Scandalous Desires

The heroine drove me absolutely batty for at least the first half of the book, but the hero and story overall was good enough that I'm giving it 4 stars despite that. Without giving away too many book details please allow me this short hypothetical.- It's all well and good to imagine some scenario where a poor stable boy spits in the face of the king and gives some snappy quip and all the peasants cheer- but that just doesn't happen in real life! At any point in history! The boy would fear for his life, the peasants would be afraid of retaliation (if not just as hostile to the boy as the rich might be) and the king would have the boy seized to be drawn and quartered before the kid could wipe his mouth on his sleeve! We generally don't show more curse out our bosses to their faces or taunt people with guns either, *because this concept is so simple and intrinsic to our survival instinct*. There's a huge power imbalance in this book as well, but the heroine throws any fragment of caution to the wind at every turn. If a notoriously cut-throat kingpin has you AND YOUR INFANT CHILD you don't go about 'poking the bear' every chance you get!!! Book readers can assume she won't be beaten to death or see her baby killed before her very eyes, but certainly she couldn't know that! And even if she suspected complete immunity, which she doesn't seem to, are you really SO CONFIDENT in that notion that you would risk your very lives?? Just for your own sense of pride? No! And, especially for the time, women weren't encouraged to be defiant and mouthy to men in general! Especially in a religious home, like hers, men were the heads of household and you were taught to do your best to serve them and obey. (I'm not saying it's right, just that it was). Again, readers can see from his point-of-view-chapters that he wouldn't harm them, but she thinks he's entirely black hearted, (even after she's given him just cause to punish her repeatedly and he hasn't, (you'd think she might factor that in...)) so she would have no reason to assume their safety even as she defies him- (sometimes in front of his entire pirate crew!), at every opportunity. It's not like a crime lord's control over his men comes partially from their fear to defy him or anything... =/ There's also no way so many of his people would risk his wrath to bring her food when she was going without *only due to her own obstinacy* and hadn't even gone a day without food either! If his power over them were really so flimsy they would have mutinied long before. So he would have had to order them to sneak her food, in some attempt to feed her while saving face, but though he mentioned his awareness of it I never saw confirmation that it was at his order. (They hardly know her either, so she's done nothing to win-over their devotion). He'd been set up as dangerous with even the largest men afraid of displeasing him- and he ended up trying to wrangle some respect from them like a substitute teacher. =/ And she's basically a guest in his home yet later she tries to shame him for the expense of his food?, and then up and changes his menu?? What a dick thing to do really... Also, she shirks nearly all responsibility for the devil's bargain she made in the first book. It was impossibly dumb to think she could ask such an enormous favor of a pirate and there wouldn't be any concession on her part! And he could have asked much more from her (or forced it!) and she would have had no recourse but to give it, in order to save her husband's life. But every time she thinks of it she acts like he was the one to seek her out, and that she got nothing out of it for her pains. Have a little self accountability! She does show some sense and strength later on, but it didn't outweigh all her prior utter foolishness in my mind. I would give the hero 5 stars, appeal, dimension, growth, etc! And her a 2. =/

2nd read- I was still highly annoyed with the heroine, but I had warning of it I guess and didn't feel quite as frustrated with the book as a whole. Seriously though, she's poor and a widow, she has no business acting like a spoiled princess in someone else's home, even if that person wasn't potentially very dangerous. Best case she's a guest, worst case she's a captive, either way she's way out of line demanding everything be done her way! I enjoyed the hero at least as much as I did on the first read though, and he makes up for a lot. =)

3rd read- The previous issues still really rankled me. lol. Minor spoilers if you're sensitive to them. For one, no matter how defiant you might be to someone who holds power over you in other circumstances, that's all tossed out the window when someone you love (such as an infant you've raised as your own) is *also* at their mercy. It makes all the heroine's unnecessary rebellions incredibly reckless and prideful rather than brave or admirable. Which is unfortunate.

