SWEETEST SCOUNDREL (Maiden Lane #9) by Elizabeth Hoyt-Review, Book Tour and Giveaway

Sweetest Scoundrel
Maiden Lane #9
by Elizabeth Hoyt
Genre: historical, romance
Release Date: November 24, 2015

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release date November 24, 2015

SHE’S TAKING CHARGE

Prim, proper, and thrifty, Eve Dinwoody is all business when it comes to protecting her brother’s investment. But when she agrees to control the purse strings of London’s premier pleasure garden, Harte’s Folly, she finds herself butting heads with an infuriating scoundrel who can’t be controlled.

HE’S RUNNING THE SHOW

Bawdy and bold, Asa Makepeace doesn’t have time for a penny-pinching prude like Eve. As the garden’s larger-than-life owner, he’s already dealing with self-centered sopranos and temperamental tenors. He’s not about to let an aristocratic woman boss him around . . . no matter how enticing she is.

BUT LOVE CONQUERS ALL

In spite of her lack of theatrical experience—and her fiery clashes with Asa—Eve is determined to turn Harte’s Folly into a smashing success. But the harder she tries to manage the stubborn rake, the harder it is to ignore his seductive charm and raw magnetism. There’s no denying the smoldering fire between them—and trying to put it out would be the greatest folly of all.

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REVIEW: SWEETEST SCOUNDREL is the ninth installment in Elizabeth Hoyt’s MAIDEN LANE historical, romance series. This is Harte’s Folly owner Asa Makepeace, and Eve Dinwoody’s storyline. SWEETEST SCOUNDREL can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Some of the previous storyline characters and couples play secondary and supporting roles. Each chapter begins with a short excerpt from The Lion and The Dove that expertly parallels the events of SWEETEST SCOUNDREL.

Told from several third person points of view SWEETEST SCOUNDREL continues to focus on the rebuilding of London’s premier pleasure garden, Harte’s Folly. As the opening date draws closer Asa Makepeace finds himself in a financial predicament when his ‘benefactor’, the Duke of Montgomery, has suddenly decided to cease any further funding. Enter Eve Dinwoody, the Duke’s sister and the woman who handles all of the Duke’s business and the real reason Asa is about to lose his financial backing. What ensues is Asa’s seduction of Eve Dinwoody, in the hopes of re-negotiating her financial withdrawal. Meanwhile, Harte’s Folly becomes the target of chaos and destruction when one catastrophe after another befalls the reconstruction-catastrophes that are no accidents.

Eve Dinwoody is a prim and proper lady who lacks the physical beauty to which most men are attracted, but for Eve, the thought of any man’s touch, other than her brother or bodyguard, makes her physically and emotionally ill. Eve has a secret, one that she can barely remember, but one that will manifest itself, in the coming weeks.

Asa is a bit of a scoundrel, with a reputation for the ladies and a flamboyant lifestyle that doesn’t involve prudish women. Asa is a man who has been exiled from his family and we learn a little bit about his background and how he came into possession of the once-famous gardens. Asa is determined to bring Harte’s Folly back to its’ original glory, and to do so he needs the financial backing of the scandalized Duke of Montgomery aka Val. While the Duke is reported to be out of the country, Eve is in control of the Duke’s money.

The relationship between Asa and Eve is slow to build. Eve is an inexperienced woman who is tormented by demons from her past. Asa becomes all too aware that something dark controls the woman with whom he is falling in love, and our hero must slowly rebuild Eve’s trust and confidence. The $ex scenes are erotic, seductive and educational-especially when Eve naively wants to explore the differences between a man and woman-there is plenty of voyeuristic adventures for our leading couple.

SWEETEST SCOUNDREL has a large ensemble cast of characters. The secondary and supporting players include all of Asa’s extended family; Eve’s personal bodyguard Jean-Marie and his wife Tess; the Duke’s mysterious housekeeper Bridget Crumb, and by way of mention, the Duke himself. We are also reintroduced to Alf-the young street urchin who is more aware than most about what is happening in and around London; Mr. Macleish, Mr. Vogel as well as Apollo and Lily Greaves (Darling Beast #7); and the Ladies’ Syndicate. A number of the singers and dancers at Harte’s Folly including Polly Potts and Violetta play a small role throughout. The requisite evil is haunting and disturbing.

SWEETEST SCOUNDREL is an entertaining, fairytale-esque storyline with a little bit of mystery, suspense and romance. The world building continues to focus on Harte’s Folly-for those readers hoping for another look at the Ghost of St. Giles, there is no mention or reference to any of the earlier storylines. The premise of SWEETEST SCOUNDREL is intriguing; the characters are energetic and determined; the romance is unique and interesting. SWEETEST SCOUNDREL is another passionate romance from the pen of Elizabeth Hoyt.

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley.

Reviewed by Sandy

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Elizabeth was born in New Orleans but grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was fortunate to be able to travel extensively as a child, visiting St. Andrews, Scotland; Germany; France; and Belgium. She spent a year in Oxford, England and was a summer exchange student to Kawasaki, Japan.

Elizabeth has a BA in anthropology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and, as a result of having no clue what to do with her life thereafter, a career history as a barista, a (terrible) sales clerk, a Wisconsin Revenue Service data entry slave, and an archeological field work grunt. Fortunately, Elizabeth married relatively young and produced two children who kept her busy until her mid-thirties. At about this time, when her youngest was entering Kindergarten, Elizabeth’s mother hinted that perhaps Elizabeth should get a Real Job.

But! Five years later, to everyone’s surprise, she actually sold that romance novel (The Raven Prince) and began a rather successful career as a Romance Novelist. This was most fortunate since Elizabeth is singularly unqualified to do anything else but Make Up Stories.

Since then Elizabeth has written nineteen books to critical acclaim: The Prince Trilogy (The Raven Prince, The Leopard Prince, and The Serpent Prince); the Legend of the Four Soldiers series (To Taste Temptation, To Seduce a Sinner, To Beguile a Beast, and To Desire a Devil); and the Maiden Lane series (Wicked Intentions, Notorious Pleasures, Scandalous Desires, Thief of Shadows, Lord of Darkness, Duke of Midnight, Darling Beast, Dearest Rogue, and the upcoming Sweetest Scoundrel). She also writes contemporary romance under the pen name Julia Harper (Hot, For the Love of Pete, and Once and Always).

Elizabeth lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with three dogs, a garden in constant need of weeding, and the ever faithful Mr. Hoyt.

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Elizabeth and her publicist are offering a paper copy of SWEETEST SCOUNDREL to ONE (1) lucky commenter at The Reading Cafe.

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9. Giveaway runs from November 26-30, 2015

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