Laura Lee Guhrke’s LADY SCANDAL is set at the Savoy Hotel in London in the Victorian era, with plenty of good ton, dukes and all the trappings of aristocracy.  This is an opposites-attract story, with the tried and true enemies-to-lovers trope. 

Simon Hayden has been newly elevated to the peerage and made Viscount Calderon for his bravery in the Boer War.  Simon is brought in by the board of the Savoy to investigate why the hotel is hemorrhaging money.  Simon’s job is to both rein in expenses and ferret out the many people on staff who are engaging in fraud, including several true historical figures (which makes it so fun to read about those real characters!).  Simon is fairly middle class in his outlook, naturally, but I find it difficult to believe that he is uneducated about moving socially through the ton as he is made out to be.

Simon immediately clashes with Lady Delia Stratham, the hotel’s extravagant event planner.  The Savoy is known for being outlandishly decadent, and Delia is in the thick of the lavish and spendthrift practices of the hotel.  I had a hard time warming up to Delia.  She’s a conniving wastrel too used to getting her way, in my opinion.  Pretty Delia is widowed three times over, and despite her flirtish ways thinks she has no more use for a romantic liaison in her life.

Sparks fly between Delia and Simon, and the heat between them makes the pages shimmer.  Delia schemes to seduce Simon but he tries manfully to resist, since he knows that he is there to investigate her for fraud, not spend time between her sheets!  I do appreciate Simon holding the witty Delia off for as long as he does.

Laura Lee Guhrke writes historical romance books, and most of them I have enjoyed.  LADY SCANDAL is book two in the Scandal at the Savoy series, and looking back at book one, BOOKSHELF CINDERELLA, I did not care for the first in this series either.  Guhrke has been a dependable author for me, however, I will continue to try her future works.  The book blurb says this historical romance is good for fans of Julia Quinn and Lisa Kleypas (neither of whom are to my taste), and I think the comparison is apt.