Thank you to BERKLEY and Netgalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve been looking forward to A Season of Ruin ever since I finished the first book in this series, A Wicked Way to Win an Earl. I love a rakish hero, and just his brother Alec, Robyn Sutherland did not disappoint. This book starts right off with a bang, though to Robyn’s dismay, not a real one. An accidental tryst with Lily Sutherland brings to light an attraction he wasn’t even aware he had, and thus begins Lily and Robyn’s season of ruin. Lily has her sights set on a respectable gentleman, someone quite the opposite of Robyn. But when Robyn’s attention lands Lily in a societal pickle, the only way to restore it is to spend even more time together. This was most certainly a story of opposites attracting, and it was against each of their wills. While Robyn’s intent was to improve Lily’s reputation, it was almost as though he couldn’t help himself. Whatever he did painted her in an even worse light as far as the ton was concerned, but it only heightened his pull to her. Robyn and Lily’s attraction smoldered whenever they were on the page together. I also loved Robyn’s interactions with Alec. They’re both pig-headed and funny without meaning to be, and anytime they’re together, it made for a wonderful scene. And just the previous book, I that the author didn’t change who the hero was; it’s just now he’s that man for an audience of one.

I enjoyed everything about this story. I’ve said it before, but Historical Romance is comfort food to me, and this book more than satisfied my craving. It’s Historical Romance has been waiting for Anna Bradley to come along and write it, and I’m in it for the long haul. I can’t wait to read what she puts out next!

This review was originally posted at Badass Book Reviews. 14 s Caz2,907 1,091

I've given this a C- at AAR.

I enjoyed Anna Bradley’s début, A Wicked Way to Win an Earl last year, and in my review said:
“Her writing is deft and intelligent with a nice touch of humour, and she has taken a well-used plotline and made good use of it by peopling it with distinctive characters and strongly-written relationships.”
As a result, I was really looking forward to her follow up book, which was to pair off the hero’s roguish brother and the heroine’s rather uptight sister.  Unfortunately, however, the good things I pointed out in my earlier review are largely absent here, making A Season of Ruin a big disappointment.  Perhaps it’s my own fault for having expectations that were too high, or maybe it’s “second book syndrome”; but whatever the case, while Ms. Bradley’s writing is still strong, the plot is bland and predictable, the central characters are barely two-dimensional and rather dull, and the romance is not at all well-developed.

Robyn Sutherland (I kept having to remind myself he’s a bloke because Robyn is a girls’ name; his name is Robert – why not just use that?) is a rake of the first order and has no intention of being otherwise.  He’s an unabashed hedonist, he’s unreliable and not one to keep his promises.  Nobody expects much from him, and consequently, he doesn’t expect much from himself, and that suits him just fine.  Or it did, until the evening he mistakenly kissed the hell out of his sister-in-law, Lily Somerset, in a scene which would undoubtedly win the award for the most uses of the word “tongue” in the history of romance novels.

Lily is determined that her life should be orderly and free from any emotional excesses love or passion. After all, love only brings hurt, so it’s much safer to live life without it. She has set her sights on securing a marriage proposal from a handsome, rather dull gentleman, but her hopes are dashed after the gossip rags gleefully tout the tale of her secret assignation with a notorious rake. Lily is horrified. It’s true that Robyn kissed her, but it wasn’t her fault; he mistook her for his current lady-love in the dark and kissed her stupid before he realised who she was.

Robyn doesn’t see what all the fuss is about, but his sisters insist there is only one way to deal with the scandal he has created for Lily, which is to squire her about to all the scheduled events of the Season and brazen it out until the next scandal breaks and everyone turns their attention to that instead. Lily doesn’t want anything more to do with Robyn, but reluctantly agrees to the plan. Unfortunately, however, Robyn doesn’t agree to it, and doesn’t turn up to escort her anywhere. Lily is furious at him for causing her such problems and then for leaving her to face them alone and asks one of his friends to be her escort instead. When Robyn discovers this, in a fit of jealousy, he deliberately makes things worse by baiting some of the young ladies who are busily enjoying Lily’s discomfiture and then waltzing with her before she has been given permission. Yep, he’s a real prince among men.