Secondly, either the hero is powerful and dangerous and no one dares defy him, or he's just barely able to rangle anyone to mind him, but not both. I feel like he was set up to be the first, but then spends most of the book as the second. In previous books all his people were portrayed like they were walking on eggshells, careful of upsetting him in the smallest way, but in this book pretty much every named character who worked for him seemed to take his orders with a grain of salt! Letting someone else's dog (sometimes muddy even) sleep on his bed against his wishes, the whole staff smuggling food to the heroine against his direct orders, (even though it'd just been mere hours since she'd eaten anyway, and that she was only going without *due entirely to her own stubbornness!*), repeatedly questioning his rulings, etc. Even in a normal house those would be potentially fireable offenses. I understand not wanting him to seem like a mad tyrant, but any pirate who can't lead their crew is displaced as leader, usually violently. And the heroine did nothing to earn their willingness to risk firing, much less the potentially much harsher punishment of displeasing a pirate captain. And she wasn't even mistreated, which might have drawn on their sympathy. She's just a stranger who comes in and starts demanding special treatment and heckling their boss.

*sigh* Clearly these things really rub on me. lol. For the first 3/4s or so, the heroine is just incredibly difficult, without just cause. She's not even being held against her will, he has every legal right to keep his own baby, and has good reason for doing so for their own sakes! He doesn't have to let her stay too, but does because he wants her safe (and with him) as well. She wouldn't have her adopted daughter without him, and she might not have survived the loss of her husband without having her to care for. He treats her like an honored guest! And has every right to determine some things in his own home (like that everyone eats dinner together, and what kind of food is served). She just has no call to be such a pill. And, she feels wronged by him in the past, but really she went to a pirate demanding that he return the cargo that, in the criminal world, he had every right to, and he took the hit to his finances and reputation in order to comply. So even if he *had* done the thing he just allowed people to think he did, that would surely have still been a worthwhile trade for her husband's life! He didn't owe her anything and could have demanded anything at all!

The hero, who has had few examples to teach him patience and consideration, really does an admirable job. And grows a lot, which I enjoy. In the last 1/3 to 1/4 of the book the heroine quits her power struggle, and becomes so much less aggravating and much, much, more likable to me. So at least she ends on a good note. Despite all the things that frustrate me in this book, I like the general scenario setup, I like the hero, I like the writing, and side characters, and it has a strong ending overall. So, perhaps surprisingly, I still stand by the 4 stars.

4th read- Really, this heroine drives me up a wall. lol This is maybe 3.5 stars rounded up. There are lots of nice parts though and I like how the hero develops. (Also the heroine does eventually come into her own once she stops being quite so over the top adversarial, self-righteous, and reckless).

*side rant about her resentment, (events happened in a previous book so they're not really spoilers, but if you're sensitive to them you can skip the rest). Like I've mentioned previously, she went to some stranger pirate asking for an enormous favor (returning a ship's worth of merchandise he then considered his due, as well as reversing making an example of the man who had tried to stiff him, which potentially would make others more likely to do the same, which would be a problem for him). And she did this to save her husband's life (life in prison was the best case scenario). I feel like if a pirate were willing to save my loved one's life en exchange for only one night sleeping with them I would feel fortunate. I wouldn't feel kindly toward them personally, (it's a scuzzy thing to require of someone), and especially since his actions caused the danger in the first place, but I wouldn't feel poorly done by. You asked a huge favor of a dangerous stranger, they wanted something in return, obviously, the trade was made and you each got something you valued out of it! This woman though didn't actually even have to bed him, just allow others to presume so, (because the scenario alone amused him to see how it would play out). So she got off so incredibly light! Her husband's life saved for only the cost of her reputation. Well well worth it if her husband hadn't been such a disappointment. They could have happily lived the rest of their lives together. (Plus this pirate is hardly a troll, plenty of women would sleep with him for free). And he gave her a baby, who basically saved her from going into a decline and who she loves dearly, which is quite a bonus. And still she acts like he's a predator who came after her entirely without provocation. Take some accountability for your part. And it's not his fault that her husband didn't appreciate being saved. If he had been worthy he would have believed her, or even just appreciated her sacrifice regardless! show less

