Lady Scandal follows the thrice-widowed (gasp!), employed (gasp!), outspoken (gasp!) Delia and the buttoned-up, newly-titled war hero/businessman Simon. If you read Bookshop Cinderella, the previous in the series, you may remember that Delia, Max's cousin, manages the fancy Savoy hotel (despite not needing the money--she enjoys staying busy and truly loves the work). The Savoy's owners and board of directors aren't satisfied by the way the hotel is hemhorraging money under the leadership of Delia's mentor, Cesar Ritz, so they bring Simon in to investigate and implement cost-cutting measures. He and Delia immediately butt heads about how they think the hotel should be run, but as they try to win the other over to their side, major attraction and sexual tension sets in.

I really enjoyed watching the two bristle and bicker! Delia cares about the hotel and the impact of Simon's policies on its employees, but I got irritated every time she complained about things like making aristocrats pay their bills or giving them free champagne. Even late into the book after she's seemingly "bought in" and understands that financial solvency is crucial for the hotel's longterm success, she defends Ritz's more profligate policies!

Still, Simon grows to have major respect for Delia (the sacrifice he makes for her!), and vice versa. I adored Delia's interactions with Simon's sister--she's truly a "girls' girl". Even when she isn't seeing eye-to-eye with him, she shows up when his sister needs her help. I really feel like Delia's character SHINES. Simon, slightly less so, but that's probably only because she's so vivid!

These are "older" characters, mid-30s, which I really appreciated. I'm over the inexperienced ingenue and thought it was fun having a male character who had been sort of unintentionally celibate for a long time. Listen--he's been busy fighting wars and establishing hotels!! The sexual tension is fantastic, and I'm glad Guhrke didn't throw them into bed too soon. I mean...he's her boss...at least they respected that for a little bit (please note, the employer/employee power imbalance isn't a big deal if that bothers you).

Anyway, I gave this a lower score because it dragged a little bit and I was annoyed by Delia's willful ignorance toward Ritz at the end. She had shown a lot of character growth that conveniently disappeared once she learned about Simon's investigation (he COULDN'T tell you!!). I get why she felt indebted to Ritz, but putting her loyalty to him above Simon was unbelievable. Maybe we needed to see her interact with Ritz before learning why Simon was investigating him.

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

This book was really refreshing. For one thing, the heroine was in her 30s, which is kind of rare for romance it seems. Also, Delia always spoke her mind (typically if this is seen in romance, the heroine only speaks her mind in regard to everything but the romantic plot, but Delia was very vocal about her interest in Simon and had no regrets). One thing that bothered me is that Delia was the one who made the grand gesture at the end, when the whole conflict was Simon's fault (it was understandable conflict and it worked, but it was still his conflict). Laura Lee Guhrke's books are just so accessible as historical romances and I flew through this one as quickly as I did Bookshop Cinderella.