Fortunately for Lily, however, the Deus ex machina is at hand in the form of her formidable grandmother who makes all the scandal go away, so the rest of the story can concentrate on Robyn’s inner fight between his desperation to get inside Lily’s knickers and his knowledge that he is so unworthy of her that the right thing to do would be to leave her alone.

For over the first half of the book, Robyn continues to do just as he wants without a care for anyone else. We’re supposed to believe that this is because he was such a big disappointment to his father that he decided he might as well just disappoint everyone, but that is really just mentioned in passing and never fully addressed. Much later in the book, Robyn and Alec (his older brother and hero of book one) discuss it briefly, but it’s still a woefully underdeveloped plot-point and provides no real explanation or justification for Robyn’s irresponsible behaviour.

Lily is just as under-developed as a character. I could understand her emotional issues as they related to the recent death of her parents in an accident, but there was also something thrown in about her getting lost in a maze when she was five, which was supposed to account for her desire for an unexciting, emotionless life. I know getting lost can be a traumatic experience for a child, but I didn’t see the correlation.

The romance is so unmemorable that I have little to say about it. There’s quite a lot of illicit touching and kissing going on, but romance? Not really; so much so that when the pair realises they are in love I thought I’d missed something. Whenever they are together they argue and there is no development of any mutual understanding or an actual relationship. Robyn goes from having hardly noticed Lily to having an almost constant hard-on for her within a very short space of time, but other than physical attraction, I didn’t see why they would be interested in each other given their diametrically opposed personalities. I couldn’t believe that there was anything more between them than lust on his side and infatuation on hers.

Which brings me to one of my Pet Peeves. Authors often – for some reason – choose to have their protagonists finally consummate their luuurve after one of them has been injured, and that’s what happens here. Robyn has been in a fight and has sustained a nasty gash to his forehead and several bruised, possibly broken ribs. Yet he is still well up for the rumpy-pumpy on offer from the suddenly no longer proper Lily, and able to shag divinely in spite of the fact of his injuries. Seriously? I bruised my ribs a couple of years ago (not in a brawl, I hasten to add) and could hardly move for a few days after. I get that whole sex and death (or near death) thing, I really do, but people doing the deed whilst seriously injured is not romantic or sexy, and every time I read it in a book I find myself thinking they need a bandage and bed rest, not all that thrusting, pumping and bouncing around!

You know those romance colouring books for adults? Well, A Season of Ruin felt a colour-by-numbers romance novel. 1 = hero is a rake (I give the author props here for showing that Robyn really IS one!). 2 = heroine must maintain control by being very proper. 3 = hero has Daddy issues. 4 = heroine has abandonment issues. 5 = older lady battle-axe who is nothing of the kind… and so on.

If that’s your thing, then all well and good. But otherwise, I think you might enjoy a romance colouring book more than this. I’m hoping that Ms. Bradley’s next effort will see a return to the form she displayed in her début novel.12 s Simply Love Book Reviews7,046 852

Kitty's review posted at Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews

I love the Sutherland’s. They are just so much fun! I know when I am in the mood to be brought back to times-gone-by, Anna Bradley will definitely bring me to times of high tea, scandal, the Ton, balls and duels. She did not disappoint me one bit with A Season of Ruin … she gave me everything that I expected, and then some.

Robyn was a hoot right from the beginning. You knew that he was going to be a fun-loving Rogue. He didn’t care about anything but having a good time, romping in the sack with a willing woman and tying his cravat around a bar-maid’s leg (with his teeth). Until the scandal papers come out and he finds that he may have ruined his brother’s sister-in-law, Lily. Then again, why should he care … his family always expected the worst from him and he finally did it. They have a solution, he agrees to it and then immediately disappoints them all. It takes the attention of one of his best friends to get him to see the light and step in where he is expected. Only to ruin Lily again and again and again. Not being capable of love, the last thing that he expected was falling for the one woman that was “hands-off” and who he mistakenly took for another.

