A Scandalous Pursuit (Audio) (Scandalous #3)
Review: (More like a long summary of the whole book~)
So I’ve had the chance to get an audible version of this book too and I got to say Stevie Zimmerman is amazing at her voice acting and narration! She has done it again and I love her!
So this is Book 3 in the Scandalous series and I happen to have also read/listened to Book 4 back in….. November of last year. A Scandalous Past with my super long review of it also. LOL
But anyways, this is the story of Olivia (Livvie) Danbury the best friend of Cordy from A Scandalous Past. If I haven’t already read Cordy’s book this would have been a great introduction to Cordy’s and would have been a super fantastic surprise into what happen to each of them but of course they were great reads as standalone. But just as a heads up, Cordy’s book starts or happens at the same time Livvie is going through her story so many scenes will be connected but from different points of views.
So here we have Livvie and the Duke of Kelfield, Alex, whom were found in a compromising situation, by accident, while at her cousin’s house party one summer under his guardianship. Sadly Alex is also friends with Livvie’s said cousin so that must have been a difficult position to have been put into, but what caused that compromising situation to occur was very funny and very scandalous!
Livvie and Cordy were playing a game with the other ladies in the house hold while the gentlemen were out hunting. What game did they play? A scavenger hunt. Not a bad game but it can turn wicked depending on what you have to hunt for. So this was what lead Livvie into that very scandalous position, A game! And what was it that lead her towards it? She got to steal a button off of Kelfield’s waistcoat!!! And not just a button but his gold button with his family crest on it!
So on she goes feeling confident and nervous but why feel nervous when all of the men were out? Well well well, she found out the hard way I suppose. After some troubles and sneaking about she got the button and was on her way out when footsteps approached the door and the next thing she knew, the door knob was turning and female giggling! She must have been freaked because in the speed of light she ducked right back into that armoire where she clipped off Kelfield’s button!
And of course it was the rogue himself Kelfield with a maid! And well, you know what happened, Livvie witnessed a very scandalous and naughty scene of which she should never have seen in her 18 years of life as an innocent! But of course it roused her curiosity and she couldn’t help but be fascinated and well, disturbed at what was happening outside that armoire. But she got to see some very nice….behind and legs of Kelfield!!!
But of course we can’t forget that they were compromised and how did that happen? As a matter of fact, Livvie just happen to sneeze while Alex was getting himself ready to “climax”~ Heaheahea Sorry for being naughty and scandalous but this was within the first Chapter! So there’s no spoilers here.
But yes, she was found out by the ruthless rogue and you guessed it, Compromised indeed! Well, not really because no one actually saw them and everything was fine for a couple more chapters~ But they did have a very awkward and tense chat after her discovery in his armoire. But all was well and nothing were to come of it if not spoken of till, Bam! Someone did see them, well heard all of Alex’s romps which then saw Livvie leaving the hallway of which Alex’s room was located an hour or so later. Gasps!!!
And so, they were forced to marry even if they both argued against it that nothing happened and even if Livvie had a fiancee. Yes she had a fiancee!! I know we dealt with this in Cordy’s book but I was still very sad for Phillip. Fighting in the war and only surviving with the thoughts of coming home to his Livvie~
Oh and before they got married Livvie found out Alex had a daughter. An illegitimate daughter, Poppy. Livvie was surprised but she took it in stride and was very caring and loving to Poppy. Their friendship turned mother daughter relationship was very sweet and Poppy is just an angel!
You see, Poppy’s mother was an actress whom had cared for her in a small town house with regular visits from Alex. Her mother then abandoned her to Alex when she ran off to become a Countess and moved to France, all the while Alex had no clue about it because he was at the house party. So it was a total surprise for both Alex and Livvie to find Poppy at his resident, but he won’t throw Poppy out, he’s very protective of her even to the point of not wanting Livvie to get close to his daughter for fear of her rejection of Poppy. But that doesn’t happen.
At this point we also find that Livvie is all alone. Cordy has been banned from visiting or seeing Livvie due to her hasty and scandalous nuptials to a rogue with a illegitimate daughter, so Livvie was very much alone to her own thoughts. But, Alex have friends with wives who accepted her into their little circle of having married scandalously and to men of reputations among the ton. Of course her cousin Caroline have a huge role in this book as she did in Cordy’s and I believe in the whole series, so it was great seeing her in action again meddling in others affairs and such but also being there for Livvie in time of need.