After reading the first two books in Elizabeth Hoyt's Maiden Lane series, I was eagerly awaiting Silence and Mickey's story. Even though I had only seen glimpses of them in those two novels, I had become enthralled by their characters and thought that their own story would have to be good. Now that I've finally read it, I can say without a doubt that it wasn't just good it was absolutely amazing. Scandalous Desires exceeded my wildest expectations and was quite possibly the best romance I've read all year. It had everything I could have hoped for and more. The writing was superb. The plotting was ingenious. The romance was swoon-worthy. The love scenes were decadently sensuous and utterly beautiful with this couple holding back nothing show more from one another. The emotions were heartfelt. There were tidbits of humor scattered throughout that had me smiling. The characterizations were extraordinary, with even the secondary players being quite memorable. There was a death-defying climax that had me on the edge of my seat, nearly unable to put it down, and the ending left me positively dying for the next book in the series. What more could a girl possibly ask for in a romance novel?

Mickey has definitely earned a spot on my all-time favorite heroes list. Ms. Hoyt did an amazing job of redeeming this bad boy pirate. Mickey is a man who thinks he no longer has a heart. He believes his soul to be black and irredeemable, but nothing could be further from the truth. He is rather baffled by his attraction to Silence, but he can no more let her go than he can cease to breathe. Mickey hasn't experienced much softness in his life except what little his mum provided when he was young, and Silence reminds of everything that is good and pure and gentle. They are things that he hadn't even realized he'd been missing until he met her, and deep down, he somehow wants to recapture that. He's intrigued by Silence, because she's not like the other people around him. His gruff, grumpy attitude at the beginning was rather funny, but it was definitely a case of his bark being worse than his bite. Underneath it all, Mickey is a big marshmallow when it come to “his lasses.” He's just afraid to allow himself to truly care for Silence and Baby Mary, because of things that happened in the past and the threat they now face from his enemy. Mickey has been deprived of love and kindness for so long, he just soaks it up when Silence comes into his life even though he doesn't feel worthy of her care and affection. It's so sweet how he warms up to little Mary and she to him, and how his big, ugly dog follows him around everywhere. I find that babies and dogs can sometimes the best judges of character.:-) Mickey had not one, but two, amazing libraries (swoon), and in fact, he had a weakness for some very surprising things. He was a multi-faceted man who astounded me at every turn. Best of all, I thought it was lovely when Mickey told Silence that if he had been her husband, he would have believed her and listened to her, and he went about showing her that and more throughout the entire story in ways both big and small. I love how he just wants to know all about her and listens to the stories of her life so intently. Mickey was a man who may have taken a while to express his love in words and who didn't wear his heart on his sleeve (at least not at first), but his every action proved how much he cared.

Silence was a wonderful heroine, also an all-time favorite, and perhaps the best romance heroine I've read this year. I was drawn to her in the previous books, in part, because of her vulnerability and lack of self-confidence. At first, I was a little bothered that she seemed to have already lost a large part of those qualities when the story opens, until I realized that she actually began loosing them after her very first encounter with Mickey. I think he unwittingly taught her that she could stand up for herself and those she cared about. Since she'd done it with him before, she wasn't as afraid to do it again. It was quite funny how she initially kept defying Mickey as every turn, but ultimately, it was her spunk that earned his respect. Then she earned his love with her kind, compassionate heart. At first, Silence didn't want to think of Mickey as a human being, but she rightly intuited that there was much more to him than what he allowed most people to see on the surface. As she slowly got to know him better, I loved how she never wavered in her belief that there was still a good man lurking inside of him. Silence was brave, stubborn (in a good way), and persistent, always gently pushing Mickey to really examine his life and challenging him to become the man she knew he could be. That, in my book, is the mark of a perfect romantic heroine.