Poor Lily. She keeps getting her name in the Scandal Sheets through no fault of her own. The match that she was hoping for is gone, she’s drawn the attention of the grandmother that disowned her mother and has been held in the arms of one of the most notorious rakes in all of London, all thanks to Robyn. She knows he won’t keep his promise so she asks Archie to be her escort to stop all the talking. She doesn’t realize that only inflames Robyn even move. Then, when her grandmother steps in, she has to make a choice between the match that she originally wanted and the man that makes her blood boil and has already showed her how wonderful pleasure can be.

Seriously, Robyn and his antics throughout the story had me smiling. A Season of Ruin was such a fun and entertaining read. There may have been serious moments but I was actually turning the pages wanting to see just what Robyn was going to do next that would back-fire on him and Lily. As usual, Anna Bradley’s writing was spot on … she may have taken some liberties with the time-line of the waltz but that only added to the story line. This was a quick, fun read that has me looking forward to the rest of Lily’s family showing up in London.

Review copy provided for an honest review. simply-love-kitty8 s Anna's Herding Cats1,274 313



Reviewed for herding cats & burning soup.
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2aqVwM8

Sometimes you ask the world for one simple little thing--a proper and respectable man--and the world is pffft wicked rogue for you! *hangs head* Such is the case for Lily. A quiet life? Nope...she's gonna get scandal hounding her heels and one oh so tempting but oh so naughty male who's all about a good time...not commitment. Yeah.

The gist of it is that historical homeboy screwed up and the only way to keep Lily from becoming a social outcast is to come to the rescue and ride out the storm with her and basically pretending that nothing sordid ever happened until all the little bitties move on to someone else. Then Lily can move on to her real proper life with someone else. Once again. Yeah. lol

I enjoyed Robyn and Lily. There's a bit of a growly dynamic and it was pretty fun to watch them together since they were pretty much the exact opposite of what each other wanted. They make a lot of missteps and blunders along the way--well mainly Robyn did. dude is GOOD at causing a scandal-- but I d them. They both have some ingrained thoughts and fears to get past and it was nice seeing that slowly change for each of them--her fear of scandal or any risk and his of thinking he was nothing bu a ne'er do well and wicked. There wasn't a lot of sex in the book but there were some heated moments between them.

My only moment of eyebrow raising "really now?" was the sex scene which relied on a #supercock and--as one of our reader friends said--the healing power of vagina after the hero got himself all banged up with bloody gashes, bruised or cracked ribs and barely able to climb stairs. But a vigorous roll in the sack? Woohoo! Totally happening. lol And I was over here 'you just sit down and heal!!!' Ahhhh book sex. Heh

All in all, though, A Season for Ruin was a scandalously good time. I'd definitely be up for seeing all the trouble her sisters get into in the future. If they're anywhere as entertaining as Lily and Robyn they'll be a good time.2016 2016-accepted-request 2016-hcbs ...more6 s Jessica133 3

Me encantó este libro, no estaba tan emocionada de leerlo porque en el libro anterior ninguno de los dos me llamo la atención.
Lily y Robyn son opuestos y eso hace que sea más entretenido cuando están juntos lo disfruté muchísimo.fav-heroes favorites6 s Becky (romantic_pursuing_feels)963 1,068

*sigh* so loving the Anna Bradley books. Her writing just totally pulls me in. Gives me butterflies. Makes me feel feels. Makes me tear up. I love it.

This book is the second of the Sutherland Scandals series. It can be read as a stand-alone. Of course I recommend you read the first book, A Wicked Way to Win an Earl, because it’s my favorite book ever
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