But the happiness doesn’t last long as for we know from Cordy’s story, Phillip, Livvie’s childhood love and fiancee returns from war to heartbreaks abound! At this point Alex starts to come to terms of what was happening and that his marriage to Livvie was just a game. She had never wanted to marry him so with Phillip’s return he made up his mind that Livvie’s love will always be with Phillip. Therefore he went into a rage and left Livvie to mope and drink himself senseless when he found her reading a letter from Phillip one evening.
And so, with Phillip’s return and heartbreak he challenged Alex to a duel for taking another man’s intended in which was accepted because Alex was so vexed that Livvie would still act as though she cared or knew not of what she had done to him. But of course Alex didn’t accept the challenge to fight for his love of Livvie (so he thought) but just to get his anger out and to let Phillip take his anger out for his loss.
But even after the duel Alex didn’t return to Livvy, he hid himself from her and Poppy and drank away his days. Livvie on the other hand was sadden and at a lost at what to do because Alex wouldn’t listen to sense and ran off into the night! She wasn’t going to just let him give up on them so she enlisted the help of Alex’s coachman to drive her to all of Alex’s previous locals of adventure just to find him. Scandalous that was! She even talked to his mistress before their hasty marriage so that was determination!
But when she found him it wasn’t to find and bring him home but to tell him she was leaving. Not for Phillip, but with Poppy into the country side to his family estate there.
Now there’s a back story to that too. Alex’s family estate in the country side was where he grew up and where he never returned to after he was sent off to school as a boy. It brought on bad memories and even nightmares for him because of all the pain he’d suffer from their and of the memories of his mother’s pain at the hands of his father. You see, he blames himself for her torture and pain because he’d done something wrong which got him sent to school and away from his mother. So for Livvie to go there was just torture in itself for him to live with. But there are more secrets to tell after that too~
So, in all this was a very fantastic listen!!! I super love how we got to see different points of views again from multiple reoccurring characters from the series and of course of scenes we got from other books but now we get to see why and how it came about.
I super love that we got a whole different view of Cordy and how different it would have made us feel and think about her if we haven’t happened to have read her book first. I mean, I super love her and seeing her in scenes with Haversham in this book really built up for her book. I would never have guessed what would have happened to her if I just didn’t read her book first! I really do regret that. It would have made for a super fun and intense read. But I still love it nevertheless.
A con I have for this is……Kelfield’s voice. I love Stevie but her voice for Kelfield is just not to my liking. Yes he’s to sound snotty, arrogant, a care for nothing jerk, and haughty snob but I just hated it!!! It just really got on my nerve and it didn’t make me picture him as a hot sexy Duke that he should be. I know he is but when he opens his mouth and starts talking it’s like, “Oh no, just don’t talk for him and just narrate what he said so I can see him in my head the way I want to see him sound!”
Not hating but that really made it hard for me listen too. But I really liked her other voices for the other gentlemen so that’s just weird.
Another thing was Livvie never thinking of Phillip. I felt very mad at one point when her mind didn’t even registered him up when it did at the beginning of the book! Like if you really did love the man it should always be there right? Unless you were put in her shoes up against Alex but still, Phillip should have crossed your mind more than just right when he returned! And it wasn’t even that long ago when they got married and she stopped thinking about Phillip and stared drooling for Alex.
But yes, both Livvie and Alex are amazing characters and I love how much they change from the beginning to the end. Livvie most especially went from demure and mild to a very strong and fearless young woman. Though she wanted to be respected and accepted back into the ton and society, she also wanted to challenge society of their haughty rules and even the rules of Alex by roaming the streets of London’s notorious gaming halls and brothels to find him. Alex on the other hand didn’t change much but I really love how he started opening up to Livvie about his past and childhood and even emotional wise with his actions towards Poppy and Livvie.
So yup, this is another great read from Ava and I can't wait to get Phillip's story in My Favorite Major!!! And of course Cordy's Avery brothers~
Rating: 4/5
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