My Season of Scandal

The welcoming and supportive Grand Palace on the Thames boarding house, run by the wonderful Delilah and Angelique, opens its doors once more (after How To Tame a Wild Rogue). Checking in this season is Catherine Keating, visiting from the country for her first (and likely only) London season. Also on the guest list is the powerful and savvy Lord Dominic Kirke, a force of nature in the political world who must find new lodgings because his mistress set fire to his mansion. Unlikely as it seems, Dominic and Catherine begin to form an abiding friendship as he helps her find her feet, and she helps him find his way. Their story builds wonderfully through conversations—held in corners of ballrooms, in front gardens, over group dinners—so that by the time the two take a step that Dominic fully knows is dangerous to them both, Catherine is already there. As would be expected from the vapidly inclined ton, danger indeed arrives—in the form of a scandal that the two resolve in heart-sweeping fashion.