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Scandal Bound
MISS MARLING’S MISTAKE
Miss Ellen Marling made a most serious mistake when she let her father marry her off to the beastly Baron Basil Brockhaven. Just how immense an error it was became crystal clear to this innocent but independent young lady when she faced the prospect of her wedding night with the loathsome lord.
A leap in the dark from the bedroom window seemed her only sure way of escape. But here again it seemed that she had most grievously erred.
Her leap carried her into the hands of the notorious Marquess of Trent, as ravenous in his pursuit of pleasure as he was irresistibly handsome. Ellen had traded a monstrous husband for a masterly rake–and knew she could not risk another mistake, the greatest one of all: falling in love….
Miss Ellen Marling made a most serious mistake when she let her father marry her off to the beastly Baron Basil Brockhaven. Just how immense an error it was became crystal clear to this innocent but independent young lady when she faced the prospect of her wedding night with the loathsome lord.
A leap in the dark from the bedroom window seemed her only sure way of escape. But here again it seemed that she had most grievously erred.
Her leap carried her into the hands of the notorious Marquess of Trent, as ravenous in his pursuit of pleasure as he was irresistibly handsome. Ellen had traded a monstrous husband for a masterly rake–and knew she could not risk another mistake, the greatest one of all: falling in love….
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 2, 1987
11 people are currently reading
132 people want to read
About the author
Anita Mills
44 books66 followersA former history and English teacher, Anita Mills turned to writing in the mid-1980's. After her regency romance SCANDAL BOUND was published followed by her highly acclaimed LADY OF FIRE, Anita Mills went on to enjoy an award filled career. Her historical novels and regency short stories are ranked among the best in their respective genres. The parents of four children, Anita and her husband Larry find peace on a small farm near Plattsburgh, Missouri. This former teacher has drawn upon her love for both history and English to enrich her novels.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
December 22, 2017
What happens when you put together a forcibly-wed and until recently, on the shelf, young lady and a rakehell marquess? It is Scandal Bound.
Miss Ellen Marling’s shallow father sold her to the elderly and overweight Baron Basil Brockhaven after a two week introduction/engagement. It was their wedding night and while her new husband was temporarily out of the room, Ellen escaped out the second-story window. She literally fell on top of Trent; the very inebriated nobleman. And in all the confusion, he made it his mission to save her.
I read on another website that this story was a rip-off of Georgette Heyer’s The Corinthian (4 stars). There are some similarities but there are also differences. If you are a die-hard fan of hers, avoid this romance. But me? I actually liked Scandal Bound more.
The snippets of quibbles and snarky banter between Trent and Ellen was wonderful. I enjoyed there was no insta-lust or insta-love between the MCs as they maneuvered down country roads. I believe this is the first time I’ve tagged a romance with ‘suspension of disbelief’ and gave it five stars. The only downside to the romance was it lacked an epilogue. :((
Miss Ellen Marling’s shallow father sold her to the elderly and overweight Baron Basil Brockhaven after a two week introduction/engagement. It was their wedding night and while her new husband was temporarily out of the room, Ellen escaped out the second-story window. She literally fell on top of Trent; the very inebriated nobleman. And in all the confusion, he made it his mission to save her.
I read on another website that this story was a rip-off of Georgette Heyer’s The Corinthian (4 stars). There are some similarities but there are also differences. If you are a die-hard fan of hers, avoid this romance. But me? I actually liked Scandal Bound more.
