The Seduction of Scandal by Cathy Maxwell

Lady Corrine has realized that her father, the duke of Banfield, is not going to allow her to cry off her wedding to the despicable Lord Freddie Sherwin, son of the earl of Bossley, as their marriage would be a great combination of power between the two fathers.  So she decides to take matters into her own hands and takes the drastic step of stowing herself in the boot under a carriage bound for London.  What she is exactly going to do there, she is not quite sure but she knows she needs to stay hidden for the next couple of months until her wedding day passes.  She encounters a slight mishap along the way though when the carriage is stopped by the mysterious blackguard, Thorn.  She quickly tries to flee the scene but ends up accidentally getting shot in the shoulder and the major who shot her flees. leaving her to the mercy of the mysterious Thorn and she promptly passes out.

Reverend Will Norwich, foster brother to Freddie, is stunned when he sees his childhood crush get shot.  He reluctantly gathers her up and takes her to his, err Thorns, hideout.  He is faced with quite a dilemma though as Corrine pulled off his mask before passing out and she now knows his secret identity.  Corrine pleads with him to allow her to stay hidden in the rustic cottage, away from prying and searching eyes so she can jilt Freddie.  Seeing as he really has no choice in the matter, he reluctantly agrees but lays do the law about her having to stay hidden.  Naturally, strong willed and spirited Corrine does not listen and instead follows him to his real parsonage home and starts causing all sorts of problems for him there.  After all, this is the girl that turned her nose up at him years ago when he had a crush on her and he has harbored bitterness towards her for it but his feelings are still the same and continue to mature as they spend more and more time together.

Overall, this was a good book.  I did feel as if Corrine fell into love with Will a bit quickly, after all, their living circumstances are quite different.  He lives in his parsonage tending to his church and she is the daughter of a duke and is thrown into this situation of a much more simple life and she took to it quite easily I thought.  Will was quite a dashing hero.  Reverend by day, a type of Robin Hood by night, trying to correct his foster fathers greedy mistakes of his people.  And oh his father, what a greedy, nasty, calculating man!  Will tries to stay away from Corrine but he eventually just can't resist her and they certainly burn up the sheets when they come together!  I found the mystery in the book to be interesting and the ending of it was excellent, even if I thought something along those veins would happen.  What I thought didn't exactly happen so that is always a bonus when an author can throw that curveball in at the end.  I just wished we would have seen more of Will and Corrine falling in love.  Like I said, I thought it happened a bit quickly but other than that, a good solid book.  If you are looking for a Robin Hood type hero, a rebellious bold heroine and some great supporting characters in a small village who look out for each other alongwith a dash of mystery, try this one!  3 1/2 stars

(And even though this is book five of Cathy Maxwell's Scandals and Seductions series, I did not feel like I missed anything from not reading the previous books first.  I believe Corrine was mentioned in a previous book though)

I received this ebook arc from the publisher via netgalley.com

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Scandals and Seduction series: