A Lady's Lesson in Scandal

2.5/5

I liked the first half of the book much better than the second half. I enjoyed Millie getting training with Phillipa but then the author chose to drop trauma casually with no warning whatsoever. Main character being whipped by her stepmother? Check. Her best friend being sexually assaulted by her father (which was really a throwaway line?)? Check. Sexual trafficking of young girls? Check. I mean what? Seriously? What the hell, author. There was NOTHING to point in that direction before this scene with Ivy. And I'm just supposed to... What, congratulate you for trauma dumping your readers with no warning? Absolutely not.

It was supposed to be a silly romcom and turned into I don't even know what. And the way the author didn't deal with ANY of that and just brushed it off... Am I supposed to be happy?

So the two members of the Devil something society (?) were caught and killed. Does it stop the group from kidnapping any more young girls? Is queen Victoria informed? Is Prime Minister? What does Beau think about the betrayal of his closest friend? Or the fact that he was killed in self-defence by his bride? Who knows? Certainly not the readers cause the author chose to not reveal any of that. As though it wasn't important.

If it wasn't important then why include it in the book, that's my question. If you're not going to round up the plot and the reader has more questions than answers, then the plot wasn't really all that good in the first place, was it.

I struggle to find any things I liked about this book. The evil stepmother trope is so overdone and here it was just too much, and to see her not suffering any consequences was just frustrating. The other woman being a bitch and not getting her due either was anticlimactic as well. Why include her in the first place if you're not going to do anything about it? There are better ways of making your Maine female character jealous. Better ways.

I'm just frustrated and disappointed by this book. It could use sensitivity readers for sure. I mean so much trauma with no resolution whatsoever? And why would I care about the main characters happy ending if the whole trauma dump just sucked all the enjoyment I had of this book? Seriously.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me the ARC.