I usually love second-chance romances. I'm a firm believer that finding love is as much about luck and timing as it is about compatibility, so this particular trope just makes me happy. In HOW TO HANDLE A SCANDAL by Emily Greenwood, however, I spent a lot of the book wondering why the hero bothered to hold a flame for the heroine. She was callous and childish when they knew each other before and, despite some reform and work in a charity involving homeless young women, I found her to still be callous and a bit bratty. Their break-up was not due to circumstances beyond their control, it was due to her being a jerk, and so I needed her to not be a jerk upon their reunion.

The main engine of this plot revolves not around this second chance that Tommy and Eliza have for love, but a disguise and an accidental pregnancy and everything felt a bit like entrapment. The happily-ever-after was sudden and not that well earned and I just kind of rolled my eyes at the conclusion of it all. I've liked several other books by Greenwood, so I was a bit taken aback to dislike this heroine so much. I actually made four attempts to finish this book before successfully doing so, that is how much it just didn't work for me.

I see a lot of mixed reviews around the internet about HOW TO HANDLE A SCANDAL, so perhaps you'll completely disagree with me! If you do, please comment and defend Eliza. I'm sure she has some good qualities to make Tommy pine for her for so long, but lands alive I could not find them.