A Scoundrel by Moonlight by Anna Campbell (Sons of Sin #4)
Released: April 28, 2015
Historical
Forever
Reviewed by May
As Nell Trim sat with her dying sister she promised to get revenge on the man who seduced her and ultimately caused her death: the Marquess of Leath.
James (aka the marquess) has been dealing with the multitude of women coming forward with babies and in trouble all seduced by his (now dead) uncle. That man roamed the countryside seducing young ladies and posing as the Marquess of Leath and he is trying to privately handle all of those issues. Now he’s got a new problem – he is desperately attracted to his mother’s new companion a mysterious woman he has found in his library late at night. What is her story and what does she want?
I like Anna Campbell’s style of writing and her strong characters, and I did enjoy my time with this book. That said, this book was riddled with problems and was not a great read.
First of all, Nell immediately falls in lust with James and has several encounters before ever figuring out that this man is not a villain. She believes he is the man who seduced and impregnated her sister and countless other women, so why is she locking lips and lusting for him so easily? This really bothered me because it undermined her as a character, as a heroine on a mission.
If Nell had uncovered the truth, and then started working alongside James and falling in love with him this whole story might have been wildly different and far more satisfying for me. For me Nell’s strength of character and intelligence was questioned, most especially since she never considered the possibility that her dopey sister fell for lines from an imposter and not the stern man she has come to know.
James is all work and no fun, so it doesn’t surprise me that he’s found himself lusting for Nell and eager to spend time with her. He’s got no personality, and other than having political ambitions and being kind to his mother I can’t find much to say about him. He does get interesting glimmers as a sexually frustrated and jealous man though.
Leath’s brows lowered in the ferocious frown that had once terrified her. “You’ve seen him?”
“Of course.”
Leath flicked his crop against one long muscular thigh. Snap. Snap. Snap. “In his rooms?”
She’d had some odd conversations with the marquess, but this one verged on the bizarre. “He’s not supposed to wander around the house.”
“I don’t want you there.”
She stiffened. “You imagine I make a habit of invading men’s chambers to molest them?”
His jaw set at her reference to the night he’d kissed her. “I don’t want you alone with Crane.”
“Nothing untowared has happened.” She resented the need to defend herself, although Leath was within his rights to doubt her intentions. “He’s bored to distraction. I read aloud and write letters for him and try to ease his idle hours.”
“If you’re easing anyone’s idle hours, choose me,” he growled.
If we could have had some more jealous James, perhaps some true show downs between an unaffected Nell and the stuffy marquess, maybe more time before she throws away her promises to a dead sister, well maybe then this would have been a story I enjoyed more. From his choice to propose that she be his mistress to her choice to immediately fall for the very man she is supposed to expose and bring to justice, from the villain going around extorting money from the seduced women to the lackluster cast of supporting characters this book missed repeatedly for me.
As it stands this was one of the weaker stories I’ve read from this author, and I can’t come up with a recommendation for it other than it was a nicely paced if problem riddled story.
Grade: C-
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