*

I picked up Scandal by Amanda Quick because I was in the mood for a historical and this one sounded like an epistolary romance! (It’s not — the actual letter writing happens before the book begins). Unbeknownst to Emily, she has become embroiled in Simon, Earl of Blade’s mustache twirling Revenge Plot against her father who quite frankly deserves to be revenged upon (??) because he is The Worst. Emily’s an investment manager moonlighting as an aspiring writer and incurable romantic, and even though she would 100% get involved in Twin Flames before someone pointed out to her that it’s a cult, I can look past that because she’s absolutely hilarious and her persistent optimism and belief in Simon is really very sweet. She’s also a journal girlie, and has an absolutely hilarious exchange with Simon where he is like THIS IS *NOT* GOING IN YOUR JOURNAL! Simon’s job is Revenge! Also dragons. And the East India Company. But mostly the revenge thing. And it’s totally normal to spend all of your time with the tool of your revenge and then be all touch-her-and-you-die. No one else is allowed to ruin her life because that’s his job! I love how exasperated Simon is by both Emily’s persistent optimism and her refusal to see him as a capital V Villain like pretty much everyone else. There’s a really beautiful conversation that they have about Emily’s choice to remain optimistic and open hearted in spite of the challenging things that she’s experienced, and this really shifts how Simon thinks about her but also about his own reaction to the terrible things that happened to him that have taken him down a path to revenge. I read Ravished last year and had forgotten how campy and absolutely bonkers Quick’s plots can be — they’re an absolute delight. 📸: I’m holding up a mass market paperback copy of Scandal in one hand. Trees and sky are visible in the background. Sadly it is not an edition with a stepback — the stepbacks for these books are must sees. via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/DBbWQAuRHjd/