Scandal of the Year by Laura Lee Guhrke

I was really looking forward to reading this book, which follows Wedding of the Season, and features the straight laced Aidan, Duke of Trathen, and the carefree Julia and I am so glad that it was just as excellent, if not a bit more, than the first! The book opens with Julia finally getting her divorce from her hateful husband, Yardley. But in the process of getting it, she ends up causing yet another broken engagement and scandal for Aidan as she uses him in her desperate plan to leave her husband.

Now six months later, Aidan is entering back into the ton in hopes of finding a proper duchess and producing an heir. He keeps thinking about Julia and their afternoon together in the cottage but is only having hazy memories. When they bump into each at a ball, the sparks are still there but they both ignore them. Julia keeps up her pretense of carefreeness that she has built all around herself as a result of some horrible actions done to her from her ex husband and continues to believe that she can never be good enough for Aidan. At the same time Aidan keeps having these memories of all their past run ins, which include the first time they meet thirteen years ago, that he just can not seem to let go.

As the book unfolds and we learn more and more of both Aidan and Julias past together and Julias deep emotional scars, Aidan slowly transforms from the stuck up man and gradually loosens up a bit and when Aidan and Julia finally reconnect....so romantic, sweet, and hot. After reading the first book and seeing how Aidan was with Trix (Julias cousin) I wasn't sure how he could change enough to satisfy Julia, but Ms Guhrke seems to have done a good job. And I was surprised at how long Julia and Aidan have known each other and how they always had these lingering feelings even though they barely knew each other. There are plenty of fun moments as Julia is quite a character with everyone and her dog Spike adds some good doses of humor as well. It was really an emotional ride as you want to know what Julias secrets are and what really happened that afternoon and when she finally confides to Aidan how Yardley treated her, well, it was worth the wait. Overall, if you are in the mood for a fun, sexy, emotional (but not deep) this is a great book to check out. 4 1/2 stars

I received this ebook from netgalley.com