Last Night's Scandal

Carsington Brothers Series

De: Loretta Chase

Narrado por: Kate Reading

Peregrine Dalmay, Earl of Lisle, may have survived the deadly perils of Egypt, but back in Regency London, he faces the most dire threat yet: his irrational, emotional family...and the completely uncontrollable Miss Olivia Wingate-Carsington! Descended from a line of notorious - but very aristocratic - adventurers, Olivia has a long history of driving Peregrine to distraction, and her debut into polite society hasn't lessened her flair for drama, or her ability to drag him into her scandalous schemes. All Peregrine wants to do is escape back to his research and the lesser evils of poisonous snakes and tomb robbers, but his family has guilted him into an impossible mission in the Scottish wilds; and Olivia - who is keenly aware that a respectable future of marriage and rules and propriety looms - decides that accompanying him will be the perfect chance for one last adventure. Besides, she really only wants to help, which is why Lisle and Olivia find themselves in a gloomy Scottish castle inhabited by grumpy servants, spiteful ghosts, and craven murderers...and possibly the greatest peril of all: the wayward commands of their very unruly hearts!

©2010 Loretta Chekani (P)2016 Loretta Chekani

Another charming winner...

I love when a heroine has brains and demand their man lets them use it. I love when the hero relishes their sexy and smart heroine.
Kate Reading is a fabulous narrator, easily handling both men and women voices. Her inflection, pauses and interpretation bring the authors work to life.

One of my favorite romances!

Loretta Chase outdoes herself in an historical romp that sparkles with wit and humor! Olivia is a delightful heroine and her scenes with Lord Lyle are saucy and hilarious. The Carsington series is one of Ms Chase's finest, but this is, in my opinion, the crown jewel.

Should read these in order....

This continuing saga of characters is just delicious to listen to during dreary winter storms. LC must travel for research regarding this continuing saga of British artifact hunters. Fun all the way back to Scotland.

Good but not my favorite

This started out so well. I just love the correspondence between Olivia and Lisle and I have since they first met in an earlier book. Their characters are wonderful and their dialogue is delightful. I laughed aloud more than once. The story was good, not great. And the narration was a bit sub-par for me. The whining was a little too much. And I felt Olivia's "voice" was inconsistent.

But the series is fantastic and I hope there are many more books in this family's future.

the return of fun

I like Loretta Chase'e writing and her work is read very well. This book is the return of characters from another book. In general, this is not the book likely to start the addiction for Loretta Chase books, however, I have the addiction and enjoyed the play and plot twists. Personally I think this return of characters was done very well and the resolution of temperament on both sides, as usual, is fun and sexy.

Hilarious

Loretta Chase is a dialog genius. Her characters are entertaining and witty. Kate Reading does an amazing job with narration and all the “he said” “she said.” I loved the entire series, but Olivia and Lyle are my favorites. Not to mention the Harpies and great Grandma Carsington. 🤣

Childhood friends to lovers

If only real life childhood crushes could end this way....I enjoyed this story and rounding up to 4 stars--not quite with the feels and the conflict was weak but the banter between the characters was charming and satisfying. Nice wrapping up of the series.

My favorite contemporary regency author

What did you love best about Last Night's Scandal?

The characters of Olivia Wingate Carsington and Percival, Lord Lisle first appeared as children in the earlier Carsington brothers book Lord Perfect. It is Olivia in that book who dragoons Lisle into a wild-goose chase adventure across England. She is a 'dreadful deLucey', an aristocratic family known for their ability to con their way through life. She is a thoroughly delightful zany character who carries a lot of that book and the 13 year old Lord Lisle is an excellent comrade, providing the brakes and the sanity while supporting and protecting the rather reckless Olivia.

In Last Night's Scandal, the two protagonists are now young adults. Lisle has spent his teen to adult years in Egypt, his passion, and the hero and heroine have mostly communicated through letters. In the printed book, Olivia has a way of over dramatizing everything, so her letters are full of all kinds of inappropriate capitalization; this is actually very funny in the book, but hard to convey when read, although Kate Reading does a very good job using phrasing and emphasis, but you still miss out on just a bit of Olivia's character, I think.

The two protagonists are thrown together by Lord Lisle being brought back to England by his parents and basically being prevented from returning to Egypt. Lisle's parents, who are a bit of a nightmare have decided that they want Lisle to go to Scotland and restore an old castle that belongs to the family. This sets up the plot; Olivia knows how much Lisle wants to be in Egypt and she sets out to 'help' him and save him from his parents. And things develop from there.

Loretta Chase is so very good at humorous romance; there is always wonderful dialogue between her characters and Olivia and Lisle rub each other wrong enough that there is plenty of scope for lots of laugh out loud arguments and minor skirmishes between them.

I loved these two characters as children, and it is very fun to watch them find each other as adults.

What other book might you compare Last Night's Scandal to and why?

I rarely find this kind of comparison useful; Loretta Chase's style is very much her own. She is the author of the extremely popular Lord of Scoundrels, which is definitely one of the best Regency Romances ever written. I would always recommend that anyone who has just read The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer to go and read other authors before coming back to other Georgette Heyer books. And if you've just read Lord of Scoundrels, please do go read other authors and genres before coming back to Loretta Chase. I have loved every single one of her books, but I find I don't appreciate each one as I might if I've just read my favorite right before.

What about Kate Reading’s performance did you like?

Kate Reading is an astoundingly good narrator. She does have some mild idiosyncrasies in her reading style, but her voices are so incredibly good that she fades right into the story. I can easily listen to her read books back to back which can be hard for me with some narrators whose style dominates the reading. And I have never heard her mispronounce a word! (She does use British pronunciations.)

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Loretta Chase writes fun books; I definitely smile a lot at the situations and dialogue.

Any additional comments?

I'd recommend reading the Carsington Brothers series in order. I think they're almost all on audio now.

Laugh out Loud with a Mystery

Can't say enough wonderful things about this book. It was some of the wittiest banter in a romance book I have ever listened to. I think this book is right up there with Tessa Dares Wallflower Wager. Maybe better, dare I say. The narrator was FABULOUS, too.

Fun, Quirky, Sweet....lots of LOL

I must have LOL'd twenty times while listening to this book. The Harpies were so funny. Loved Olivia and Perregrin (Lisle) when they were children in the other books so I was super excited to see them as the main characters in this book.

Olivia is a wonderful character. The interaction and dialogue between her and Lisle is some of the best ever. I just wish they would have become a "couple" sooner in the book, but you can't have everything.

Definitely credit worthy.