The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife by Julia Justiss
The Earl's Inconvenient Wife by Julia Justiss Series: Sisters of Scandal Series Book #2
on May 26, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Historical / Victorian
Pages: 369
Goodreads
In this Regency romance, friends become lovers when a debutante from a notorious family enters a marriage of convenience with her brother's best friend.
Temperance Lattimar is too scandalous for a Season, until finally she's sponsored by Lady Sayleford. The whole charade feels wrong when she doesn't want a husband, but Temper feels awful when MP and aristocrat Gifford Newell is appointed to "protect" her at society events. With her past, she knows she's not an ideal wife . . . but when a marriage of convenience to Giff becomes her only option, both are surprised to discover their very real feelings for each other.
The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife is book two in the Sisters of Scandal’s series. Although this book can truly be read as a stand alone, I recommend starting with the Hadley’s Hellions series first and then moving on to this series.
I really enjoyed this book. Justiss knows her history and infuses the reality of life in 1833 Britain seamlessly with her characters. At the time, Lady Hester Lucy Stanhope left her constrained and scandal ridden life in England behind for travel and adventure. One hundred years prior, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu had traveled to the Ottoman Empire and written about her escapades. Travel books were in demand. Justiss’ heroine Temperance Lattimar longs for a free and independent life far from the busy society of London in order to see the world. So she sets out to go through her first season and not make a match, hoping for her independence. But when scandal strikes and her brother’s best friend is involved, can she live with her dreams changing?
“Gifford Newell. Her brother’s best friend and carousing buddy, who’d acted as another older brother, tease and friend since she was in leading strings. Although lately, something seemed to have shifted between them…some sort of wordless tension that telegraphed between them when they were together, edgy, exciting…and threatening.” I really enjoyed this book. There is an edge to her romantic relationship with Gifford that kept me turning the pages. I was given a copy of this book.
