I immediately continued on with this delightful new historical romance series, after finishing the first book last week. The first thing that caught my eye was how much the girl on the cover looks like Emma Stone!

This series is great for people who love a lot of plot, especially of the zanier variety. Stylistically this book reminds me a lot of Tessa Dare. There is a lot of humor in this book, and a lot of adventure.

This is a closed door romance with kissing only on page, which is always nice to know going in. 😊

The romance in this felt a tad undeveloped for my tastes, mostly because there were so many hijinxes and adventures for the heroine. I felt like given the shorter length of the novel, there could have been more room for their relationship to unfold at the close.

I’ll be curious to see if the two additional sisters get novels in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley and @onemorechapterhc for the free e-arc, in exchange for this my honest opinion.

Saucy, sexy, a great summer time read for those who love a regency romance that’s got a twist or two. Enjoyed this new to me author!

The Scandal of the Season is an enjoyable Regency romp with charm, wit, and a dash of mystery. The setting is lush, the dialogue sparkles, and the characters are easy to root for — even if some plot points feel a little familiar.
It’s not a groundbreaking read, but it’s fun, fast-paced, and perfect if you’re in the mood for a light historical romance with a touch of drama. A solid, feel-good story that delivers exactly what it promises.

I wasn't aware that The Scandal of the Season was the second book in the Fairfax Sisters series, but it seems like these are companion books and can be read individually with only minor spoilers (i.e. the couple from the previous book end up together, but that's hardly in question when it comes to the romance genre). Nevertheless, I have no doubt that The Mismatch of the Season was also a fun read, though I know that book 2 will definitely be my favorite!
For a historical romance, there was a surprising amount of action along with the usual amount of defying social expectations and miscommunication while our main characters attempt to avoid accidental ruination and forced matrimony.
Looking forward to reading more from Michelle Kenney.

This one just didn't get me hooked for some reason. It could have been the writing style or something else, but I just couldn't get through it.

This second book in the Fairfax Sisters series was a fun, clean, and entertaining enemies to lovers historical romance. The characters were interesting and relatable. i enjoyed the witty banter, emotional issues, and surprising twists, which made for a delightful read. I recommend reading!

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ‘𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐭,’ 𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝, 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠. '𝐍𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐫, 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞. 𝐘𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝, 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐈 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭-𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬!’ 𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. '𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫, 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐅𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐟𝐚𝐱, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝, 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞.’ 𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐧. '𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝.'⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Thank you NetGalley, publisher and author for allowing me to read this book!

I enjoyed it but I didn’t at the same time… all I can say is that I slightly enjoyed the author’s first book, “mismatch of the season”, more. And I feel like with regency novels, you’d really have to zone in on the language - i felt like I couldn’t understand some of the regency narrative. I was really looking forward to this novel.

But there were tropes that I did like though and it did pick up halfway through the book. The words exchanged were cute and Lord Rotherby and Sophie Fairfax’s dynamic reminded me of Anthony and Kate’s enemies to lovers mixed with Simon and Daphne’s marriage of convenience from Bridgerton.

•Enemies to lovers
•Wager
•Marriage of convenience
•Scandal

Overall, if you want another Bridgerton-esque regency then this novel is for you! Be prepared for in fact this really was 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏…

2.5/5 ⭐️

ੈ✩‧₊˚𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒇𝒍𝒚, 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒋𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒃𝒚 𝑯𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒏 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒆𝒕, 𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒆'𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒅. 𝑻𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚?

ੈ✩‧₊˚ '𝑰 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑'𝒔 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏,' 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚. '𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒎𝒆, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆. 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍. 𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆, 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒚, 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒂𝒍.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ '𝑰 𝒔𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚, 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒂 𝑹𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆. 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆. 𝑬𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒂𝒄𝒕'

ੈ✩‧₊˚ '𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒎𝒆, 𝑴𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝑭𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒇𝒂𝒙 ... 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒅𝒐, 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒅, 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 - 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚.'

Ugh, this book was boring. Sophie is such a naive, judgemental deb, that it was too annoying. And Rotherby was just playing too hard at being a rake. I would not marry him, imagine the diseases, ugh..

Anyway, very disappointed.

#NETGALLEY #TheScandaloftheSeason

Solid writing for a regency book, personally the plot didn't keep me intrestead enough throughout the whole book kept putting the book down.

Michelle Kenney’s latest Regency romp was such a fun surprise. The writing is smart and polished—much better than some of my recent reads—with turns of phrase that felt genuinely fresh and clever. I also appreciated how immersive the historical setting was. Kenney clearly did her homework, throwing in loads of Regency slang (some of which I hadn’t come across before, and I’ve read a lot of Regency!), along with generous helpings of French. While it added authenticity, the constant use of French did take me out of the story a bit.