The snippets of quibbles and snarky banter between Trent and Ellen was wonderful. I enjoyed there was no insta-lust or insta-love between the MCs as they maneuvered down country roads. I believe this is the first time I’ve tagged a romance with ‘suspension of disbelief’ and gave it five stars. The only downside to the romance was it lacked an epilogue. :((
December 16, 2025
Adorable~
݁ .・˖»┆Slow burn (traditional)
݁ .・˖»┆Road trip
݁ .・˖»┆Nursing back to health
݁ .・˖»┆Rake/Prim
݁ .・˖»┆“You're under my protection, word of a Deveraux” aka HR for ‘touch her and die’
I just had the most fantastic time reading about these two falling in love~
It had a great balance between
・
・
・
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🕮⋆˚࿔✎𓂃 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
݁ .・˖»┆Slow burn (traditional)
݁ .・˖»┆Road trip
݁ .・˖»┆Nursing back to health
݁ .・˖»┆Rake/Prim
݁ .・˖»┆“You're under my protection, word of a Deveraux” aka HR for ‘touch her and die’
I just had the most fantastic time reading about these two falling in love~
It had a great balance between
・
・
・
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🕮⋆˚࿔✎𓂃 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
November 16, 2021
Just a cute, fun story! There was nothing remarkable. The story followed a common formula, but I liked it. I finished it with a sweet smile on my face.
So it's just an easy, light read, nothing more!
So it's just an easy, light read, nothing more!
May 17, 2018
4.25 stars - pg13/r-lite (see below)
I was frustrated at first and nit-picking all the little things that didn't quite fit. It sometimes felt like author was determined to try and patch together every little idea she’d ever had, or read somewhere else, all into one book - - it didn’t always flow seamlessly. I kept trying to force myself to suspend the disbelief. And then I managed to turn off my perfectionist gene . . . . and found myself completely engaged and reading until the wee hours to finish!!! I loved the snarky banter. What a fun story!
As mentioned, all my nit-picking and eye-rolling at the many little contrived things that didn’t quite make sense ended up detracting from, and pulling me out of, the story (plus it felt like author occasionally lapsed into more contemporary attitudes/words). I enjoyed the hea ending but found it a tad bit ?? modern ?? very, very, very slight shade of bodice ripper ??? not sure how to describe, but, for me, it didn't quite fit with the time period or rest of story. I wish there had been an epilogue. I don’t think all of Anita Mills’s books are “clean”, but I would love to find the others that are since, overall, I enjoyed the fun story telling.
Thank you to Linda for introducing me to this book and the fun idea to compare to Georgette Heyer's The Corinthian. I reread The Corinthian (fourth time??) and found the books to be similar, yet sufficiently different. Both romantic adventure stories were quite good but, in my opinion, Heyer is the more excellent wordsmith. (See Linda’s 5-star review.)
I would rate this heavy pg13 and sometimes r-lite. It was a typical secular “clean” traditional regency. They usually have some minor curse words, perhaps a few instances of God’s name used in vain, and some vague references to mistresses. I felt this one crossed over a bit to r-lite. I would not give it to my teenage nieces to read, where I would probably give them a Heyer book. This one is slightly more mature in places. An example would be in chapter one. Not only did I find this objectionable, but I also felt it was not quite right for the time period -- I don’t think members of the nobility would have used these terms/phrases in the presence of young, innocent, gently-bred, ladies of quality: “Devilish”, “Damnable”, “which mistress he means to mount next” (that last bit was part of what kicked it over to r-lite)
I was frustrated at first and nit-picking all the little things that didn't quite fit. It sometimes felt like author was determined to try and patch together every little idea she’d ever had, or read somewhere else, all into one book - - it didn’t always flow seamlessly. I kept trying to force myself to suspend the disbelief. And then I managed to turn off my perfectionist gene . . . . and found myself completely engaged and reading until the wee hours to finish!!! I loved the snarky banter. What a fun story!
As mentioned, all my nit-picking and eye-rolling at the many little contrived things that didn’t quite make sense ended up detracting from, and pulling me out of, the story (plus it felt like author occasionally lapsed into more contemporary attitudes/words). I enjoyed the hea ending but found it a tad bit ?? modern ?? very, very, very slight shade of bodice ripper ??? not sure how to describe, but, for me, it didn't quite fit with the time period or rest of story. I wish there had been an epilogue. I don’t think all of Anita Mills’s books are “clean”, but I would love to find the others that are since, overall, I enjoyed the fun story telling.
