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Duke of Scandal
by Adele Ashworth
On the trail of her scheming husband, a wife discovers his twin is anything but identical.
A businesswoman bilked by her new husband teams up with his identical twin to get back her fortune. Lady Olivia Shea soon sees that her brother-in-law, Samson Carlisle, may look like her husband Edmund, but the two are nothing alike, and Samson is the better man. Samson is also smitten with Olivia, at once jealous that his brother made such a catch and suspicious that she is part of a plot to steal from him.
The chemistry between the two characters is well-defined, and the mystery is fairly well plotted. Early on, author Adele Ashworth shares the secrets of the perfume industry the plot revolves around, and the various basic scents, but she never really develops that. Her writing is very descriptive, sometimes ploddingly so, and some overly long, convoluted sentences are occasionally hard to follow. The resolution is quite literally tacked on, when it seems there’s no hope for Sam and Olivia to live happily ever after.
Equally disappointing, the “scandal” of the title is not revealed until the very end, and while we’re told about its consequences, we never really see them. It was hardly worth the emphasis of mentioning it in the title. Also, perhaps a minor point, but whoever approved the cover art should have taken a closer look at the “newsprint” – which refers to Saddam Hussein and Iraq.
In short, “Duke of Scandal” is a pleasant enough read, but it had the potential to be so much better.
Title: Duke of Scandal
Author: Adele Ashworth
Publisher: Avon
ISBN: 0060528419
Review written by: Auriette Lindsey
Reviewer's Rating:5.5
Reader's Rating: 1.00
Reader's Votes: 1
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