Sweetest Scoundrel by Elizabeth Hoyt (Maiden Lane #9)
Released: November 24, 2015
Historical Romance
Grand Central

Reviewed by Mandi

Asa Makepeace’s passion is life is the theater and garden he owns called Harte’s Folly. He loves it so much, he goes by Mr. Harte to most of his acquaintances. After it burned down a year ago, he found an investor in the Duke of Montgomery, and has started rebuilding. Having to rebuild the entire theater and redesign the gardens again, it takes a lot of money and he has been leaning heavily on the duke’s capital to get the job finished. Asa loves this theater, but his large family has no idea he is Mr. Harte or that he has any dealings with the theater. Asa’s father disowned him as a young adult and never approved of the theater as a profession. Asa assumes his many brothers and sisters would hold the same opinion, so he has never told them, and really never visits them either. He finds companionship in big-breasted women who sing in this theater.

One day Eve comes knocking on his door. The duke aka Asa’s creditor is Eve’s beloved brother, and she has volunteered to keep a watch over his theater investment while her brother spends time in the country. Eve does not like the amount of money and lack of progress in the theater, and tracks down Asa to tell him the money is coming to a halt. This infuriates Asa to no end, and he lets her know. But once he gets a hold of his temper, he starts to play nice, knowing Eve is all business and really will take his money away. He takes her to the theater to show her all the good things about it, and his passion for the place does soften Eve’s heart a bit. They start to spend a lot of time together, and Eve starts to fall in love with the theater herself. When Asa makes a physical move on Eve though, she pushes him away, terrified. Eve suffered a trauma in her childhood, which now makes her very scared of men and unable to bear the touch of one. But Asa won’t give up – he has patience, and kindness within him, and as he falls harder for Eve, he slowly gains her trust.

Oh Asa Makepeace – he made me swoon right off the couch. This book had a little bit of a slow start for me. I became worried at one point that the pace wouldn’t pick up, but my fears were abated.  Eve and Asa do NOT get along at all when they first meet. Asa finds Eve “plain as a shovel” and Eve is intimidated by the wildness of Asa.

Mr. Harte sprawled across her dainty settee like a Viking marauder in a pillaged Christian church. His broad shoulders took up more than half the width, his arms lazily draped over the back. His scarlet coat was spread open, contrasting with the sedate gray-blue of the cushions almost shockingly. One long leg was thrust straight before him, the other cocked open and resting on a booted heel. The pose made the apex of his thighs very… obvious… and even as she kept her eyes locked on his she could feel heat rising in her cheeks.

What did she see?

She saw violence and anger, kept under a control that was tenuous at best. She saw power and a strength that could hurt her—kill her—if he so chose. She saw the innate brutality that was, in larger or smaller part, in all men. She saw her most terrible fears. But—and this was the truly unprecedented part—she saw more in him. She saw temptation—her temptation—alluring and frightening at the same time, his virility so strong it was nearly a visible miasma in the space between them.

She wanted him.

She is so tired of being scared of men, that she wants to get over this fear. One of Eve’s passions is to draw, and when she looks at her drawings of men, they are always so feminine – but one look at Asa, and she knows she must paint this virile man. It’s her first step to trusting him.

As the story progresses, and more accidents happen at the theater, Eve and Asa realize sabotage may be coming into play. They work together to figure out who the bad guy is, all the while bringing them closer together. Eve doesn’t like to be touched, but she is super curious about sex and passion. And Asa is very eager to show her what the male body is all about. And it all takes place inside a carriage. Naughty.

Unhurriedly, deliberately, he flicked open the buttons to his placket.

Eve fisted her hands against the seat cushions on either side of her as the carriage rocked around a corner.

He spread apart the placket. “Ah, that’s better.”

Her eyes jumped to his face.

He was smiling, watching her. “Gets tight when I’m big.”

She bit her lip, unable to keep her gaze from returning to his lap. His white undergarment showed there, a thick column outlined beneath.

“You want to see it, don’t you,” he murmured, squeezing himself.

Asa is all man. He swears constantly, his appearance is always haphazardly thrown together – and he protects Eve like the bad ass he is:

“I’m going to pull you from your fucking horse, take away your bloody pistols, shoot you in both fucking knees, and then I’m going to beat your sodding brains out against the cobblestones,” Asa said.

One of footmen squeaked.

I adored him. Slightly out of control, could care less about society norms, eggs Eve on but also has the kindest heart. Their romance worked so, so well for me.

It’s so nice when the ninth book in a series makes me smile so hard. Bring on more Maiden Lane books!

Grade: B+

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