A Seduction in Scarlet Review

A Seduction in Scarlet
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Lady Portia Ellerslie is a close companion of Queen Victoria at the end of the 1800's. Victoria had great admiration for Portia's late husband and that transferred to Portia herself after his death. As a result she is put on a pedestal by the Queen and the population alike. She is widely known as the Widow of the Nation's Hero. But she's is also a young woman who was married early to a much older man and now that he's gone she has...needs. Needs that won't be met unless she does something drastic. Which turns out to be a visit to Aphrodites, a high class bordello. She is lonely and only looking for a night of anonymous pleasure with no names and no consequences. Like that'll happen.
What a coincidence that the man who walks in the club and captures her attention is the man she used to be infatuated with when she was just the young shy vicars daughter. He doesn't recognize her of course, but she knows him. But after a wild night of passion they go their separate ways. If only it was that easy. They both find that they have such a burning need for each other that it obscures their common sense and they take one wild chance after another to be together.
Marcus starts off as an idle, good-for-not-much womanizer, but quickly begins growing up and eventually realizes he needs to do something with his life, especially if he's going to have a chance with Portia. He can't ask a national icon to come away with him if he has and is nothing. Watching him grow up was one of the best parts of this book and I loved the interaction between him and...everybody. He did have a tendency to act recklessly, but he was so filled with life and humor and love that I just fell in love with him. I can't blame Portia for falling head over heels for him too.
This was also a very Victorian story, about how repressed people felt and how Portia felt she was expected to adhere to a rigid set of rules. And it wasn't just a matter of her having her own fixed rules, but of society at large demanding the same thing. Breaking her out of that mind-set was tough going for Marcus, but ya gotta give him props for not giving up.
The sub-plot with Portia's sister-in-law and her traitorously evil husband, Arnold, wasn't strictly necessary, but they did give Portia a reason to run away with Marcus and it added some tension towards the end. I did have a bit of a problem imagining that Arnold could get the Queen of England to come to the wilds of Norfolk to talk with her lady in waiting and without that much security, but I'm willing to go with it since the outcome is satifactory indeed.

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