The Scandal of the Season by Michelle Kenney is a Regency romance that follows Sophie Fairfax, a determined young woman who aspires to marry for love rather than status. Sophie enters a wager with Lord Rotherby, a notorious rake who has no intentions of marriage. This bet sets off a series of unexpected events as Sophie navigates societal expectations and her growing feelings for Lord Rotherby. The story is filled with witty banter, emotional turmoil, and surprising twists, including the arrival of Aurelia, who complicates matters further. The narrative unfolds primarily from Sophie’s perspective, with glimpses into Lord Rotherby’s thoughts, revealing his secret affair with a married woman and his personal code regarding relationships. As Sophie attempts to salvage her reputation amid scandal and misunderstandings, the backdrop shifts to France, adding a French flair to the story. Readers will enjoy the humor, charm, and the ultimate question of whether Sophie can find love amidst the chaos.

Readers will enjoy the characters and the delightful tension between Sophie and Lord Rotherby. The witty dialogue and humorous situations create a lighthearted atmosphere, making it a fun read. The evolving relationship between the main characters offers a classic enemies-to-lovers trope that many readers adore. The addition of quirky side characters, like the spirited Lu-Lu and the scheming Aurelia, adds depth and intrigue to the plot. Set against the lush backdrop of Regency society, readers will relish the vivid descriptions and period details. This is a slow burn, closed door romance. While the focus is on Sophie and Rotherby, it's more about the chase and the unwinding of the complications that make this a fun read. There is an unexpected twist at the end that was fun. A perfect choice for historical fiction fans that are not into the more explicit historical romance. I enjoyed it!

This book releases May 23, 2025! Thank you to HarperCollinsUK, One More Chapter and NetGalley for a Advance Reader Copy.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

The Scandal of the Season by Michelle Kenney is a third person-POV Regency romance. Lord Rotherby is a rake and a confirmed bachelor who has no interest in marrying. Sophie Fairfax is determined to marry for love despite everyone around her claiming it’s highly unlikely and she’ll end up picking a partner based on status or as a means to an end. When Lord Rotherby and Sophie make a bet about Sophie’s future match, it starts a collision course that neither are expecting.

Aurelia from the last novel shows up and has something of a different role. In the previous book, Aurelia is comfortable in the knowledge that she is engaged to a viscount and a lot of her rivalry with Phoebe has to do with Phoebe’s not like other girls attitude. In this story, Aurelia is determined to find a new partner and she sets her sights on Lord Rotherby to the point that she has convinced herself that he is interested in her and full plans on trapping him by meeting him late at night to go to Paris, a plan that Sophie derails to save Aurelia from ruin. What makes this frustrating is that Sophie does view Aurelia as a friend or a potential friend while Aurelia doesn’t really view Sophie as much more than a potential rival.

Like Phoebe’s book, almost everything is from Sophie’s POV except the prologue and epilogue, which are from Lord Rotherby’s POV. As such, we don’t get a ton of insight into Lord Rotherby’s feelings for Sophie outside of what he is willing to tell her. When Sophie enacts her plan to protect Aurelia, we learn that Lord Rotherby and a married woman have been having an affair as he doesn’t get involved with debutantes nor does he desire to ‘ruin’ young women in society. Despite Sophie’s negative feelings towards him being a rake, she does end up respecting his personal code towards who he seeks out.

I would recommend this to fans of the previous book and readers of Regency romance who prefer romances mostly from one character’s POV

The Scandal of the Season // Michelle Kenney
Publishes May 23, 2025

I absolutely loved The Mismatch of the Season. It had everything I love in a historical romance, time period lingo, characters, and a crazy, hilarious, interesting plot. So I most definitely jumped at the chance to read The Scandal of the Season as soon as possible. Thank you net galley and Harpers Collins UK (One More Chapter) for this ARC.

The Scandal of the Season follows The Mismatch of the Season and I would recommend reading in that order. Sophie Fairfax is attempting to make a love match during her season as a debutante, and yet she continues to make societal faux pas. And quite of few of these occur with notorious rake, Lord Rotherby. As the season continues she gets further and further into trouble and while trying to avoid scandal(s) tends to only create more.

