A Marriage Made in Scandal

Rescued from Ruin Series, Book 9

By: Elisa Braden

Narrated by: Mary Sarah

Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

With a family legacy tainted by murder and madness, Phineas Brand, the Earl of Holstoke, is having a devil of a time securing a proper wife - or even an improper one. Society misses faint at the sight of him. Matchmaking mamas scurry to avoid him. Only one woman is bold enough to keep drawing near, and she's more scandalous than he is. 

Lady Eugenia Huxley knows all about running aground in the marriage mart, thanks to a scandal involving a footman and too much drink. No matter. She'll gladly pursue millinery over matrimony. But when her sister's spurned suitor returns to London in search of a wife, she can't resist offering him a bit of courtship advice, even if the chilly, brilliant, honorable Lord Holstoke does give her shivers - heated, head-to-toe shivers that are anything but fearful. 

After a series of vicious murders brings suspicion to Holstoke's door, Eugenia risks everything to be his alibi. The only rational remedy is to marry the minx before she generates another scandal. Yet, the dangers don't end at the altar. A poisonous enemy coils ever closer, threatening the woman who awakens his soul. How far will he go to protect her? That may be the greatest danger of all. 

Contains mature themes.

©2018 Elisa Braden (P)2020 Tantor

Benedict Cumberbatch gets a love story!

I don’t know why but I imagined Phineas as BC throughout this story. I loved it as much as any of Eliza Braden’s other stories but this one was particularly sweet. Two rejected oddball hearts finding each other.
The heroine was Phineas’s sunshine and the mystery was pretty well done too. Her feeling of inferiority next to her sister was so heartbreaking and I’m so glad that Phineas didn’t let her feel that way for long. He was sweet and protective and perfect. With just enough of the rigidity and need for control typical of these British males. The heroine chipped away with that easily.
Beautiful romance! Well done!

I liked the story..but

I enjoyed the rescue from ruin series in print and was excited to learn that it would be narrated. However, It surprises me that no one really comments on the narrator.
I would have enjoyed this book as well as the others in this series a lot more without her whispering sing song voice.. it grates and I am still not accustomed. I listened to it on 1.5 speed and was able to finish the books.
Now this book; it was ok
The story was not too slow and the characters were somewhat interesting. I liked Pheneas best of all. He was a man with controlled passions. Eugenia annoyed me somewhat. She was at times rudely brusque and the narration made the voice of her character grating! There was too much sex and not enough discussion.
There was a dark mystery and which was a good follow up to the last story.
These books are enjoyed in order and difficult to listen to as a stand alone.

Interesting premise

The story was interesting but the narration was unbearable.
Her affectation made me cringe! I listened to the end but it was a struggle.

Excellent

Wow!
Different in the way that is so good. This is a book that break a readers slump! It’s got every essential and then some.

The narrator can be…. Odd. I forget it’s a book I get so into it until she says CHaPTer in the sing song bizarre way she does…. The rest of the time it’s no problem to get used to. But shocking every time she says CHapTer that way.

Heat factor, scorching!

Another chance at Love

Another wonderful Ruin series. We last read about Phineas Brand, the Earl of Holstoke in Confessions of a Dangerous Lord when he was trying to court Maureen Huxley but she married the love of her life. When women start to die that had either spurned, rejected Holstokes suit he is being accused of there demise since his mother has killed or hired people to kill her victims in the same manner in POISON!
Lady Eugenia Huxley knows about scandal, too much drunk and the marriage mart. She has been working at a haberdashery to gain experience so she can open her own shop. When she spies Phineas in the men’s side of the shop she speaks to him and lets him know she is working. He is appalled that’s her parents aren’t there to protect her.
When she finds out what he is accused of, he never once believe it was true. She comes to his aide and lies to the bow street runners that he was with her all night so he could not have done it. She basically just sealed both there fates. They marry and try to find out who is trying to make him look guilty. Another wonderful book by Elisa Braden. The narrator Mary Sarah was excellent.

Romance/suspense

Another book well written of mystery and romance. I like how she really made the character of Phineas come to life. It wasn’t my favorite of this series but not my least favorite either. Exterior characters where a minimum, I wish we would have seen more of previous hero’s and heroines. On to the next.

Great addition...

To a great series. I love Eugenia and it is wonderful to see Maureen and Henry again...with all their kids!

Phineas was always an interesting character...nice to get a better understanding of him.

Highly recommend.

The Heroine, is a "passive aggressive " bully.

She is ruined because of her liking for the lower classes. The story is so ludicrous, it is in a parallel universe of the time, with a poisoner thrown in for interest. Everyone has to bow to her agenda, she has no respect for others wishes, bludgeons people to do as she wants. She is a "passive aggressive" bully, the poor hero is forced into marriage with her, thanks to her following her own agenda. Despite people being poisoned and dying around her, she is only concerned about what she is suffering. I felt sorry for all those who had to live with her, I could feel no sympathy for her. Having forced her way into the hero's life, she goes at his life and that of her sister-in-law, like a "bull in a china shop". Personally if someone had nagged me about hats for so long I would have thrown her out of the carriage. In true life a man of his character and intelligence would have no time for such a women. She is a "nasty piece of work" and totally ruins the rest of the plot. Sex as usual is important, the more explicit the more books sold.