Michael makes the rather strange decision to flee London in an attempt to draw his brother out of the house and out of his self-imposed exile from the world. They’d had an unhappy childhood, buffeted by the chaos caused by their parents’ stormy marriage. Alastair was always his protector, growing up. Michael is truly shocked – he knows that Alastair can be a bit high in the instep, but the brothers have always been close.
(Michael is a doctor/aristocrat/ bon vivant, a combination I found a bit hard to credit, but I don’t know enough to say whether it was historically plausible or not.) Michael wants to force Alastair to start participating in the world again, but Alastair meets this demand with one of his own: Michael needs to court and wed a suitable young lady, toute suite, or Alastair will withdraw his funding from the charity hospital Michael runs.
Alastair has shut himself away in his home, utterly distraught after finding out that his recently deceased wife was a junkie and a slut (not to put too fine a point on it) who may have leaked important political secrets that Alastair had shared with her to her lovers. The story opens in London in 1885, where Lord Michael de Grey is paying a concerned visit on his brother, the Duke of Marwick. The elements are there, but somehow That Scandalous Summer ended up being less than the sum of its parts, at least for me. Further, I’m not sure I can elucidate exactly why.
For perhaps the first time, reading That Scandalous Summer, I ended up feeling…disappointed. So naturally each new book is eagerly anticipated. I’ve been a Meredith Duran fangirl since The Duke of Shadows was published in 2008 none of your books has received less than a B+ from me. Jennie C+ Reviews Cornwall / doctor hero / England / historical romance 9 Comments FebruREVIEW: That Scandalous Summer by Meredith Duran
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