Thank you to Linda for introducing me to this book and the fun idea to compare to Georgette Heyer's The Corinthian. I reread The Corinthian (fourth time??) and found the books to be similar, yet sufficiently different. Both romantic adventure stories were quite good but, in my opinion, Heyer is the more excellent wordsmith. (See Linda’s 5-star review.)
I would rate this heavy pg13 and sometimes r-lite. It was a typical secular “clean” traditional regency. They usually have some minor curse words, perhaps a few instances of God’s name used in vain, and some vague references to mistresses. I felt this one crossed over a bit to r-lite. I would not give it to my teenage nieces to read, where I would probably give them a Heyer book. This one is slightly more mature in places. An example would be in chapter one. Not only did I find this objectionable, but I also felt it was not quite right for the time period -- I don’t think members of the nobility would have used these terms/phrases in the presence of young, innocent, gently-bred, ladies of quality: “Devilish”, “Damnable”, “which mistress he means to mount next” (that last bit was part of what kicked it over to r-lite)
March 1, 2025
Reread February 2025: Ahhhhh, it's still oh so good. There's some creative/unconventional POV switching but the story, characters, and dialogue are just delightful. This book waaaay back when is the start of my love for road trip romances.
***
If I were to rank my traditional Regency romance novels ("serious" novels of the time such as Pride & Prejudice notwithstanding), "Scandal Bound" by Anita Mills would be in my top three, if not the number one spot outright.
Considering I've read (literally) hundreds of these novels, that says quite a bit. This is the book that I loan to friends who are curious what Regency romance novels are about, and I've universally received positive feedback from all of them, even those who don't typically read romance.
The hero and heroine are very likable, and it has just enough intrigue to keep you entertained outside of the development of the romance. Will he return her to her repulsive and odious husband? Will she reform his wild ways (e.g., one of the early scenes shows him shooting a highwayman on their wild flight from London)? What will their journey across England bring next (a questionable hostelry, highwaymen, and pouring rain, oh my!)? How will he extricate her from her unwanted marriage? Highly recommended.
***
If I were to rank my traditional Regency romance novels ("serious" novels of the time such as Pride & Prejudice notwithstanding), "Scandal Bound" by Anita Mills would be in my top three, if not the number one spot outright.
Considering I've read (literally) hundreds of these novels, that says quite a bit. This is the book that I loan to friends who are curious what Regency romance novels are about, and I've universally received positive feedback from all of them, even those who don't typically read romance.
The hero and heroine are very likable, and it has just enough intrigue to keep you entertained outside of the development of the romance. Will he return her to her repulsive and odious husband? Will she reform his wild ways (e.g., one of the early scenes shows him shooting a highwayman on their wild flight from London)? What will their journey across England bring next (a questionable hostelry, highwaymen, and pouring rain, oh my!)? How will he extricate her from her unwanted marriage? Highly recommended.
August 26, 2021
I lost count of how many times I have read this book, one of my all time favourite regency romance.
November 11, 2021
I am ambivalent about this book. On one hand, it is well-written, although I am partial to a more descriptive style of writing. The banters between the MCs are funny. However, the premise is simply too preposterous. You really, really have to suspend your disbelief. This book does follow familiar tropes - the heroine ran away after her wedding to a fat aging roue (the heroines usually bolt before the wedding, so this is something different, I guess the author wanted to ramp up the conflict), literally fell into the hero's arm jumping out of her window, and head bound to her aunt's house somewhere in the country with the hero's help. Sounds like fun, huh? Unfortunately, the author didn't make me believe in the plot.
These are some of the few examples that literally made me scratch my head. The plots just didn't add up. I am still contemplating to read the author's other works especially the Fire series (so many people raved about this series) despite this book being a disappointment. Oh, well, let's just see, shall we?
Oh, yeah, the lack of epilogue as mentioned by other reviewers is really annoying as well.
These are some of the few examples that literally made me scratch my head. The plots just didn't add up. I am still contemplating to read the author's other works especially the Fire series (so many people raved about this series) despite this book being a disappointment. Oh, well, let's just see, shall we?
