How can anyone not love a heroine, smart enough to know what she wants and brash enough to set about trying to get it? Strong women characters are a huge plus for me, because so many times they are portrayed as secondary, more than the stars that they are. Amelia is a stunning example of independence. She's strong enough to follow her own rules and wise enough to listen when her heart comes calling. Nicholas is just the icing on the cake. He loves her strength and despite her a scandalous behavior, she owns his heart. The Importance of Being Scandalous wins my vote for a wonderful and empowering tale.

The story was a bit quirky which I like however it had too many unanswered questions. Why did Embry really want to marry and why was Amelia’s mother in alliance with Embry? On the upside, I did like that Amelia and Julia were a tad bit different and did not allow society dictate their actions. Nicholas is not an alpha hero, strangely enough until the end. Jasper. Now he is a character perfectly written. He is funny, sarcastic and a fantastic character. Overall the story was nice.

A sexy smoldering read that will leave you asking for more. So much fun and whitty banter.

I received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review. Loved the book. Amelia and Nicholas have had a lifetime of friendship and love. The story is well written and interesting, especially the antics of Amelia and Julia. There is a HEA but only after Amelia's mother and Lord Montrose are outsmarted by the two sisters. I highly recommend this book if you like romance books.

Nick and Amelia turned out to be such a cute couple! Nick has been in love with Amelia for years but doesn't know how to tell her. Amelia has been in love with Nick for years but didn't know it until it was almost too late. This is one of those stories where you're like..."OMG-please just talk to each other." But then where would the fun be in that? And because Nick and Amelia were hesitant around each other it made the sexual tension between them so good. I absolutely loved Amelia's schemes to try to get Montrose to break their engagement. I was constantly wondering what she was going to do next! I really enjoyed how the playful innocence of this story suddenly turned sexy and sultry. When Amelia finally unleashed her true feelings for Nick, they start steaming up the pages. When she tells Montrose the things she did with Nick I was blushing and laughing out loud. Just a truly enjoyable regency romance from beginning to end! I hope Julia gets her own HEA!!!

Publisher's Description:

A horse race in trousers on Rotten Row. Visiting a gaming hall in a dress that would make her mother faint. Sneaking an invitation to a masquerade ball attended by only the wickedest, most debauched members of society…

None of these things are scaring off bookish but strong-willed Amelia Bishop’s stuffy, egotistical fiancé.

The only thing left is to entice childhood friend Nicholas Wakefield into a truly engagement-ending scandal. The Wakefields are the height of propriety, and Nicholas’s parents have made it clear a wife from the neighboring Bishop family would be unacceptable…

But Nicholas would give up his family and his fortune if Amelia would ever see him as more than just a childhood friend. He’ll go along with her scheme, even if it means ruining them both, because he’s got a plan that will change her mind about him being merely the boy next door.

My Thoughts;

This is the first book I have read by this author but it will not be the last. I fell in love with the writing style and characters almost from the start.

This friends to lovers historical romance is wonderfully written and an enjoyable read.

Amelia Bishop is not an adventurous sort of young lady, but she is strong-willed. She is currently stuck with a stuffy fiancé not at all to her liking. She will do almost anything to get rid of the cad. These things have included a horse race in trousers on Rotten Row, going to a gaming hall in a dress that would make her sainted mother faint and sneaking an invitation to a scandalous ball Nothing she has done so far has scared off the unwanted fiancé who seems more determined than ever to wed her.

Nicholas Wakefield was her closest childhood friend. He has been secretly in love with Amelia for a very long time. He wrote his feelings in letters to her that he never sent. His family is the height of propriety and his parents have stressed to him that a wife from the neighboring Bishops would not be acceptable… Will he participate in Amelia's scheme of a truly engagement-ending scandal?

Will he defy his parent's edict and marry the woman he loves?

I gave this book 4.75 of 5 stars for storyline and characterization and a sensual rating of 4.5 of 5 flames.
I received a complimentary digital ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley to read. This in no way affected my opinion of this book which I read and reviewed voluntarily.

I loved this story. Loved Nicholas who was not alpha, but lovely and romantic and loved Amelia with a wonderful steadfastness since childhood. Also loved his best friend, Jasper and hoping for his story soon.
I received an ARC copy of this book from netgalley.

The Importance of Being Scandalous, by Kimberly Bell is an entertaining historical romance, and the first book in the Tale of Two Sisters series.

After two years, Nicholas Wakefield has returned home, and he is finally planning to romantically pursue Amelia Bishop - his best friend from childhood whom he has loved for years. However, she's already engaged!

Even though her parents encouraged her engagement, Amelia isn't ready to marry, and she'd rather spend time with Nicholas instead of her fiance. After finding out about her fiance's true unappealing nature, Amelia (along with her sister's assistance) unsuccessfully tries to end their engagement in various ostentatious ways.

