MEMOIRS OF A SCANDALOUS RED DRESS

Author: Elizabeth Boyle ISBN: 9780061373244 5/2009 HISTORICAL Publisher: AVON
Time Period: 1837 London

What if all you have are the memories of a rake... ...and the scandalous red dress that nearly brought you to ruin? Remembrances of the kisses he stole? Or his seductive, rakish smile as he charmed his way into your bed, stole your innocence and your heart? To proper and respectable Philippa, Lady Gossett, such memories are best locked away. At least, so she thinks, until a stranger arrives on her doorstep and offers her a chance to tempt fate once again... to tempt Dash back into her life and quite possibly into her bed... But the man Pippin loved all those years ago, and the man she discovers are hardly the same. Captain Thomas Dashwell has a score to settle with the now-unattached Lady Gossett, the vision in red who has haunted his life for so long—ever since that fateful night when she betrayed him and married another. She’s the one woman he’s vowed to hate until the end of his days... and the one woman he can never forget...

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

I cannot believe I am going to say this, but I do not like MEMOIRS OF A SCANDALOUS RED DRESS. Really, this is so surprising to me, because I do not think I have ever struggled to read an Elizabeth Boyle book. And the last two I quite enjoyed. I cannot put my finger on it, but this one just does not come together for me.

MEMOIRS is one of those reads that jumps from present to past and back again several times. It does not offer smooth or interesting transitions either way. I do not like where or even how the book starts out, and honestly, the romantic leads were much more interesting when they were supporting characters in the previous two books. I suppose I should just say the whole thing just does not mesh together or take on the romantic vision I had for it.

I'm sure some will disagree with me, but this is not at all the type of book Boyle usually delivers. And while it is not terrible, it is only tolerable.

Shannon Johnson