Review: Scandalous

Scandalous by Minerva Spencer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The orphaned daughter of Christian missionaries in Africa, Sarah has been kidnapped, along with all the people in her village, by Dutch slave-traders. The slave trader is boarded by Martin, a former slave turned privateer on behalf of the English king, who loathes slavers with every iota of his being.

At first Martin thinks Sarah is a slaver, or a slaver's doxy, but soon comes to realise she is nothing of the sort and is a formidable woman as she enters into bargains for the lives of the slave trader and his crew. Martin tries to offload Sarah and the slavers in Freetown but the British Admiral in charge balks when he discovers that Martin's slaver is related to the Dutch King, suddenly Martin is forced to transport Sarah and the Dutchman Mies to England.

Rising sexual tension on board a small ship, jealousy and frustration create a does he/doesn't he vibe on board ship but this felt a bit samey-samey to me. I know the circumstances were different to Mia and Hugh but I just had the he was a slave, they did unspeakable things to him seen it all before vibe, which seems crushingly insensitive I know but I felt the idea had been done to death with the first two books. Also, Martin was supposed to be a ladies' man with women falling over themselves to both bed him and marry him but he seemed totally clueless about women.

Overall, if I hadn't read the two previous books I think I would have enjoyed this more.

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