the brink of financial ruin, so Julienne knows she has to marry well in order to save them.
Lucien insists that she spends the night in the club despite how improper it is as he doesn’t want anyone else figuring out who she is and why she is there but that night he creeps into her room only to watch her sleep as he has been obsessed with her for months but never dared approach her. Julienne wakes up and we see the intense passion between this pair although they are held apart by their standing in society. We learn that Julienne comes from a good family but Lucien is the bastard son for a Duke and a courtesan, his parents love each other very much and his father after giving his wife an heir never touched her again and he has a very good relationship with both of his parents which was very nice to see. For a while they dance around each other but neither truly gives into the passion between them because they both know what is at stake.
When Julienne begins looking for a husband, she begins courting a man named Fontaine and Lucien can’t stand to let her go. He offers himself as a husband for Julienne but she refuses, there is a resulting argument where Julienne is willing to let Fontaine sleep with other women but not Lucien and he can’t figure out why he would be different. There is one scene that made me uncomfortable, it is at a ball during the Season where Lucien sees Julienne and Fontaine together and corners her forcing them to talk. In this scene he does leave bruises on her although he makes up for this later, when he weeps in her lap because he has hurt her. It falls to his mother to explain that she doesn’t let his father sleep with other women because he knows she would kill him because she loves him and he remains faithful to her because he loves her in return. Lucien realises that Julienne refused to marry him because she loves him and couldn’t stand to share him with anyone else unlike Fontaine who she would marry purely for his money.
Lucien decides to fight for the woman he loves and ends up blackmailing her brother, Hugh into helping him, because of his low birth status he isn’t permitted to be anywhere near Julienne unless her brother approves it. He agrees to wipe off part of Hugh’s massive debt with him in return for allowing to court his sister and Hugh agrees. During this time, Julienne is courting both Fontaine and Lucien but she only has a desire for Lucien but it takes her a while to convince him that despite of his birth status that he is more than worthy of being her husband and he takes a while to convince her that despite his past he will be a good and faithful husband, working off the example his own father set for him. Eventually she agrees to marry him and we see the run up to where they are in Stolen Pleasures. While I really like Lucien’s Gamble it wasn’t as good as Stolen Pleasures for me, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it.
Her Mad Grace – DNF
I didn’t even read this novella as it is Hugh’s story. We meet Hugh in Lucien’s Gamble as he is Julienne’s brother but I had no desire to read his story as I didn’t like him as a character at all. Hugh in Lucien’s Gamble is selfish, childish and has no regard for the feelings of his family. He is willing to marry his sister off into a loveless marriage to settle his debts only to build them again, he is willing to run away for months leaving his sister and Aunt to deal with his creditors while he acts like a spoilt child. Despite any redemption that might come in this novella I wasn’t going to read it. I was hoping for the story of Lucien’s parents as that would have been more enjoyable to read. We know Lucien’s father is a Duke, married and has another son besides Lucien. He has been with Lucien’s mother for over 20 years and they have a son together. They also work very well together even when his father has to attend engagements with his wife and I was wondering every time they appeared how the hell they got together and made it work through the years. I would have preferred that story over Hugh’s any day.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk
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