This is a classic wager trope, but it doesn’t feel stale at all. Sophie and Rotherby have great banter, and their dynamic kept things moving. There’s a twist halfway through that I absolutely did not see coming—it was hilarious, added a ton of momentum, and honestly made me read the rest of the book in one sitting (which never happens for me anymore).

The only thing I really wish we had more of was the romance. It’s revealed and resolved very quickly, and I would’ve loved more time to bask in the tension and payoff. Still, this was a charming, witty, well-paced read that kept me engaged from start to finish.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC! Scandal of the Season releases May 23, 2025.

Scandal of the season was a great rom com, I really liked reading this novel. The writing kept me engaged and the characters brought a sense of realism. It was easy to get into and I loved the way the storyline played out.

I love historical fiction so this was fantastic. I actually saw this book today at work and thought about picking up a final copy! This was so good! One of my favorite movies of all time is Pride and Prejudice (2005) so I was so excited to pick this up.

In the second book of Michelle Kenney’s Fairfax series, it’s Sophie Fairfax’s turn to step into society for the season. She’s hoping to find the right suitor and is set on marrying for love. But she’s also been warned that there are plenty of rakes around, and she should be careful.

As Sophie meets the eligible bachelors, she ends up caught in an unexpected wager with the most notorious rake of them all. What starts as a playful challenge soon becomes something more, leading her on a journey that takes her all the way to Paris.

There, Sophie faces one of the biggest decisions of her life as she tries to figure out what she truly wants, and whether that includes a charming rake or a perfectly respectable gentleman who looks ideal on paper.

Scandal of the Season is a full on regency romp full of rakes and troublesome misses. If you love Heyer's Devil's Cub, you will love this. It hits all the beats with some fabulous twists, humour and Easter eggs for Heyer fans. Loved the revolutionary dress designer highwaylady with her beautiful breeches

Thank you #NetGalley for the advanced copy of #TheScandaloftheSeason by Michelle Kenney in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first book my Ms. Kenney and there were definitely things I enjoyed about this book like the humor in it. It was borderline ridiculous at moments but sometimes you need that but I would keep that in mind before reading it because if that's not your thing or you aren't in the mood for it, you will be disappointed. Phoebe was at times fun and endearing but she also had moments where she got on my nerves or just made bad choices (like how she ended up in the scandalous position in the first place). As for Dominic, he's a bit forgettable (like I had to go look up his name to write this review) and I'm not sure why Phoebe fell in love with him. This book is the 2nd in the series and while I wasn't completely lost, I really wish I had read book 1 first as it would have helped me to understand a little quicker in the beginning of the book what was happening. I did really love that this was set in France instead of being in England once again.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Michelle Kenney for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for The Scandal of the Season coming out May 23, 2025. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is the second book I’ve read by this author. I really love regency romance and I enjoyed the first book, but this one didn’t do it for me. I wasn’t into the story as much as I thought. I didn’t like some of the decisions being made. It felt like the same old tropes were being used. I’d still check out other books by this author though.

ARC Review

3:75⭐️

✨ This is the only regency era romance series I want to pick up at the moment. I really enjoyed diving back into this world and getting to know this family better. The plot was so fun and so many scenes had me laughing out loud.

✨Sophie really got herself caught up in quite the scandal but I loved seeing the story unfold and all the twists I didn’t expect. Sophie did annoy me sometimes with some of her decisions but I understand she wanted to choose what she wanted for herself. I loved Lord Rotherby from the start and loved seeing him change and fall in love .

✨Overall this was such a fun book and I can’t wait for the next book in the series already!!

Great historical romance that is part of a series. Can be read as a standalone, but the enjoyment would be enhanced by having read the other books first.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review

3.5 🌟

In general I enjoyed this more than the first installment in the series, I felt more connected to Sophie as a MC than I did with Phoebe, though her naïveté and penchant for truly not-very-good decisions did begin to wear thin by the end of the book. The romance is more front-and-centre this time around, but the plot was a bit busy for my liking. It felt like a lot of things were thrown into the second half to add excitement but the quiet moments between Sophie and Lord Rotherby were where this really shone for me - her nursing him back to health (albeit after shooting him with an arrow and causing an infected wound which made him delirious), the stolen kiss in the garden, "I exist in a space where no one gets hurt, Miss Fairfax, and I am quite determined to stay there" - it's pretty diabolical that so much of the time they are actually not together on the page, because I didn't like them quite as much left to their own devices.

This was a good historical romance, perhaps not as great as the first in the series, but quite good. It was fun to transport the book to France when so many of this genre stay in England. You don't need to have read the first in the series to enjoy this but it is also good.