I loved this book. There were so many unexpected surprises (however I was pretty proud of myself for guessing one). The plot gets more and more ridiculously entertaining and I could not stop reading. It was easy to love both Sophie and Lord Rotherby. This is an easy to read fun, regency romance. It’s important to note the glossary at the end as a lot of period terms are used!

#regencyromance #thescandaloftheseason #michellekenney #bookrecommendation

This was a delightfully lighthearted regency romp from Michelle Kenney, and the second novel in her regency series. It stands very independently on its own two feet (much like its heroine, Sophie Fairfax), so if you haven’t read the first in this series it won’t be a problem.
If you have read Mismatch, your favourite regency family is back, and this time it’s Sophie’s turn for an outing. Rotherby proves a worthy opponent and shenanigans ensue.
This story is a lot of fun, and a perfect springtime read. Five stars from me, with thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for the ARC
The Scandal of the Season publishes on 23 May.

This was a fun story! Sophie’s life takes a huge but unexpected turn. But despite that, she hasn’t lost her spunk. She’s feisty and bold, and doesn’t quietly accepts defeat, which I liked about her. At the same time, she makes a disastrous decision which ruins her reputation. She then keeps trying to rescue her reputation, which is commendable but her lack of good judgement is sometimes astonishing. You can only read on, fascinated by Sophie’s ability to make things worse and awed by her determination not to give up but to dig herself out of the hole she’s created herself. The speed at which things spiral out of control is sometimes astonishing, but you can't help but read on and find out what happens next.
The pace is good, there are two men vying for her hand in marriage, there’s a French woman named Lu Lu who’s always in for fun, and a girl who is always out to get her and make things worse.
The most part of the book takes place in France, which is a nice alternative to the usual British society. I liked the description of Versailles, for example. Sophie trying her hand at sketching and designing clothes herself and being interested in the art of making them was also a nice addition to the story.
I have to say, there are a lot of references to the romance of Phoebe and her husband, which seems to be the first book in this series. I haven’t read that one so I couldn’t always follow what they were referring to.
This was my first book by Michelle Kenney but I will definitely check out her other books! It is a fun, clean and entertaining read with a satisfying ending and I can honestly recommend it!
Thank you HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, Netgalley and Michelle Kenney for providing an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is a fun regency romp. The pacing felt a little off in places, and I was surprised by the turn it takes midway through, but I did enjoy my time with it. There is a surprising amount of French, with few translations in the text, so I was finding myself translating fairly often.
I did feel like I was missing some context going into this as a stand-alone, so I would recommend reading the first book to start to get a fuller picture of the characters involved.

The cover promised scandal. The story… didn’t deliver.
Think: a lot of potential, not enough spark. Let’s be honest—the cover is what lured me in. It’s stunning, elegant, intriguing… everything the book sadly wasn’t. I usually try not to judge a book by its cover, but in this case, I got burned.

The Plot:
Sophie wants to marry for love (respect). She enters into a wager with Lord Rotherby (interesting premise), and the story follows the evolution of their relationship.

The chemistry? Barely there.
The emotional connection? Missing.
The characters? A bit flat—some of their choices felt confusing or just… unmotivated.

What didn’t work (for me):
My interest drifted.
Dialogue-heavy at first, which I didn’t mind—until it faded and left me with less engaging prose.
The French phrases sprinkled throughout felt unnecessary and a bit alienating (especially for readers who don’t speak it).
I just couldn’t connect. Neither with Sophie nor Lord Rotherby, and that lack of connection made it hard to care what happened next.

The Silver Lining:
There was potential here. The setup had promise. A love-marriage wager? Yes, please.
But the execution just didn’t bring it to life. That said, I can imagine this book finding the right audience.

The Scandal of the Season might work for some readers, but it wasn’t for me. A beautiful cover can’t carry a story, and this one needed more polish, more passion, and more energy to truly shine.

