Evan Rhys fell in love with Kate the first time he laid
eyes on her, which was when she had just become Lady
Catherine Whelan, the wife of Evan's best friend Con. Evan
had remained friends with the couple until Con died, and
Evan fled Ireland. Two years have passed, and Evan is back
in England to give a lecture on smuggling fake artifacts,
when he sees Kate. She needs to speak to her father, to
beg for money to preserve her son's legacy, and Kate's
pretext for being in Newmarket is the annual horse race.
Kate is angry at Evan who never wrote during those two
years, yet she is still pleased at seeing his friendly,
familiar face. Evan hopes against all odds that the time
has finally come to declare himself to Kate.
Every time I open a new book by Theresa Romain, it's as if
I'm coming home, to a warm and loving home. I know that I
will encounter unique characters, finely detailed
backdrops, unsurpassed storytelling, and exquisite
writing, and SCANDALOUS EVER AFTER is all that. The second
book in the author's wonderful Romance
of the Turf series, as Ms. Romain continues to charm
her readers
with Regency tales related to horse racing, and the
author's knowledge on the subject is staggering and so
superbly described, it's as if it were taking place before
our very eyes. More and more, I find difficult to review
Theresa Romain's books because I know I will repeat
myself, whereas the author never does. How to do her
justice to Ms. Romain's enchanting worlds, mesmerizing
characters, precisely worded dialogues, and prose so
sublime, it's hard to believe that Theresa Romain is a
young 21st Century woman.
Ms. Romain gets better with every book she writes: I felt
a spectator at those horse races, that I had traveled to
Ireland because every scene is conveyed with love, every
character is a breathing entity with its qualities and
foibles. Kate and Evan's romance is believable and
sublime. Theresa Romain doesn't do predictable: the reader
doesn't know how the lovers will ever make it work, how
the mystery that lies so subtly hidden in the background --
and yet so obvious -- will unravel and affect the
characters, but the author always knows what she is doing.
Again, I was entirely under Theresa Romain's spell, and
like Kate to Evan, the author is the sun that takes the
grayness away.
After being widowed by a steeplechase accident in Ireland,
Lady Kate Whelan abandons the turf. But once her mourning is
complete, her late husband's debts drive her to seek help in
Newmarket amidst the whirl of a race meet. There she
encounters antiquities expert Evan Rhys, her late husband's
roguish friend-whom she hasn't seen since the day of his
lordship's mysterious death.
Now that fate has reunited them, Evan seizes the chance to
win over the woman he's always loved. But once back within
the old stone walls of Whelan House, long-held secrets come
to light that shake up everything Kate thought she knew
about her marriage. Now she wonders who she can trust with
her heart-and Evan must decide between love and a truth that
will separate him from all his heart desires.
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