The secondary characters were so much fun to read about too. I loved Harry and Bert, the two burly men who Mickey tasked with guarding Silence. It was hilarious how she managed to wrap them around her little finger without even trying, and had them and her maid bringing her food when Mickey mulishly refused to feed her if she wouldn't grace his dinner table with her presence. Mary Darling was, well... a little darling. For such a tiny tyke, she had quite the big personality, yet she very suitably behaved like the one-year-old she was. I chuckled every time she called Mickey, “bad,” but when she warmed up to him, the two of them together were absolutely adorable. Lad, the dog, was funny too. It warmed my heart to know that big, gruff Harry had rescued him from a bull-baiter who was going to drown the poor thing. It was even cuter though that even though Harry saved his life, he'd taken a shine to Mickey and thought he was his dog even though Mickey frequently grumbled at him. Charlie Grady, the Vicar of Whitechapel, a gin dealer and all-around crook, was a crazy and dastardly villain. The identity of the Ghost of St. Giles is finally revealed, and I can't say that I was entirely surprised who he is. Most of Silence's family put in appearances including her sister, Temperance, and brother-in-law, Lord Caire (Wicked Intentions), as well as her brothers, Concord, Winter, and we are finally introduced to the elusive Asa. We also get a couple of brief visits with the Ladies Syndicate who are providing charitable assistance to the foundling home, including a glimpse of Hero (Notorious Pleasures) and an introduction to Isabel Beckinhall, a new addition to the group. She is a widow who seems to have a bit of a mischievous streak and enjoys subtly teasing Winter. These two pair up to become the hero and heroine of the next book Thief of Shadows, and after the cliffhanger ending of Scandalous Desires, I just might explode while waiting for it to be released.;-)

Overall, Scandalous Desires was sheer perfection. It was every bit as wonderful as I hoped it would be and more. I loved it so much I could barely put it down, but at the same time I didn't want it to end either. I'm thoroughly enjoying the Maiden Lane series as I've done with all of Elizabeth Hoyt's books I've read to date, and I'll be waiting with bated breath for the next 6-9 months wondering what happens to Winter. I have a feeling I just might enjoy his and Isabel's book equally as much as this one.

Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Hatchette Book Group, in exchange for an honest review. show less

The heroine drove me absolutely batty for at least the first half of the book, but the hero and story overall was good enough that I'm giving it 4 stars despite that. Without giving away too many book details please allow me this short hypothetical.- It's all well and good to imagine some scenario where a poor stable boy spits in the face of the king and gives some snappy quip and all the peasants cheer- but that shit just doesn't happen! At any point in history! The boy would fear for his life, the peasants would be afraid of retaliation (if not just as hostile to the boy as the rich might be) and the king would have the boy seized to be drawn and quartered before the kid could wipe his mouth on his sleeve! We generally don't curse out show more our bosses to their faces or taunt people with guns either, *because this concept is so simple and intrinsic to our survival instinct*. There's a huge power imbalance in this book as well, but the heroine throws any fragment of caution to the wind at every turn. If a notoriously cut-throat kingpin has you AND YOUR INFANT CHILD you don't go about poking the bear every chance you get!!! Book readers can assume she won't be beaten to death or see her baby killed before her very eyes, but certainly she couldn't know that! And even if she suspected complete immunity, which she doesn't seem to, are you really SO CONFIDENT in that notion that you would risk your very lives?? Just for your own sense of pride? No! And, especially for the time, women weren't encouraged to be defiant and mouthy to men in general! Especially in a religious home, like hers, men were the heads of household and you were taught to do your best to serve them and obey. Again, readers can see from his point of view chapters that he wouldn't harm them, but she thinks he's entirely black hearted, (even after she's given him just cause to punish her repeatedly and he hasn't, you'd think she might factor that in...) so she would have no reason to assume their safety even as she defies him- (sometimes in front of his entire pirate crew!), at every opportunity. It's not like a crime lord's control over his men comes partially from their fear to defy him or anything... =/ There's also no way so many of his people would risk his wrath to bring her food when she was going without *only due to her own stubbornness* and hadn't even gone a day without food either! If his power over them were really so flimsy they would have mutinied long before. So he would have had to order them to sneak her food, in some attempt to feed her while saving face, but though he mentioned his awareness of it I never saw confirmation that it was at his order. He'd been set up as dangerous with even the largest men afraid of displeasing him- and he ended up trying to wrangle some respect from them like a substitute teacher. =/ And she's basically a guest in his home yet later she tries to shame him for the expense of his food?, and then up and changes his menu?? What a dick thing to do really... Also, she shirks nearly all responsibility for the devil's bargain she made in the first book. It was impossibly dumb to think she could ask a huge favor of a pirate and there wouldn't be any concession on her part! And he could have asked much more from her (or forced it!) and she would have had no recourse but to give it, in order to save her husband's life. But every time she thinks of it she acts like he was the one to seek her out, and that she got nothing out of it for her pains. Have a little self accountability! She does show some sense and strength later on, but it didn't outweigh all her prior utter foolishness in my mind. I would give the hero 5 stars, appeal, dimension, growth, etc! And her a 2. =/

