Review: Sixteen Scandals

Sixteen Scandals by Sophie Jordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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Publication Date: 25 May 2021

Publisher's Description

In this irreverent regency romp by New York Times best-selling author Sophie Jordan, newly minted sixteen-year-old Primrose Ainsworth finds herself on a wayward birthday adventure through London with a mysterious hero—perfect for fans of My Lady Jane.

The youngest of four daughters, Primrose Ainsworth is used to getting lost in the shuffle. But when her parents decide to delay her debut into English society, Prim hatches a plan to go rogue on the night of her sixteenth birthday.

Donning a mask, Prim escapes to the infamous Vauxhall Gardens for one wild night. When her cover is nearly blown, a mysterious stranger intercedes, and Prim finds an unexpected partner in mischief . . . and romance. But when it’s revealed her new ally isn’t who he says he is, her one night of fun may last past dawn.

In this frothy regency romp perfect for fans of Austen-esque flirtation and Shakespearean hijinks, sometimes a little scandal can be a good thing.

 

My Thoughts

I received an eARC courtesy of HMH Books for Young Readers via NetGalley & Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

I am going to preface this by saying that I am a HUGE Austen fan! That was the type of book that I devoured when I was a teen.

This book took me back to my teen years with its style and setting. Arguably there were parts of this book that fell a bit flat for me-parts just seemed too be added to shock the reader but didn't really move the plot forward. And I wasn't really feeling the relationship between our two protagonists (beyond an intense physical attraction). All that being said, I still enjoyed this book. It definitely felt like a nice throwback to that old style of writing, but in a more accessible way for modern readers. Honestly, I keep going back forth between a 3 and 4 star rating, so I'm going to be kind and move it up to a 4.

For Libraries: If you have a lot of readers that you think will enjoy a more sultry version of Austen, then this would be a good fit. But if you don't have a lot of historical fiction/romance readers then you can probably skip this one.