Review: Lady Mercy Danforthe Flirts With Scandal

Lady Mercy Danforthe Flirts with Scandal (Sydney Dovedale - Book 3) by Jayne Fresina

Publication Date: June 4, 2012
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Imprint: Casablanca
Genre: Historical Romance
Pages: 384
ISBN-10: 1402266030
ISBN-13: 978-1402266034

(Received for an honest review from Sourcebooks Casablanca)

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, IndieBound

Jayne Fresina on the WEB: webpage, twitter, facebook, goodreads, librarything, fantasticfiction

Books in the series:

The Most Improper Sophie Valentine (2012) The Wicked Wedding of Miss Ellie Vyne (2013), Lady Mercy Danforthe Flirts with Scandal (2013)

Coverart: Click on the image for a larger, clearer view of the covers in this series.

Excerpt from Lady Mercy Danforthe Flirts with Scandal, courtesy of Amazon's Look Inside feature

Synopsis:

When a Perfectly Proper Lady...

Lady Mercy Danforthe always has a plan. It's what makes her such a successful matchmaker, and why she's obligated to spend a great deal of time generously organizing the lives of her friends and family. But there's one man beyond her help. One man whose recklessness she can't rein in; whose chaos she can't contain. Her ex-husband, Rafe Hartley. Her one - and only! - mistake.

Flirts with a Reckless Rogue...

Rafe has never forgiven Mercy for running out on him. Their hastily annulled marriage may have one lasted three hours, but that doesn't mean he needs her help finding a proper wife. Someone needs to teach little Miss Know-It-All a lesson about keeping her adorably freckled nose out of other people's business. And it just so happens that Mercy "Silky Drawers" Danforthe still owes him a wedding night...

A Scandal's Never Far Behind

Thoughts:

English author Jayne Fresina continues the Sydney Dovedale series with her latest book Lady Mercy Danforthe Flirts with Scandal. Fresina has a knack for Regency England and her knowledge of the period is remarkable. Readers will be transported back to the days of the haute ton and England from yesteryear. Fresina's use of humor and unusual circumstance make this a surprisingly light novel that will leave readers feeling uplifted and enchanted. Fresina certainly makes a splash with this book and the series.

I recently read the first book in this series, The Most Improper Sophie Valentine and absolutely fell in love with Jayne Fresina's writing style. Her characters aren't perfect and it's their imperfections that make them easy to identify with, even though they are from a different time. Lady Mercy Danforthe made a snap judgement in her past. But she has moved on. She believes she understands everything she needs to know about men and women and how relationships work, but she has one nemesis, her ex-husband. I thought Fresina made Mercy real. She characterized her as woman who wants to help others, but isn't too adept at helping herself. She was a wonderful character that jumped off the page. She was bright and effervescent. Readers will love her.

And then there's Rafe. By all accounts a rake, a scoundrel who can't seem to settle down since his estrangement from Mercy. She may be the matchmaker for the rest of the ton, but Rafe is beyond her help, until she realizes that maybe she was a little hasty in her decision to throw off her marriage. I liked the fact that he did not apologize for who he was or how he acted. He accepted responsibility for his actions and took the consequences. He wasn't exactly a bad boy character but the reader could tell that he had it in him. I thought Fresina did a great job with his character.

Every romance has to have a little conflict in order to make it riveting and full of suspense. It somehow makes the moment when hero and heroine get together that much sweeter. I liked the fact that Fresina made her moments count. The circumstances that came up were not just thrown together they were meant to create a certain feeling in the reader and each one built on the last until the reader was ready to explode if these two didn't just get their happy ending already. I loved the way the plot built and built and the energy and romance spiraled until the end. Well done!

Lady Mercy Danforthe Flirts with Scandal is available NOW from your favorite bookseller. 

Look for my interview with Jayne later today and a giveaway!

I'm giving this one 5 out of 5 apples from my book bag!

About the Author:

Jayne Fresina sprouted up in England. Entertained by her father's colorful tales of growing up in the countryside, and surrounded by opinionated sisters, she's always had inspiration for her beleaguered heroes and unstoppable heroines. She lives in upstate New York. Visit www.jaynefresina.com.