Due to the captivating characters, enjoyable conversations, and entertaining situations, I'm looking forward to eventually reading the next book, A Scandal by Any Other Name, in this series.
The Importance of Being Scandalous is recommended and geared towards those who prefer reading historical romances.


Note: I received this book from NetGalley, which is a program designed for bloggers to write book reviews in exchange for books, yet the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I think 3.5 stars for this one

This is my first book by Kimberly Bell. I’m sure Julia’s story will be next and I definitely want to read it. It will be interesting to see where the families progress in their relationships and acceptance of each other.

This is the story of Nick and Amelia who were lifelong friends and neighbors, but who secretly loved each other. Nick does his continental tour (for two years) and Amelia gets engaged while he’s gone. Amelia spends most of the story trying to get un-engaged and does some pretty outrageous things to make it happen.

The characters:
• Nick – He has been in love with Amelia forever and acknowledges that to himself, but never tells her. While he is away on his grand tour he works up the courage to finally tell her – except when he gets home, he finds she’s engaged. Nick was raised by very cool and aloof parents and that is, in part, why he is insecure in relationships. Luckily his brother is a loving man. Nick is basically a wuss but finally finds his spine.
• Amelia – She is devoted to her older sister who has always been looked down upon because she has a physical infirmity. Amelia’s engagement is supposed to save her family from being ostracized socially since she’s engaged to an Earl. She doesn’t really love the Earl, she actually loves Nick but has a hard time admitting that to herself.
• Julia – Amelia’s sister. She was born with a spinal defect that also caused her legs to be turned and has caused her to have several crises over the years. She absolutely NEVER goes out in public and stays in her room when a visitor arrives. To say she is reclusive is putting it mildly.
• Amelia’s Mother – she is a real nasty person. She’s always in hysterics and is so smitten with the idea of her daughter marrying an Earl that she will do anything, even sacrifice her daughter, to see it happen.
• Lord Montrose*** -- Amelia’s betrothed. He’s a good, honest, honorable, caring man – except he isn’t. Somehow, in his mind, he’s superimposed Amelia with his first fiancé who died. He cannot see that Amelia is very different from XXXX and he will do absolutely anything to marry Amelia – even collude with her mother.
• Amelia’s Father – he is a real sweetie and loves his daughters unconditionally.
• Nick’s Parents – they brought Nick home from his tour because his dad is suffering from dementia and it is getting progressively worse. They didn’t do it because they wanted to spend time with Nick – no – they did it to make things easier for the older son. They are very cold and unfeeling – especially the mother.

Most of what I say following this will sound like a negative review – but please don’t take it that way. I did enjoy the story and I became invested in the characters and laughed and cried right along with them. Most of what bothered me were ‘technical’ kinds of things – things that just didn’t ring true for the time period. So, if those things don’t bother you – you’ll absolutely love the story. If they do bother you, then you’ll just have to put your blinders on in order to enjoy the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline and the lengths to which Amelia was willing to go in order to break her engagement. However, I must say that if I were to base my rating on the first 10-20% of the book, it would be much lower. Amelia and Julia come across as very, very juvenile. I was glad to see that they didn’t continue in that vein. Yes – they did continue to have some back-and-forth, but it sounded like normal sister-to-sister yammering. Nick is also a complete wuss and you wonder how he’ll ever become the hero of the story.

One spoiler for me was that from the very beginning Amelia’s family was completely ostracized by society because their older daughter, Julia, was born with a birth defect. Something to do with her spine that left her with a twisted leg/foot and therefore a limp. I can understand some people being narrow-minded and unaccepting, but not everybody and not to the degree described. So, when it started out with that premise, I had a hard time getting into the characters and caring for the rest of the story. Now, I’m talking total and complete ostracizing – even the servants work there as a last resort.

To my view, if an author is going to write historical romance, they should absolutely research and thoroughly understand the accepted societal standards of that period, the correct forms of address and primogeniture. I do not feel this author has a clue and that definitely took away from the story for me. Some examples:
• Nick’s father is the Marquess of Wakefield, but Nick’s name is Nicholas Wakefield. That would not be the case. They would have a family name different from the title. Jas also calls Nick ‘Wakefield’, which would be incorrect – his father, the Marquess, would be referred to as Wakefield.
• Then – there is Lady Amelia. Her parents are also referred to as Lady Bishop and Lord Bishop. That would indicate that her father has a title – yet – there is no mention of that title and it is mentioned in a few places that he made his money in business. Also, in some places, she’s referred to as Lady Amelia and in others, she is Miss Amelia.

I won’t cover the story in a blow-by-blow because you can see the gist of it in the book-blurb.

"I requested and received this book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher."