One for the DNF pile? Almost. But I stuck with it. Barely.

I wanted to love The Scandal of the Season. Truly. A Regency romantic comedy with a rebellious FMC and a rake in need of redemption? That’s basically a must for me, a huge fan of Bridgerton and other historical romance television shows. But unfortunately, this one felt like a glittery mess of good intentions and awkward execution.

We’re following Sophie Fairfax this time, the younger sister of book one’s FMC. She’s smart, fiery, and determined not to be married off like some bartering chip. Naturally, she ends up in a scandalous situation with Dominic, Lord Rotherby, who is the infamous rake everyone warns her about. Cue tension, banter, and longing glances. Sounds great in theory, but in reality? It didn’t land.

The tone shift from book one is wild. We go from a sweet, proper story to opening with a brothel scene. Yup. A Regency rom com kicking off in a brothel, but without the payoff or heat to justify it. The rest of the book swings back into pretty tame territory, so it just ends up feeling out of place, like the book doesn’t quite know what it wants to be.

Also… the French. So. Much. French. I get that it’s supposed to be cute or add flair, but at some point, I felt like I needed Duolingo to keep up. Add to that a heaping dose of Regency slang, with some of it charming, some of it so obscure it made me feel like I was reading a historical fever dream, and it all became a bit much.

The biggest issue, though, was the lack of chemistry. Sophie and Dominic go from strangers to somehow being into each other without any real buildup. Their dynamic had potential (hello, enemies to lovers!), but it moved way to quickly before I was even invested. I didn’t feel the slow burn or tension, and it was more like a spark that fizzled out before it even lit the fuse.

Honestly, it felt like a first draft that needed a bit more polish and a lot more editing. The plot meandered, the dialogue overwhelmed the narrative, and the emotional beats missed their mark. I wanted witty, romantic chaos; I got disjointed pacing and a romance I didn’t buy into.

If it hadn’t been an ARC, I probably would’ve DNFd. But hey, I appreciate the chance to read it early. Thank you to HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, NetGalley, and Michelle Kenney for the eARC of this book.

From the premise of this book I thought it would be a great fit for me, unfortunately I really struggled with the writing style and overall storyline. I probably would have DNF'd it if it hadn't been an ARC.
I hope that this story finds it's intended audience, thank you again for providing me with ARC.

What a stunning follow up! I read the mismatch of the season and thoroughly enjoyed it, but wasnt totally sure if i would enjoy the follow up. I am so happy that i did!! I felt that story did an amazing job of capturing my attention and holding it until the very end. I also did not see sir weston being such a terrible man, but thats how well this book was written! with a premise that could have been simply fluff, this book had real depth. the feelings between sophie and dominic were tangible and well written. i cant wait for mattys book!

The Scandal of the Season is a regency rom-com, written by Michelle Kenney. It is book 2 in the Fairfax Sisters series, and since there are quite a few characters that are introduced in book 1, I recommend reading this series in order. This book is written using a primarily traditional regency writing style, however it felt more modern that book 1 and had less formal language.

Plot Summary: Sophie wants to find a love match. But, through a series of unfortunate circumstances, she may be faced into a less than ideal marriage of convenience with the infamous rake Dominic. She works tirelessly to avoid matrimony to someone she doesn't truly love, and in doing so, begins developing feelings for Dominic that don't reconcile with her goals. Will she find a love match where she least expects it?

Impressions: I found the opening brothel scene with its explicit reference to be both shocking and scandalous, considering there was nary a kiss in book 1, or anything more than kissing in the rest of this book. I felt like that started the book on the wrong foot.

The first half of the book was primarily dialogue, and I found myself wanting more narration to go with it. The second half shifted by adding in tons of French phrases and words in every paragraph. Since I took French for several years, I knew the meaning of the words myself, but I could see this alienating and confusing some readers. I also felt like the regency slang was overused.

Overall, the book felt silly/over-the-top with odd pacing, as if the plot was just in first-draft mode and not polished. I didn't personally connect to any of the characters. Therefore, this book was a miss for me.