Oh, yeah, the lack of epilogue as mentioned by other reviewers is really annoying as well.
February 15, 2018
This was recommended to me my Goodreads friend Linda, to see how it compared to The Corinthian by Heyer. I truly wanted to love it, but could not quite get warm with it. It was totally unrealistic, but I don’t think that was the problem. I fear the characters just did not work for me. There was more tell than show, if you know what I mean. I have read books in a similar setting, where I liked the execution better.
I listened to the audio version of the book, and it was not my favorite performance. Maybe I would have liked the book better if I’d read it instead of listening to it?
For those who liked the time the heroine and the hero have to fend for themselves in an isolated hunting lodge - you might enjoy Simply Unforgettable by Balogh.
I listened to the audio version of the book, and it was not my favorite performance. Maybe I would have liked the book better if I’d read it instead of listening to it?
For those who liked the time the heroine and the hero have to fend for themselves in an isolated hunting lodge - you might enjoy Simply Unforgettable by Balogh.
December 31, 2017
I am glad that this is my last 2017 book. I am also glad because the author has written several other regency and historical romances that I plan to start as soon as possible. A not so perfectly looking 25 year old heroine and a very dashing with bad reputation but trustworthy (word of a Deveraux) hero are thrown together in a road adventure. Their dialogues are very funny.
Thanks to Linda for her great review which prompted me to read rhe book.
Thanks to Linda for her great review which prompted me to read rhe book.
September 23, 2014
cute beginning, but ending is a little weak, the impediment to their HEA feels a little drawn out and contrived, didn't feel the rapport building between the hero and heroine before suddenly they were head over heels in love.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 21, 2011
one of my all-time favorites. i've tracked down used copies of it once or twice after losing mine.
September 25, 2025
A mad romp of a romance. Ellen Marling & Alex Deveraux, Marquess of Trent are likeable characters, as is Gerald Deveraux. Fun but silly & highly improbable. I enjoyed it until close to the end when Ellen decided Alex didn't love her - the man had practically moved mountains for her but, oh no!, he forgot those three crucial words, without which romance must crumble. Grr! I wanted to slap her, the silly woman. 2.5★
March 20, 2020
Fun read with nice characters.
Hero and heroine’s bantering was funny and the way they grow to like and love is believable. Felt similar to heater’s Venetia/ Corinthian
Climax could have been improved, last part was done badly and no epilogue.
Hero and heroine’s bantering was funny and the way they grow to like and love is believable. Felt similar to heater’s Venetia/ Corinthian
Climax could have been improved, last part was done badly and no epilogue.
December 8, 2024
Scandal
So many twists and turns. Its just a fun book to read. Lord Trent,Alex ,and Ellen had such an adventure. Unexpected events and persons met on there trip across old England in an escape from her forced marriage another.
So many twists and turns. Its just a fun book to read. Lord Trent,Alex ,and Ellen had such an adventure. Unexpected events and persons met on there trip across old England in an escape from her forced marriage another.
August 5, 2020
3.5 stars.
May 18, 2023
⭐️4.5
Get you a man who’s not only willing but will happily kill for you! I loved this!
h 23 H 29
Get you a man who’s not only willing but will happily kill for you! I loved this!
h 23 H 29
June 19, 2023
Cute Book
December 16, 2023
Very enjoyable read. A new author for me. I plan to read more of her books.
October 4, 2025
That was cute!
Just kissing.
Just kissing.
June 15, 2014
3 1/2 stars. A heart-warming story about a young lady forced into marriage with a disgusting roué, and her rescue, after she jumps from her husband's bedchamber window rather than consummate the marriage, by a rake. Despite such an inauspicious start, they come to care for each other, and after several misadventures, the roué is persuaded to annul the marriage.
Although their relationship begins scandalously, this is a sweet Regency romance.
Although their relationship begins scandalously, this is a sweet Regency romance.
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September 1, 2013Deveraux #1
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews