This is a very fun, low-angst romance with a double couple. Alice is blackmailed by a scoundrel to bring out his daughter and find her a noble husband. If she doesn't, he'll publish cruel and revealing letters written by her husband to his mistress. Alice is a great character who has been through a lot in her life. At 36, she's on the older side for a romance heroine. Although her marriage was a misery and her only remaining family is indifferent-to-unpleasant, she never takes the opportunity to strike back. Her love interest, James, is a widower himself with three daughters. As a foil, Lucy, the titular scoundrel's daughter, is good-natured and kind, despite her own difficult upbringing. She finds her own romantic match in Gerald, Alice's nephew. Both romances are quite enjoyable, with no 3rd-act breakup or Big Misunderstandings to bring down the mood, and the writing flows really well.

Note that Alice's first marriage was unhappy and her husband was abusive, and her new relationship is often contrasted to the first. It's great that James is a wonderful person, but it's sometimes difficult to read about how Alice knows he is a catch because she's lived through the opposite.

Check this one out if you love traditional Regencies but wouldn't mind a little more steam!

Alice has worked hard to clean up the mess and get out of the debts her late husband left behind after his untimely death. She is now looking forward to a life as a widow with nobody to boss her around or belittle her.
When she receives an unexpected and unwelcome visitor who has letter written by her husband to his mistress about the intimate, embarrassing, and awful details of her marriage she is blackmailed into launching a stranger of dubious origin into society.
Lucy wants nothing to do with society or with marrying a lord as her father has demanded. But to help her new friend Alice escape the threats of her father she will listen.
With neither lady looking for romance will they stumble upon it anyway?
I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the hate to love story of Lucy and the romance between Alice and James where she slowly had to trust him and realize that her husband was at fault for all her marital problems. If I had a complaint it is that each characters story could have gotten a whole book.

Two great female main characters. Each with secrets in their past and each confronts them when they come out. Both also find their HEA. Gracie writes really interesting characters and put them to the test. First is a new series it is off to a really great start.

This romance by Anne Gracie, reminded me strongly of her superb Chance sisters series. And in fact a couple of the characters from that series make an appearance in this novel which was fun. Gracie can be counted on for unusual plot twists and this story is no exception. The two parallel romances worked very nicely and made for good compare and contrast. Without being preachy, Gracie does a really good job of giving the reader clear insight of girls and women's lack of control over their own lives in that time an place. A very satisfying romance that I will want to reread.

A couple of editorial notes: the nanny's name keeps changing; and in the bedroom scene the hero takes off his boots socks and a couple of pages later takes them off again.

This was such a fun read. I love Anne Gracie's books. I loved both couples and how they interacted with each other. I also loved the motherly/sisterly relationship Lucy and Alice had.

The Scoundrel's Daughter is a fun twist took on the regency romance. Lucy and Alice are fun and lively characters and it's a pleasure to see HEA running along two parallel tracks. This book holds lots of appeal for a variety of ages.

Gerald and Lucy and Alice and James in The Scoundrel’s Daughter by Anne Gracie
In Regency England recently widowed Alice is approached by a blackmailer. He will publish scandalous letters her husband wrote unless she will bring out the blackmailer’s daughter, Lucy. And she must marry a lord!
Gerald is Alice’s nephew who served in the Army with James. Gerald and Lucy’s tale becomes a classic Friends to Enemies tale while Alice and James are brought together more gently. The interweaving romances are delightful. There is one sexy bit but it is not explicit. I would recommend this book to my patrons.

Widowed Alice is living a quiet life in London, after finally cleaning up the many messes her late husband left behind. But when a man barges into her house one day to blackmail her with salacious letters written by said husband, she has no choice but to agree to his terms: find a titled match for his daughter, or he’ll publish them and ruin Alice. The daughter in question is 18-year-old Lucy, who stubbornly refuses to marry, especially not to a lord. And definitely not to Alice’s charming nephew, Gerald.

Meanwhile, a titled man is interested in Alice, too. She is drawn to former military colonel James, but has no desire to be controlled by a husband ever again. No matter how handsome or kind. Or with three adorable daughters.

One of my favorite things about this book is that, although there are two romances playing out, the main story is Alice and James, not the younger couple. Usually the older characters (she’s 38, not exactly ancient) are the background for the teens and twentysomethings. Speaking of ages, though, I couldn’t help but be a little uneasy that Lucy is 18 and Gerald is 28. Different times, I know, but that’s a big maturity gap. I’m looking forward to seeing where Gracie goes with the series.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.