Review: Sweetly romantic!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 11, 2014
Reviewed by Ashiafor TheRomanceReviews.comTHE SCANDAL BEFORE CHRISTMAS is sweetly romantic. A great read!When his elder brother was injured in a riding accident, with no hope of recovery, Ian Worth was pressured by his father to marry his brother's betrothed to protect the title. Having defied his father's unreasonable demands his whole life, Ian was not about to start obeying him now. So he resolved to find his own bride before Christmas, and he found a potential one in the eldest daughter of an old colleague. They each married for their own reasons, but may find they got much more than what they hoped for by the time Christmas rolled around.The story started out slow, as it has to give us the backstory of how Ian found himself trapped, telling his father he was already married when he hasn't even met his prospective bride yet. Even when Ian and Anne meet, their interaction was slow-going, mainly because Anne was quiet and reserved, a behavior she learned at her father's house, which necessitated that she suppress her own wants in order to "survive" (of sorts). While this is a fresh and unique opening to a story (no instant attraction here), it does have the danger of making the reader give up and move on to another story. However, I'm glad I stuck it out with Ian and Anne (I would advise you do, too!), for what happens is a sweet, slow unfurling of friendship, understanding and attraction between the two, a believable romance in 110 pages.A wonderful story to warm the heart in this cold season.