I couldn’t take it anymore after getting halfway through and getting sick of the love triangle. I hate love triangles. The story had potential aside from all of the horrible typos and editing issues, but I just couldn’t deal with the dialogue, which was often too modern, and the characters who abruptly changed with the turn of a page.

A good read -- I thought the characters were well-developed and I really enjoyed their dynamic/chemistry.

I was bummed out by this love triangle. That trope isn’t usually my favorite but I can get behind it when it’s done well. But this just wasn’t executed in a way that left me satisfied with it. It was overall a cute story, but it did get a little dull at points.

Review: A Lady’s Guide to Scandal by Sophie Irwin

Countess Eliza Balfour is recently widowed and left a large inheritance by her late husband - but it comes with a catch. She mustn’t behave in any way that would be considered scandalous, and that is to be judged solely at the discretion of her late husband’s nephew and new Earl of Somerset (oh, and Eliza’s first true love). Eliza has always been known for doing what’s proper and right by her family, but this inheritance and a trip to Bath brings freedoms she’s never experienced before including flirting with a notorious rake and poet, Lord Melville.

Fans of Austen’s Persuasion will feel like they are reading an adaptation for approximately the first half of the book. The storyline follows loosely, but it’s worth it. The heat between Eliza and Somerset is so palpable that you feel the pain and yearning that each character feels. When the two meet to discuss their situation, I essentially put the book down thinking what else could there be? While the HEA happens in the second half of the book (and I’m hesitant to say more because of spoilers), the true contentment as a reader comes from seeing Eliza fulfill her dreams and grow into a woman she didn’t even know she was capable of becoming.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of a Lady's Guide to Scandal in exchange for my honest review.

Very good book! Eliza was married to an older man, but is now widowed. She is left with a small fortune but also a stipulation that she must behave. But Eliza wants to finally break free and be herself! It’s a good story about a woman finding herself and what matters to herself and putting herself first. And of course there’s two cute men involved! I thought this was a great book! A must read!!

Thank you to NetGalley for this free download in return for honest opinions. This is the second book I have read by this author and I enjoyed both. There is definably a Bridgerton vibe to these books, which I appreciate. The characters are wise and warm and it's delightful to see them come into their own.

Let me start by saying that Sophie Irwin's first book was a solid 5-star read that I absolutely LOVED. BUT I DNFed this at 73%.

And I am so, so sad to give this a low rating. [See the bottom of the review for an explanation of what 2-stars means for me, personally.]

Persuasion is one of my favorite books so a Persuasion-esque Regency with second chance romance and slow burn vibes - I was here for. This book fell far short and then left-of-center of that.

I'm going to use the CAWPILE rating method to help talk about this book.

Characters... Eliza's been widowed after being married for 10 years to a drudge of a husband. There was no love lost and, in fact, she's been in love with the man she had wanted to marry ... who also happens to be her dead husband's nephew and heir. Awkward. Her character traits are dutiful and compliant until basically deciding not to be. BFF is her cousin who is extremely outspoken (that is her main takeaway trait). Somerset is described as tall and fair quite a bit... and he and Eliza talk about the weather and other mundane things (I guess that should have been a sign that he was not, maybe the HEA intended...). Melville is outlandish, flirty, and he and Eliza share many quips. I think the story here is meant to show much character growth for Eliza but I didn't particularly care for it. This was an issue of pacing and inauthenticity... things were happening either too fast or too slow to feel authentic to the storyline.

Atmosphere... This was alright. The main part of the story takes place in Bath, England and I thought that was a higher point of the book. Hearing about different places of interest, such as the Pump Room, was interesting and helped build a strong setting.

Writing... I like the way Irwin writes and don't have any real complaints here.

Plot... I discussed parts of the plot above and you can see the book synopsis. I am going to give some major spoilers away here so continue reading at your own risk if you don't wish to see them..... I had major issues with plot points and this could be, admittedly, a "me" thing. First, the entire first half of the book is Eliza yearning for Somerset, reflecting on how much she has loved him (based on basically dancing together and other very surface-level stuff). So I guess the case IS built that they don't have much more to go on for their love. HOWEVER, you spent 50% of the book building this romance. Literally at 50% of the book, Somerset and Eliza are declaring their love for one another and sharing kisses in the coach and promising to become engaged when her time of mourning is complete. Then... by 70% Eliza realizes she is in love with Melville. And can she love two people at once?! And what to do?! What a dilemma!?! I don't like love triangles as it is but this one is particularly troublesome for me. I know they weren't *actually* engaged... yet they literally confess their intentions only for her to turn around and realize (quite suddenly... based on her looking at a painting she did of him...) that she is, indeed, in love with MELVILLE too (or only?). Also, around this point, cousin confesses her same-sex love for Melville's sister. This felt SO inauthentic (not inauthentic as in gay people didn't exist during Regency times) where all of a sudden there's this second sub-plot and Eliza is just like "Oh yeah, I totally see that you guys are in love with each other now that you point it out" without any other comments basically. Pretty much all my problems with this book is plot (and pacing). I got to 72% and didn't even want to finish. I had to put the book down because I was so annoyed by all this. I wasn't rooting for Somerset OR Melville at this point. I feel like we had borderline cheating here which I give a 100% NEGATIVE reaction always.

Intrigue/Pacing... I guess the intrigue at the beginning is alright - you really do wonder how it's all going to play out. But the pacing was rough. Very tedious and slow in some parts. Rushed and forced-feeling in others.

Logic/World Building... I don't have much to say here except the regency time period was great.

Enjoyment... Lacked greatly. Even at the beginning, I never felt truly connected to Eliza.

All this to say... I couldn't do it. I wouldn't recommend unless you really love messy love triangles with frustrating characters.

My personal rating system:
2 star rating...
This means that this was better than bad but worse than good. Major issues with something. And, more likely, somethings. Usually a combo of bad writing / characters / plot / content issues. Do not actively recommend.

Fun, fresh, fast read with lots of romance and tugs on the heartstrings. Love the cover art. This would make a great anytime read but it was definitely well- suited to the spring. All around satisfying reading experience.

⭐️=4.5 | 😘=2.5 | 🤬=2 | 12/13+

A Lady’s Guide to Scandal follows Eliza, a recently widowed 27 year old who inherits an estate and massive fortune from her late husband. the catch? in order to keep the money, she has to stay, by Regency England standards, ✨morally sound✨. drama ft. her ex (and late husband’s nephew), a dashing rake of a writer, and a sapphic subplot that deserved more page time ensues!!
I adored A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting, so it’s no surprise that I loved this one as well. clever, fun, and extremely witty historical fiction featuring a heroine with an actual arc outside of romantic drama?? respectfully sign me up please and thank you. despite the summary/pitch kind of framing it like a Persuasion retelling(ish) and focusing on the second chance romance aspect (which wasn’t the main point?? embarrassed for the publisher/agent/editor who wrote the blurb and excluded Melville 🤨), I loved the twists Sophie Irwin put to traditional Regency tropes (and romance tropes in general) to focus on the heroine’s story rather than whatever guys are floating around. there’s great chemistry between Eliza and a certain love interest (to reiterate: team Melville🫡) and everything wraps up incredibly well at the end, which is especially impressive considering I usually find issues with properly resolving love triangles. overall just adorable content that made me giggle like a little girl. would’ve loved to see more Caroline/Margaret moments, but I still had the time of my life reading this.

Overall I enjoyed this story in many ways. The writing is a little more modernized than your typical historical romances. It takes awhile for you to figure out which man is best for Eliza, but it does become pretty obvious towards the end. I really enjoyed the side characters, especially her cousin Margaret. She and Eliza had a fun relationship and Margaret pushed her to have fun and grow a backbone, which included her finding the ability to more willingly stand up to her family. I wouldnt have minded a little more insight into her previous marriage, but she definitely got over it quickly lol.

I started reading this book without realizing I had read the author's previous book, which I didn't really enjoy. After I got about 20% into this book, though, I figured out that I was having very similar issues with this book. While I was getting some classic Georgette Heyer-esque vibes from this story, nothing felt fully realized. The heroine felt very caricature-like. She had just endured a long and difficult marriage to an apparently extremely unlikeable man, but one day she just woke up and decided she would "get over it?' I needed more of her working through her feelings about her past and her experiences. I could not connect with her. And I couldn't find anything in the two male main characters to connect with, either. I couldn't tell if I was supposed to like them or not. I know that in a great deal of romance novels the "romantic interest" may not be agreeable or even likable to the heroine, but there should be something there that is intriguing and invites a spark to develop. I just didn't get that here.
I probably shouldn't have read this book given how much I didn't like the author's previous book. It is not a mistake I will make again. If you want a regency romance that feels like Georgette Heyer or Clare Darcy, just reread Georgette Heyer or Clare Darcy...