This story had a solid and engaging concept, however I feel like the execution could have been done better.

To begin with, I am curious as to just why Nick's parents, his mother especially, feels the way she does about Amelia. It is hinted that she is unsuitable for Nick, in fact his mother insults her on more than one occasion. However, the reader is never told why. If Amelia's family have some deep dark scandal that makes her inappropriate to marry a second son, how does she end up engaged to an Earl? It is implied that maybe Nick's family is simply afraid of scandal to their own name, and while Amelia's sister does have some sort of spinal issue, it does not seem like to should be enough to keep the couple from being together.

I also felt that Nick could have shown more of a backbone where it came to her. When he comes home to find her engaged, he suddenly wants to tell her all the things he never could before? He had letters that he had written her every day that he was abroad, but yet he never sends them. If he had, this entire debacle could have been avoided. Instead of friends falling in love, this read more of a "I only want her now because someone else has her". In fact, I enjoyed Nick's friend Jasper much more than I enjoyed Nick, even if Jasper was at times a bit over the top.

Then we get to the topic of all the off putting, scandal calling, society shun worthy things that Amelia does in order to attempt her fiance to call of the engagement. And for what? If she was considered wholly unsuitable before by Nick's family, what would they think when society completely shuns her due to her openly scandalous behavior?

I will say that I enjoyed the risk the author took in portraying Nick's father's dementia. It isn't often that historical novels delve into things like mental decline, and I felt the author did an amazing job portraying the breakdown of his mind.

Overall, I do think this novel will still appeal to those who enjoy a "friends to lovers" historical romance. I would read more from this author!

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

I have agreed to give a fair and honest review in return for the privilege of reading this book. Sometimes familiarity does not bread content and sometimes absence makes the heart grown fonder and newness is not always the best answer and sometimes a scandal is just the thing. This story has all of that and more. Somehow I think (hope) that Lady Julia has a story to come yet. Definitely worth a read.

This book did not work for me. I usually like the friends to lovers trope, but I was disappointed with this story.

Amelia "Mia" Bishop and Nicholas "Nick" Wakefield have been friends forever - along with Amelia's sister Julia. The three of them were inseparable as children and for his part, Nick has been in love with Amelia for as long as he can remember, but his family does not approve of hers (this was my first bone of contention - the author never explains why Amelia's family is shunned - it is implied that there was some scandal and it is also implied that it is because of Julia - but it is never clearly explained to the reader). He leaves for his grand tour without ever telling Amelia of his true feelings. He writes to her everyday that he is away - but never sends the letters.

Amelia misses Nick, but she is content to stay home with her sister Julia. Julia was born with some sort of spinal issue and has a limp - I am not sure why, but it seems that she is part of the reason her family is shunned and she has been kept out of society. Amelia is fine with that as well, but things change when she becomes engaged to an earl.

Nick returns home after two years to find things have drastically changed, first his father is suffering from dementia and his mother doesn't want Nick's brother (the heir) to know and he learns that the love of his life is engaged to marry another man.

Nick and Amelia reunite, and she is confused by the feelings she has for him. Nick still hasn't told her how he feels and is sort of a wuss. He is willing to keep silent and wallow in heartbreak until his friend Jasper "Jas" shows up unannounced. Even with Jas' prodding, Nick will not tell Amelia how he feels.

Amelia begins to have second thoughts about her engagement and when her fiancé refuses to stand up for her sister, she tries to break things off with him. He threatens to sue her father if she does not marry him and she decides that she must make him break things off with her.

The rest of the story is Amelia with the help of Jas trying to do outrageous things to make the earl dump her.

I really didn't care for this book, I thought Amelia was immature, Julia was a whack-job, Nick was a wuss and Jas was over the top. The writing was ok - but some of the banter between the sister was just annoying and there was a lot of modern verbiage. The story moved at decent pace and the idea of the story was good - but the execution combined with the fact that the author clearly doesn't understand nobility titles or correct formal address and didn't give the reader enough backstory to understand why Amelia's family was shunned, just ruined the book for me.

Amelia's best friend returns from the Continent and she realizes that she longer wishes to marry the man to whom she is engaged. However, he refuses to accept her breaking of their betrothal, instead threatening her with a 'breach of of promise' action and so follows a series of adventures designed to make him want to end things between them. An enjoyable romp with endearing characters, I laughed out loud when reading the scene where Amelia is drunk. I hope the follow up book will be Amelia's sister getting her HEA with Jasper, as they appear well suited.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated for my review, and I was not required to write a positive review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

Amelia Bishop is engaged to be married, but when her good friend, Nicholas Wakefield, reappears in her life, she starts second guessing her decisions. Amelia realizes that she does not want a relationship with a man who she does not love, and that she still has feelings for Nicholas. The only problem Amelia has now is that she cannot convince her fiancé to end the engagement.

