From the blurb:

When beautiful Kate Mayhew is hired as chaperone to Burke Traherne’s headstrong daughter Isabel, the Marquis finds himself in an impossible predicament. Torn between the knowledge that she is exactly what Isabel needs but also, for him, the worst possible temptation, he finds himself in constant proximity with someone who threatens his independence. Known for his steely self-control since the day he caught his wife with a lover, Burke has vowed never to risk marriage again.

In accepting his lordship’s offer of employment, the feisty Kate faces two perils; her wild attraction to a man who has sworn off love, and a date with her own scandalous past…which she cannot keep secret forever.

Having read and enjoyed Meg’s historical romance Ransom My Heart a couple of years ago (https://hannahfielding.net/?p=1285) and enjoyed it immensely, I was intrigued to try one of the newly presented Patricia Cabot titles. Meg wrote these early on in her career, and I wondered whether I would see a difference in her writing.But I was delighted to find that her voice and style are intact and as engaging as ever.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story. It’s full of action and twists and turns, and feels entirely plausible and realistic for the historical setting. The mystery had me gripped, and the author expertly drip-feeds information through the story so that you learn slowly the nature of the scandal that haunts Kate, and the truth behind the night that changed her life forever. I do love a book with a villain in it, and this one certainly delivers that!

Kate makes a wonderful heroine: feisty and strong-willed but endearingly vulnerable and inexperienced too. And Burke is man I couldn’t help but fall for. He reminds me of my own alpha male characters – powerful, handsome and masterful, but tortured by misdeeds and misunderstandings of the past. I especially loved him in his role as father; his attempts to control his headstrong daughter are quite comical at times. But most of all it is in the role of lover that he shines. Bright enough to blind the reader, at times!

This is a witty, exciting book to read, but it is the romance that really sets it apart. I’d give it a ten out of ten on the heat scale. At a certain point I wondered whether the story could possibly progress, so engrossed were Kate and Burke in discovering each other. The love scenes are beautifully written and very passionate.

The ending is wholly satisfying, exactly what you hoped for but couldn’t quite expect, so difficult are the circumstances in which the characters find themselves at the end. I was left smiling, but with that twinge of sadness deep down that the story had ended: a sure sign of a good book.

The Patricia Cabot novels are out now in ebook format, and I shall certainly be downloading the others to read now. I greatly admire Meg’s current works in the romance genre – paranormal and contemporary romance for adults and teenagers – but having read this novel I have to say that I wish she would dust her Patricia pen off and write more historical romances. I, for one, would read every one!

A Little Scandal is available now from Amazon; click on the book cover below to visit the store.