The Harlot Countess by Joanna Shupe

Posted April 23, 2015 by Karen in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

The Harlot Countess by Joanna ShupeThe Harlot Countess by Joanna Shupe
Also by this author: The Courtesan Duchess, The Lady Hellion, Tycoon, Magnate
Series: Wicked Deceptions #2
Published by Kensington, Zebra on April 28th 2015
Genres: Historical, Regency, Romance, Romantic Comedy
Pages: 352
Format: eARC
ISBN: 978-1420135541
ASIN: B00ONTR6BA
Goodreads
four-stars

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Lady Maggie Hawkins's debut was something she'd rather forget--along with her first marriage. Today, the political cartoonist is a new woman. A thoroughly modern woman. So much so that her clamoring public believes she's a man. . .FACT: Drawing under a male pseudonym, Maggie is known as Lemarc. Her (his!) favorite object of ridicule: Simon Barrett, Earl of Winchester. He's a rising star in Parliament--and a former confidant and love interest of Maggie's who believed a rumor that vexes her to this day. FICTION: Maggie is the Half-Irish Harlot who seduced her best friend's husband on the eve of their wedding. She is to be feared and loathed as she will lift her skirts for anything in breeches. Still crushed by Simon's betrayal, Maggie has no intention of letting the ton crush her as well. In fact, Lemarc's cartoons have made Simon a laughingstock. . .but now it appears that Maggie may have been wrong about what happened years ago, and that Simon has been secretly yearning for her since. . .forever. Could it be that the heart is mightier than the pen and the sword after all?

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The Harlot Countess is the follow up novel to The Courtesan Duchess (Wicked Deceptions, #1) by Joanna Shupe and can be read as a stand-alone novel.  This was a solidly written regency romantic adventure filled with broken hearts, scandals, revenge, naked mermaids, danger, and a half Irish harlot.

Maggie, Lady Hawkins, debut into society was covered in scandal–a scandal not of her own making.  She thought the man, Simon Barrett, Earl of Winchester, would stand beside her, turned his back on her, at a very critical junction in her life.  The cut by him, made the cut by the rest of the ton (upper crust society) seem like a trivial matter.  It devastated Maggie, and she ended up marrying a man decades older than her, as no one else would have her after she was ruined.

The book starts not with Maggie’s scandal but several years after the events, and the tale is a fun one, as this is a tale of a woman scorned.  It is also a tale of regret and heart ache, as Maggie and Simon are thrust back into each others lives.

I loved that Maggie doesn’t make excuses or apologizes for her behavior, she was thrown over by the ton, and she embraces her freedom as a widow.  She was the type of feisty heroine I personally love. I adored that Simon had to eat a lot of crow, as because of his wrongful assumptions of years earlier. He needed knocked down a peg or two.

In someways Simon was not worthy of Maggie, and that bothered me. The Simon in the previous book by Shupe was a different man than the one that rejected Maggie during her debut season.  I could not reconcile the Simon who rejected her, with the Simon I had come to know via here first book.  I could not understand why he never asked her directly what happened.   If they had been so close, would he not have at least asked?  The excuses put forth in the book were not enough for me to forgive him.  So I, like Maggie, gave into my need to forgive Simon but not totally forget.  In all the book was a very good read, and I can’t wait for more from Ms. Shupe.

 

four-stars

About Joanna Shupe

Award-winning author JOANNA SHUPE has always loved history, ever since she saw her first Schoolhouse Rock cartoon. While in college, Joanna read every romance she could get her hands on and soon started crafting her own racy historical novels.

In 2013 she won Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Golden Heart® Award for Best Historical.

She now lives in New Jersey with her two spirited daughters and dashing husband.

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