On a re-read I was still highly annoyed with the heroine, but I had warning of it I guess and didn't feel quite as frustrated with the book as a whole. Seriously though, she's poor and a widow, she has no business acting like a spoiled princess in someone else's home, even if that person wasn't potentially very dangerous. Best case she's a guest, worst case she's a captive, either way she's way out of line! I enjoyed the hero at least as much as I did on the first read though, and he makes up for a lot. =) show less

It's 1738 and Silence Hollingbrook, a widow, works with her brother Winter running the Home for Unfortunate Infants and Foundling Children in the dangerous St. Giles section of London. Shortly after her husband William was lost at sea, someone left an infant on her doorstep, and she has treated the little girl as her own, naming her Mary Darling.

One day Mary Darling disappears and Silence tracks her to the "palace" of notorious river pirate Charming Mickey O'Connor. Charming Mickey was responsible for ruining Silence's reputation (and marriage), even though he never laid a hand on her. (See [b:Wicked Intentions (Maiden Lane #1)|7649340|Wicked Intentions (Maiden Lane, #1)|Elizabeth show more Hoyt|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1310933850s/7649340.jpg|10204484]. Silence hates and fears Mickey but she nevertheless faces him down and demands the return of Mary Darling. Mickey announces that Mary Darling is his daughter, that she is in danger from his enemies, and that Silence can continue to take care of her only is she lives in Mickey's palace until the danger is passed. Silence reluctantly agrees.

The rest of the story takes us from the initial antagonism to growing affection between Mickey and Silence. The lurking danger from Mickey's enemy, the so-called Vicar of Whitechapel, is a constant presence. Of course, there's an HEA, but the adventure leading up to it is among the best I've seen in a romance novel.

Silence is a strong heroine and not the least bit missish. Charming Mickey is the ultimate bad boy charmer; I'd have to rank him up there with Lisa Kleypas's Derek Craven (and if you haven't read [b:Dreaming of You|330721|Dreaming of You (Gamblers, #2)|Lisa Kleypas|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173807015s/330721.jpg|679378], what are you waiting for?), and indeed he shares some of the same traits -- a horrible childhood, a compulsion to make more and more money, and a willingness to face death to protect the woman he loves.

I disliked [b:Wicked Intentions|7649340|Wicked Intentions (Maiden Lane, #1)|Elizabeth Hoyt|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1310933850s/7649340.jpg|10204484] and skipped [b:Notorious Pleasures (Maiden Lane #2)|8597949|Notorious Pleasures (Maiden Lane, #2)|Elizabeth Hoyt|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1287297456s/8597949.jpg|13361916]. This book was so good though that I'll probably go back and read it while impatiently awaiting the release of [b:Thief of Shadows (Maiden Lane #4)|11459222|Thief of Shadows (Maiden Lane, #4)|Elizabeth Hoyt|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1323729075s/11459222.jpg|16393328]. show less

Scandalous Desires was absolutely worth the wait. As I mentioned in my write-up about book 1 of this series, Silence Hollingbrook’s subplot was one of my favorite parts of that novel and sharpened my anticipation for her own book. The suspense continued to build up further in book 2 as we got more glimpses of Silence’s (new) life. Finally with book 3, we get to focus entirely on her and Mickey.

