Friday, March 4, 2016

DNF/ 1 star-- How to Handle a Scandal (The Scandalous Sisters #2) by Emily Greenwood

< There will be spoilers for this one >

Oooo! I love a second chance romance trope. Plus the gorgeous cover? Totally in.

Aaaaaand DNFd at the midway point.

The quick of it is that when they were young Tommy proposed and Lizzie...laughed. She was young and stupid and hurt him badly which sent him off to India for years. He's come home for a visit a hardened man. A hero. And someone who had little interest in the flighty girl who hurt him years earlier even if everyone claims she's changed.



Alright so I was fairly into this one. Like I said. I love the second chance at romance. And seeing them years later, how they'd changed and that little spark that was maybe still there despite their not wanting it to be...yeah it was working for me. Eliza (formerly Lizzy) had changed quite a bit from the flirty girl she'd been. Going the exact opposite direction and avoiding anything frivolous or extravagant. She runs a program for homeless girls trying to give them a chance in life. And Tommy? No longer a love struck young man who was impulsive. He's all man now and rather harsh. His focus is on serving his country and he's got no interest in love..doesn't even believe in it. There were a lot of things for them to work past and I was on board with the love-hate vibes happening.

And then things fell apart. The heroine. Eliza. I couldn't seriously stand her by the time I tapped out. I may have had a bit of a rant when I quit this one-- Done! I hate this heroine. I quit. What an obnoxious little shit she turned out to be. It's really ALL her fault but she's acting like the injured party and being bratty and childish--yeah. I was not thrilled with this girl. I'd actually been somewhat liking her. And then...nope. Here's how it fell apart.
  • While wearing a disguise at a whore house--she had her reasons--she got herself in a big of a jam and ended up knocked up by the hero. While she knew all along it was him he had no clue it was her. He'd not planned on being with anyone while there--had gone with friends--and ended up hiding in a room to avoid someone and he'd been in there hiding as well and then well things happened. 
  • He found out who she was and was reasonably upset and told her to tell him if they'd gotten pregnant as a result.
  • They did! But instead of telling him she plots to keep him in the dark figuring he's leaving for India soon and she won't be showing by then so she can just say nothing came of it then after he's left for India she can go about her life with her baby and him none the wiser. 
  • Which is idiotic since they're part of the same family (non blood relation)
  • He has his suspicions and pointedly asks her and she again says no before confessing. 
  • Does it end there? Of course not! She then decides to run away where he won't be able to find her and return to town at a later point pretending she'd adopted a child. Because he is apparently an idiot and won't figure it out. 
  • He once again finds out and stops her carriage as she's 'escaping' and they marry because it's the right thing to do. 
  • And then she begins to act like a bratty child. She wronged him time and time again but behaves as if SHE was the injured party and acts out. He tells her she can redecorate his home and she sets about doing so by outrageous spending to hurt his pocket book (she thinks this) and doing things like changing the drapes in his study to pink. Or insisting the cook make fish dishes even though he hates fish because in her opinion it's her job to run the house and he's probably just never had good fish before. 
And that's where I was done. Her lies, her childish behavior when she was the cause of everything happening between them, etc. Tommy? Eh. I didn't love him. I didn't hate him. I felt sorry for him that he unknowingly slept with her and it landed them where they were. But that pity was not enough for me to carry on and finish this book.
Seven years after fleeing to India brokenhearted, Tommy Halifax returns to be knighted for his service to the crown, and of course he would run into his first love, the more beautiful than ever Eliza Trueheart.

Widowed already, Eliza is no longer a careless flirt—in fact, she spends her time looking out for such wayward young women. She finds Tommy to have become quite the gentleman, too, and she wants to be honest with him, but she can't decide what's right: making up for her years as a wanton, or falling willingly into Tommy's arms…

   
*covers link to Amazon

Challenges: Pick Your Genre (historical) | New to You (author) | Goodreads

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