Nicholas has finally returned for Amelia so when he discovers that she is engaged, he will move heaven and earth to get her to change her mind. Turns out that is what Amelia wants too. When she starts scheming scandalous ways to drop her suitor, Nicholas at first resists being her partner in crime. When things take a more serious turn, Nicholas soon becomes determined to rid her of her unshakeable fiancé. He knows Amelia does not want to marry anyone, but Nicholas will show her that a marriage between the two of them can be rewarding.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING SCANDALOUS is a light, fun read. Adventure abounds from the start. Amelia creates one scandal after the next all across England. Nicholas does not have a clue what he signed himself up for. I laughed on many occasions in this novel. Nicholas definitely possesses a very strong character and some equally amazing will-power. I kept rooting for him to just give in and heed his friend's advice. Make Amelia yours already!!! I enjoyed this novel wholeheartedly.

One of the best books i have read so far. I loved it and would recommend to anyone that wants to read it

Sometimes I just get lucky. I pick a book with an author I have never heard of and all turns out to be fabulous. This isn’t always my luck but it was this time. Kimberly Bell is a fairly new author. She has a 3 book series and this book that I hope will have at least a sequel because there were characters to whom I was not ready to say “good-bye”.

Nicholas and Amelia are meant for each other but Nick was away on the continent for two years and Lord Montrose proposed so Amelia said “yes”. Nick hadn’t written in over a year so he must have forgotten her. Nick returned and he still loves her, but how to end it with Lord Montrose whose overbearing and controlling attitude made him a pitiful villain? Why pitiful? He is so sure of himself and totally discredits Amelia’s attempts at ending the engagement and tells her he will bankrupt her family if she doesn’t marry him. Hilarity ensues as Amelia creates one scandal after another to rid herself of the impossible man. She has help from her invalid sister Julia and Nick’s best friend Jasper. I’m hoping that Julia and Jasper get together in the next book although they never meet in this book.There are laugh out loud hijinks and Jasper is a fabulously funny character.

If a book can push buttons then this one did for me. I love witty repartee and every word from Jasper is a gem. Julia also is wise and pushes Amelia to do what is right but not always proper. Nick is a besotted lover and Amelia needs Julia, Nick and Jasper to help her. Lord Montrose and Amelia’s mother are delightful in their villainous machinations.
I highly recommend this book. This one is going on my yearly “best of” list.

I received the book from NetGalley and this is a honest review. I very much enjoyed this book the characters worked well together. Childhood friends who grew up and fell in love but never told each other. A family trying to keep them apart. A sister that is jealous but kinda pulling for you at the same time s lot of twist and turns but works out in the end. Would definitely read this book again.

The Bishop family was shunned by society when their eldest daughter was born with a spinal deformity. When their youngest daughter, Amelia, suddenly receives a proposal from an earl, they are thrust back into the social whirl.

Amelia is unsettled by the sudden proposal and her acceptance. She only ever dreamed about the boy next door, Nicholas Wakefield. As a second son, Nicholas will never inherit, but when his father’s mind starts to slip away, he is called home from abroad to help run the estate. As Nicholas arrives home, he learns the love of his life, Amelia, is engaged. Though they have been best friends since early childhood, neither has confessed their love for each other. Once Amelia decides she and her fiancé will never suit, she does everything she can to get him to cry off. Some scandalous things are done with the help of Nicholas, or that of his best friend, Jasper, Viscount Bellamy and heir to the Duke of Albermarle. With two powerful men at her side, she should be able to dissuade her would-be husband. But things aren’t so easy for Amelia.

I fell for Nicholas immediately. His unconditional love for Amelia is tested throughout the novel, but his strength and character create the hero needed to match wits with his lady love. Amelia’s lust for life for herself and her sister, Julia, had me laughing and crying at times. She took some desperate risks on her journey to her happily ever after, but she did it with a little help from her friends!

I can’t wait to read the next novel in the series! Fingers crossed Julia will find the man of her dreams.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This book was such a delightful read. Ms. Bell has created characters that are not your typical Regency hero and heroine. I loved that! Amelia Bishop is engaged to Lord Montrose and when she tries to end it, he refuses to call the engagement off. Amelia enlists the help of her childhood friend, Nicholas Wakefield, and together they'll pull off one scandal after another. Can Amelia see that the perfect man for her is right in front of her eyes?

This was a very entertaining story especially with the different scandals Amelia tries, but Jasper, Nicholas's friend and heir to a dukedom, and Amelia's sister, Julia, nearly steal the show. Jasper was funny, witty and oh so deliciously scandalous and Julia's take no prisoners attitude was a refreshing change from the usual one-dimensional secondary characters. I can't wait to read their story.

Fans of Regency romance will definitely enjoy this book.