Scandal at Almack's by Gloria Gay

 Jenny Longtree is temporarily saved from her fate: marriage to her father's choice of husband for her--a man older than her father but rich enough to save the family from impending doom. Then Jenny's uncle in London offers her a London season.
Can Jenny find a husband even though she has no dowry? Her father doubts it but her mother thinks she should be given that option. Besides, her mother assures her father, there will be few girls in that season that can rival Jenny's beauty.
Then on the last night at Almack's, Jenny is embroiled in scandal and as a crowd gathers around her and the Earl of Corville with whom she has fallen in love at first sight, Jenny wonders if it's too late not only to save her from doom but to save her heart from heartbreak...

Scandal at Almack’s was a quick regency romance that was fun to read. Upon the book’s opening, we meet Jenny and learn that her father intends to marry her off to a much older man in an effort to secure the family’s financial standing after her father’s investments fall short. Unfortunately, the age difference is not the only thing about her intended that Jenny cannot stomach – but she plans to do her duty to her family, no matter how unpleasant. Fortunately, her uncle buys her a stay of execution by offering to provide her a season in London. It is during her final official ball that she meets Sebastian, the Earl of Corville, and becomes embroiled in a scandal.

While I enjoy Ms. Gay’s writing style, both in Scandal at Almack’s and in Lovely Little Liar, I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I expected to. It wasn’t until I began writing this review that I figured out where the book fell short for me – I never fully connected with Jenny and Sebastian. I suspect that the shortened length of the novella format didn’t allow Ms. Gay to develop the characters as fully as she did in Lovely Little Liar – at least for my liking, that is. This is not to say that I didn’t like Jenny and Sebastian, because I did, they are likeable characters, I just didn’t connect with them as I expected to.

This book actually has quite a cast of characters – both villains and good guys – which is probably why I didn’t realize I was connecting to the main characters. Despite this, Scandal at Almack’s is a good story and made for a nice bit of variety in my reading list. I look forward to reading more of Ms. Gay’s writing.

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