Content: Light scant language, A brief brothel scene with one explicit reference, some innuendoes, kisses only.

Thank you to HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter and NetGalley for the complementary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. My review is my own opinion and is in no way influenced by the author or publisher.

This unfortunately was a DNF for me. I read the first few chapters and it did not pull me into the story at all. It starts in a confusing way and adds so much detail immediately that its overwhelming what youre supposed to remember for the storyline

I really tried to enjoy or appreciate this book (not very nice to rate a book with only two stars), but the thing is... apart from Matilda and Duke Wellington, there weren't that many likable characters. Dominic keeps insisting to have his way without ever mentioning his feelings and Sophie doesn't stand a chance against all those men (at least four of them) and their testosterone driven behavior.

fun-ish romance with interesting ideas. the biggest problem is that it feels that a lot of times it doesn't have much substance. 3.5 stars, tysm for the arc.

𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ★☆☆☆☆
𝐬𝐦𝐮𝐭/𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞: 0/5
𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬: regency romance ~ enemies to lovers
𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: regency romance

*DISCLAIMER: Thank you to the publisher, Harper Collins, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review*

OVERVIEW
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I feel terrible saying this but this was honestly one of the most boring book I have ever read. The plot was terrible and extremely ridiculous, to the point it was annoying and unbelievable. Both characters were extremely annoying, especially Sophie. All the decisions she made were childlike and poorly thought out. I was so angry with her the whole book! And the male character was so boring, as far as I can see all he did was take up space. I hated the plot it was boring and crazy and the two mc had no chemistry together. There was no cute scenes with them and I genuinely do not understand how they fell in love. I really wish I could say something nice about this book, but I pride myself on being honest.

Thanks! Ellie,

While The Scandal of the Season offers a light-hearted, Regency-era romance with all the hallmarks of high society drama, it didn’t quite work for me. The story felt like a close imitation of Bridgerton, but leaned so heavily into the whimsical and outrageous that it lost a sense of believability.

The central romance developed very quickly—jumping from strangers to lovers in a way that felt rushed and emotionally unconvincing. Some of the plot twists and social scenarios also stretched credibility, even within the bounds of a frothy Regency romp.

That said, readers who enjoy fast-paced, drama-filled romances with exaggerated stakes and playful tension might find this a fun escape. It’s light, dramatic, and full of over-the-top moments that may appeal to fans of romantic fantasy over historical realism.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

At first the book was thrilling and the last chapter is cute, but I find the middle lacking. It had so much potencial, but the story is too fast. The characters went from "hating" to "loving" all of a sudden. Maybe adding some scenes where they interacted would been fun and would added deph to their relationship.

Its not bad, its just to fast. And the ending was kinda confusing.

I received rhos book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion. It lost me from the first page, but I gave it a shot. Enter Lord Rotherby who is quite an unlikable character with a penchant for brothels and loose women. I had no patience for him or the ridiculousness.

I’d give it zero stars.

I’d call this an accidental road trip rom-com. And it was fun, but it was almost too silly and over the top. The circumstances were too much to be believed, and the romance (clean) went from zero to infinity in the blink of an eye. I just didn’t buy it. Thanks to One More Chapter for the ARC.

I don’t normally take many chances on new authors since so many of them tend to use such foul language, but I took a chance on this one and am SO VERY GLAD I DID! I loved her style of writing, the wittiness of the banter, the way she delves into the emotional upheaval and the beautiful style of writing. Sophie is determined to have a love match, Dominic is determined to never marry. All of my emotions were in play reading this story and I found it harder and harder to put down! The twists and turns are mind-bending and Lu-Lu is adorable! I could feel Sophie’s devastation at losing all and the way it ended was funny, sweet and charmed me totally. I would say that having a family tree at the beginning would have been nice as I had not read the first in the series and I was a bit (or lot) lost as to who was who in the first 3 or so chapters. Nor did I understand Aurelia chasing after Sophie, but it certainly made for entertainment! I am definitely putting this author on my must read list!

I received this story for free and these are my own views.