Overall, it is a cute story that had its own charm which I genuinely enjoyed, but this one won’t be a love for a lifetime book.

I’m not typically a big regency reader but this one caught my attention & I’m glad it did. It was a regency romance but less stuffy and more modern. Probably not totally historically accurate in language and other aspects but who cares! A delightful read. Slightly difficult to get into as I wasn’t sure where the story was headed. But I stuck around & was rewarded nicely.

This book was just lovely, and it provided everything I was looking for in my next read: I got swept up in watching a love story unfold, felt the heart-wrenching pain of the third act breakup, and was joyous at the resolution.

The love that developed between the main characters was phenomenal, but the real dark horse was the beauty of the friendship between our main character Eliza and her cousin Margaret. One of my favorite quotes about the two of them was: “That night, they stayed up into the early hours of the morning, spilling their thoughts into the darkness between them, small and large and myriad - confidences so grand that not another soul could be trust with them, trivialities so small that not another soul would be interested in them.” Now that’s the real love story.

‼️ CALLING ALL BRIDGERTON GIRLIES or anyone who loves 18th-19th c. period historical fiction ‼️‼️ WOW this was SO GOOD. This is Irwin’s second novel and I honestly for the life of me couldn’t figure out if this was a sequel but I’m assuming it isn’t. This novel follows Eliza after her rich boring husband dies and she becomes LOADED and gets to pursue the life she wants as a rich bitch! This also includes flirting with mysterious hot guy Lord Melville, until her old suitor re-emerges in her new life as a widow; with the world at her fingertips, will she entertain the likes of a man or maybe just live her life as a rich girlie?!? I actually can’t speak highly enough about the character development and plot points in this book. Very similar to the League of Extraordinary Women series, this book depicts Eliza growing from a timid teen to a late 20s lady who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to go for it, pursuing her passion and flouncing society’s expectations because there’s more to life than living for the gossips. This was also such a fun read because of the endearing and sincere best friend plotline and other pro-LGBTQ plotlines! The friendship between Margaret and Eliza was the real winning relationship from this book IMO.

Halfway through the book I was pissed because I thought the love story was gonna go one way, BUT then it went a different direction, which is pretty rare for these historical romance books that typically follow a set formula. Also, while books like Bridgerton depend on sloppily written sex scenes to build tension for readers, there is shockingly no explicit sex scenes in this book, but the writing did a wonderful job still building the romance and relationships between Eliza and her partner(s?).

I really think this book has a little bit for everyone! It publishes on July 11, 2023, and I highly recommend everyone give it a read when it comes out. This is the PERFECT BEACH READ

So many Regency Romances to read, so few that really draw you in. This book draws you in from the beginning and is such an engaging book. Eliza, the Dowager Countess of Somerset is only 27 but she has endured ten years of marriage to the Earl of Somerset. It has now been nine months since his death and his will is finally being read because his heir Oliver has returned home from his posting as a naval officer. Eliza had no children, and she only expects a legacy of 500 pounds a year, the amount agreed on before her wedding. The thought of going home to live with her parents (who are also dismayed because their standard of living had increased with Eliza's) is hard, but Eliza is used to doing what she is told to do although she is tired of having her life decided by others.
Eliza is given a chance to change all this when she finds out that she has been left three properties by her husband -- not because he became kinder but because another family member who expected them to come to him made him angry (and then luckily the Earl died before they could make up!). The income from this largesse is 10,000 pounds a year, an enormous sum. The only drawback is that Eliza must always conduct herself properly as decided by the new Earl (a morality clause). The new Earl is also the man that Eliza wanted to marry before she found out that her parents were insisting that she marry the Earl. The author writes a book where the protagonist grows, and changes as do many of the other characters and it's an appealing story that keeps you thinking when you finish.

I got this book from NetGalley, and was SO excited to read it. I loved Irwin’s first book.

