“Her breath snagged when their eyes met, as surely as though she’d been dropped a few inches from a height. The force of his personality was so undiluted in his gaze. Perhaps one would need to learn to build up a tolerance to it, as with ratafia, or anything else that inebriated a little.”

When Catherine Keating arrives at the Grand Palace on the Thames for her first London season, she is immediately and veritably accosted by her fellow boarding house guest, the politically powerful, devastatingly handsome, and wickedly intelligent rake, Lord Dominic Kirke. Her quiet, genteel life in rural Northumberland hasn’t prepared the innocent Catherine to navigate the ton, or to realize how dangerous even the slightest association with Dominic can be to a gently bred debutante’s reputation.

For the longest time, my review was one word: SCREAMING!!! Because for the love of Delacorte’s donkey races, how can I possibly articulate how much I loved this one?

I make no secret of the fact that I am a huge fan of Julie's writing, and she continues to get better and better. There are only a few authors who have honed their craft in the historical romance space to the level of Lisa Kleypas and Mary Balogh, and Julie is one of them.

My Season of Scandal made me an emotional wreck in all the best ways, especially because of how soft and vulnerable Dominic really is beneath his mask of impeccably correct high society manners. Dominic is a good man, and his earnest, tender gentleness with Catherine from the outset made me feel that I was in on a sweet, precious secret.

This is a 5-star read in all matters of execution, to include ideal pacing, meaningful plot and character development, sensual romance, and rich, metaphorical prose. Julie's dialogue shines brighter than ever here, as does her witty sense of humor. One aspect of her books that I personally find to be one of the most satisfying is the MCs’ declarations of love to each other. True to form, Dominic’s heartrending admissions of his feelings for Catherine hit me so hard right in the feels, I got teary-eyed.

Additional highlights for me are the evenings spent in the cozy sitting room as chess is played, stories are read, and pence are lost to the epithet jar; and the ongoing battle between Dot and the solid, no nonsense footman Ben Pike about whose job it is to open the front door.

Tropes: age gap, slow burn, friends to lovers, mutual pining, rake and wallflower

Thank you Netgalley and Avon for the opportunity to read and review this novel. All opinions are my own.