Man, it’s difficult to talk about a book I love as opposed to those I don’t like. I don’t know where to start, except to say that Scandalous Desires totally lived up to my expectations. Really, that’s hard to do when the setup/back story was already so delicious and full of promise: Charming Mickey O’Connor, the fearsome yet (ahem) show more handsome pirate pretty much engineered a magnificent collapse of Silence Hollingbrook’s marriage. In exchange for returning stolen goods from a ship her husband captained, which saved the husband from prison, Mickey made Silence stay the night in his bedroom and walk out on the streets the next day, practically advertising that she’d been ravished by this awful pirate—even though nothing scandalous really happened. For Charming Mickey, the stunt was mostly a lark, consonant with his devil-may-care personality. But for Silence, it was a (crazy—but juicy) test for her marriage. She passed, showing she’d do anything for her husband. This husband, however, failed--he didn’t believe his wife. He and the marriage couldn’t recover from the incident. He eventually died at sea and Silence goes on to live at our St. Giles orphanage and raises a baby girl left at her door.

In Scandalous Desires we find out that the baby girl is Charming Mickey’s daughter whom he had hidden with Silence to protect her against his enemies. Now that these enemies know her location, he’s taken the baby back to his mansion. Silence has grown attached to the baby and rascally Mickey of course presents her with the option of staying with the baby in his mansion. Romance and hijinks ensue as Silence and Mickey live under the same roof!

The two butt heads, test one another’s tempers and boundaries, not to mention flirt and fascinate each other. There’s more than meets the eye in Mickey, who’s had a harrowing childhood of poverty and violence. Meanwhile, Silence comes to terms with the fact that she had idealized a marriage that hadn’t been that strong. There’s growing attraction, hot love scenes, an evil villain threatening to kill Mickey’s loved ones, romantic sacrifices, and daring escapes.

Seriously, everything is pitch perfect. The discoveries that the hero and heroine make of one another and of themselves are poignant. How each fills the gaping needs of the other is natural—Silence makes Mickey more tender and open and Mickey makes Silence more energetic and alive. The conflict with the villain—and how it ends—is not disappointing for once! In fact, the ending was swoonworthy! This is definitely a book that I’ll be rereading often. show less

I was eager to read this installment to the Maiden Lane series; turning Charming Mickey the pirate into someone worthy of honourable Silence Hollingsbrook seemed like a fine story to tell. Unfortunately the romance failed. I still don't understand how or why she fell in love with him, and his infatuation with her is a mystery to me, too. I had high hopes for Hoyt, as I've enjoyed her work before, but the kid in the story ended up being a plot moppet as children in romances often do... Anyway, I was most intrigued by the bits about Winter Makepeace looking for sponsors for his Home for Unfortunate Infants and Foundling Children, and will definitely continue with the series.

Scandalous Desires
4 Stars

Following the build up to Silence and Mickey’s romance in the previous books, Scandalous Desires lives up to expectations barring one or two small issues.

Charming Mickey O’Connor is a pirate who makes no effort to conceal his autocratic, decadent and ruthless nature. He is also haunted by the memory of Silence Hollingbrook, the gracious and sedate widow whose reputation and marriage he so callously destroyed. So, when the opportunity arises for Mickey to once again have Silence in his life, he grasps it with both hands.

Despite his rakish charms, it takes time to warm up to Mickey but once his traumatic past it revealed, it is impossible not to fall for him as Silence does. Speaking of Silence, her prim and show more proper ways conceal a passionate heart and tremendous capacity for love that slowly chips away at Mickey’s cold-hearted facade. Silence manages to charm not only Mickey but everyone in his household from the sullen guard to the cantankerous cook to the smelly bulldog.

Mickey and Silence’s romance is suitably steamy and the suspense plot is fast paced with an action packed climax and a villain who gets his just deserts. Nevertheless, the ultimate revelation of the Ghost’s identity falls somewhat flat and I hope that the next book will contribute more to this storyline. show less