Overall, this was a strong sophomore novel.

WHAT I LOVED:
-love triangle where I wasn’t convinced for about 70% of the book which way I was hoping it would go
-Margaret is so real, and the kind of friend everyone needs.
-in-text humor being completely on point
-the self-discovery of Eliza
-the old flame coming back…one of my favorite tropes
-the heavy fashion and art - created beautiful images in my mind

WHAT I DIDN’T LOVE:
-the cover. Blah. It pales in comparison to her first cover and doesn’t reflect that undertones of the novel.
-Somerset’s family was so icky, truly villainous.

A Lady's Guide to Scandal is exactly what the title promises--an lighthearted romance in an historical setting. Sophie Irwin's novel is fast reading. Like most novels of this genre, Irwin creates an enjoyable world with characters whose lives do not turn out as predicted. There is no mystery about which man wins the heroine's heart, but Irwin does make the journey to this conclusion an easy read.

The characters in A Lady's Guide to Scandal are of mix of real and contrived. For instance, Margaret and Carolyn, though predictable quite early on, are a joy to get to know. These two ladies easily capture the reader's attention. This is not the case for Lady Somerset, whose choices are exaggerated and predictable. I like a good romance, especially a historical romance, but the best romances provide characters who are more than rebellious. They need a complexity that makes the reader excited. Lady Somerset is much put upon, but lacks the sort of redemption that characterizes the best heroines. It is not enough to create an Austin-like heroine. Readers need to cheer her successes.

In spite of those criticisms about this central character, I enjoyed the diversion that this novel provided. Because I think that A Lady's Guide to Scandal will please readers (shouldn't the title be A Lady's Guide to NOT Scandal), I have bumped up my 3.5 stars to 4 stars.

Thank you to the author and to Berkley Publishing Group for providing this ARC for me to read and review. Thanks also to NetGalley for providing this novel on its lists.

Rating: strong 3.5 stars
A Lady's Guide to Scandal is Sophie Irwin's second Regency era romance, but it stands alone from her first novel with only a bit of character crossover. Eliza married young and was completely dominated by first her parents and later her much older husband. Widowed at the age of 27, she slowly but surely starts to come into her own, realizing that her opinion matters at least as much as the edicts of those around her. With multicultural characters, an intriguing love triangle, and a bit of an LGBTQ side-plot, Eliza's scandalous (thought not steamy) adventures are worth checking out.

Sophie Irwin's debut novel last year turned out to be one of my surprise favorites, and so I was both excited and a little nervous to read her second one. Happily, I enjoyed it just as much as her first, and in some ways maybe more in that it explores a broader array of topics and an expanded cast of characters that all end up connecting back to the primary romance. This second book feels more confident and expansive. It's cunning too in its exploration of the potential options for a heroine who suddenly finds herself widowed, wealthy, and free from an oppressive marriage while still in here twenties. It is hard to know where this story is going for quite a long time, but that was a big part of its appeal for me. On the surface, it seems set up as a retelling of Austen's Persuasion, a notoriously challenging book to portray. The bare scaffolding of Persuasion is here, but this book departs to examine what would happen to a woman who left behind many regrets and missed opportunities and pushed herself forward. One big question is whether the hero from her past is up for the challenge, and that is a question that lingers uncomfortably long, especially with new courtships hovering.

I found this book equally a character study of Eliza as much as it is a plot-driven story and loved her emergence from the staid, lonely young woman in the first chapters to the woman she gradually becomes once she has the freedom to test herself and take chances. The central romance is deliberately obscure because it is enmeshed in the tumultuous changes Eliza undergoes. That isn't to say that the hero is unimportant because he too grows into the best version of himself due to Eliza's influence. The hero of this book is truly wonderful and will undoubtedly be one of my favorite romance heroes this year. But his role in Eliza's life remains unclear for the vast majority of the novel with lots of twists and turns.

I am hopeful that Sophie Irwin represents a much needed revitalization of historical romance after what has seemed like a period of stagnation for the genre. If I have small criticisms, it is that the book takes a while to develop, and so patience is needed at the start, while the end is a little rushed and could have benefited from slowing down. I wouldn't have minded more time with the main couple at the end. The long middle of this book though is fabulous and I enjoyed all of it so much and am thrilled to have a new HR author to anticipate.