Scandal Wears Satin by Loretta Chase

When Lady Clara, the Maison Noirot best and most wealthy customer, finds herself engaged to the broke Lord Adderly, Sophia Noirot and her sisters find themselves at odds.  Without Clara's patronage, there is a strong chance there shop will not survive.  Especially with Clara's mother boycotting the shop since Sophy's eldest sister married Clara's almost betrothed.  The situation goes into more upheaval when Clara runs away and it is up to her brother, Harry, the Earl of Longmore to fetch her quietly.  And while he is attracted to the blue eyed beauty of Sophy he is uncertain as to why she cares to much about his sister.  As Sophy is quite an accomplished master of disguise, she knows she can safely and quickly find Clara and also find a creative solution to keeping her as their star customer and saving the shop.  Naturally, traveling together allows for this mutual attraction to grow and deepen but it takes awhile for it to truly heat up.  As more of Sophy's plans unravel to help Clara escape her betrothal, will Sophy be able to save her beloved dressmaker shop and in the process, find some true happiness for herself?  How will Harry react when the truth of her background is fully known?

I absolutely adored the first book in this series, Silk is for Seduction, so I was very eager to read this book and while I enjoyed this one, I didn't love it either and I can not quite put my finger on why.  I loved all the fun quips between Sophy and Harry:

"You admire her," he said.
"Yes," she said. "She was brave."
"Reckless is more like it.  Stupidly reckless."
"Like her brother."
Another pause.
"You have a point," he said.

I loved watching Harry and is high strung family come together and put Clara first and Sophy slowly maker her own place in the family as well.  I think, for me, I just didn't feel the connection right away between Harry and Sophy.  Still, it was enjoyable watching them fall in love and then bumble about trying to find a way to make it work to everyones satisfaction.   I also felt like Clara almost stole this book as she is featured so prominently again and I am really hoping this poor girl finds a man who is worthy of her.  I loved all the attention to the details of the gorgeous gowns and the warm friendship between the sisters.  Sophy was a delight to read with her bold and decisive nature and her passion for protecting what is hers.  Harry did not really seem to have much to do except escort his sister to the dressmakers so I would have liked to have seen him have more of a purpose for his life but I think is fun loving attitude is a wonderful balance for Sophy.  I breezed though this expertly written romance and I am looking forward to the last sister getting her story.  Not much was hinted at for it so I can't wait to see who she might be paired up with!  Loretta Chase is an auto buy author for me for her gorgeous storytelling balanced between love, heat and humor so even though I did not love this one, it was a wonderful story to immerse myself in after a long days work.  4 stars

I received this eARC from Avon via edelweiss.com.  Quote subject to change in final version.

The Dressmakers series
Could be read as standalone but best enjoyed in order

At least one more to come plus a surprise according to her website!