His Study in Scandal

March 27, 2023
The Garden of Hedon, Regency London’s most notorious pleasure palace, blooms a new forbidden fruit in Frampton’s saucy second School for Scoundrels romance (after Her Lessons in Persuasion). Alexandra, the widowed Duchess of Chelmsworth, celebrates the end of her mourning period with an unforgettable night with a stranger at the Garden. Then she meets the man her stepdaughter Harriet is expected to marry and is shocked to learn he’s her own mystery lover. Theo Osborne, 12 years Alexandra’s junior, is part owner of the Garden of Hedon and has enjoyed the company of many women, but none has intrigued him as much as Alexandra. He reneges on plans to marry Harriet, resulting in her brother, who inherited the indebted dukedom, threatening to disown both women. To buy them all time to come up with a plan, Harriet absconds to Paris with Theo’s surrogate brother, Fenton, and on the trip to retrieve them, Alexandra and Theo fall deeply in love. But while Theo wants to marry, Alexandra has vowed never to relinquish her newfound freedom. Frampton serves up both spicy sex scenes and hefty emotions that will leave readers wanting more. This passionate love story keeps the series going strong. Agent: Louise Fury, Bent Agency.

April 1, 2023

Theo Osborne enters negotiations to wed the half-sister of the Duke of Chelmswich and decides to celebrate with one last night of debauchery. Meanwhile, Alexandra, the Dowager Duchess of Chelmswich, is finally out of mourning for her late husband, so her scandalous stepdaughter Edith takes her to the Garden of Hedon for some much-needed fun. Theo and Alexandra meet and have an anonymous, passionate encounter. Each goes their own way until they meet again at a ball, where Alexandra learns that Theo is the man whom her stepson (the Duke of Chelmswich) has chosen as a husband for her daughter Harriet. When Theo tries to back out of negotiations to wed Harriet, the duke, desperate for funds, threatens Theo's business interests. Theo is eager to marry Alexandra instead, but having just ended her mourning for a marriage she hated, Alexandra refuses to relinquish her newfound freedom. VERDICT Frampton follows up the first "School for Scoundrels" book, Her Lessons in Persuasion, with another scorching pairing. Recommended for romance fans who like it hot, hot, hot.--Eve Stano

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2023
A night of passion in a pleasure garden turns into an age-gap romance between a dowager duchess and a dashing entrepreneur. In the second School for Scoundrels novel, Alexandra, dowager Duchess of Chelmswich, is finally ready to claim her independence. Enjoying a sexually fulfilling night with a stranger feels like a good start. When she later learns that Theo Osborne is the man chosen by the current duke--her stepson--for her debutante daughter, Harriet, it's an unanticipated complication. Wealthy, self-made Theo had planned to marry up the ranks in keeping with his adopted father's wish. But a final night of enjoying his unattached state before meeting Harriet has ensnared his heart. Now he's willing to give up his earlier plan and risk the spite of the duke, but the skittish widow might take some convincing. Alexandra has had enough of men dictating her choices, and even Theo, the attractive younger man who matches her intellectually and sexually, feels like a threat. But as they are forced to pretend that she's engineering a match between him and her equally uninterested daughter, the couple slips into a passionate affair, including a sudden trip to Paris. A series of scenes meant to show their compatibility and the ensemble cast of his foster brothers and her protofeminist stepdaughter and daughter don't quite live up to the intriguing opening scene. A rushed third-act breakup and a predictable development end with the reluctant 40-year old heroine trusting that her young lover can be a better man than any she has known. An exciting premise and feminist theme, but the execution feels contrived and conservative.

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May 15, 2023
To fulfill societal expectations, Alexandria, the Dowager Duchess of Chelmsworth, spent the last two years and one day mourning her late husband. But now Alexandria is ready to live her own best life. Encouraged and accompanied by Edith, her stepdaughter, Alexandria visits London's Garden of Hedon, which offers a wide range of pleasure options for its visitors. Alexandria gives into the temptation of having one night of passion with a stranger. The next day a revitalized Alexandria is ready to get on with her life and begin planning her daughter Harriet's debut into society, when she discovers the potential husband selected by the new Duke of Chelmsworth for Harriet is none other than Theodore Osborne, the very stranger who fulfilled Alexandria's every sensual wish the night before. With the latest entry in her A School for Scoundrels series, Frampton (Her Lessons in Persuasion, 2023) effectively parlays her flair for crafting sensually charged love scenes into another splendidly sexy romance that also delivers the maximum measure of cheeky charm and wry wit.

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