A Review of Joanna Shupe’s The Scandal of Rose

Joanna Shupe’s spicy (very!) historical novella, The Scandal of Rose, just came out on October 2, and it is vintage Shupe. Gilded Age New York glitters on the pages, and Shupe has been called the “Queen of Filth,” so you know it is sexy! I am happy to have gotten my hands on an advanced reader copy to review before it was released because I loved every word, and I think you will too!

Setting

Manhattan, New York, 1896.

Main Characters

Rose O’Donahue is a young actress with plans, and those plans do not include being beholden to anyone. She aims to become self-sufficient and eventually marry on her own terms. Taking the role of an entitled tycoon’s unmarried plaything is a big no-thank-you for her.

Alfred Moore Emerson, is a divorced financier and member of New York’s obscenely wealthy Knickerbocker elite. He has had enough scandal for a lifetime and has no intention of ever remarrying. No matter the temptation.

Romance

Moore watches Rose from a private box at the theater where her current play is being staged, and he keeps coming back, night after night after night, and Rose can’t contain her curiosity.

But Rose has rules for herself. She will sleep with no man more than once. And only for pleasure–not for profit. She will not become a man’s mistress and live beholden to his whims.

Moore, however, is infatuated, and refuses to sleep with her until she agrees it will be more than once. He teases and entices her and eventually he wins. He was right–they are electric together.

Then Rose commits the cardinal sin for a woman her position. She falls in love with him.

Plot

Moore is the head of a large investment firm, and the scandal of his divorce brought on a fatal heart attack in his father. He will run his company, and he will never remarry. He is all discipline.

But his mother is aging, and wants grandchildren, and one of the board members starts turning the board against him, saying he has no heir to run the company after him and is irresponsible. The board member also has a daughter of marriageable age.

Rose is an actress and not acceptable to Knickerbocker society, and she is fed up with not being considered good enough to marry.

Historical World Building

The world building here is spot on. Shupe is in her glory when she is writing about Gilded Age New York. Not only do Moore’s fine suits and Rose’s elegant lingerie feel tangible, but Shupe has a firm grasp of the mores and the laws of the day. In this case, New York State’s divorce laws. Divorce essentially required infidelity, or perjury about infidelity. There was no easy or quiet way out of a marriage. This is the root of Moore’s absolute refusal to have any more scandal in his life. The 1890s were a glamorous time, but with restrictive and labyrinthine social standards. New York in the Gilded Age is America’s answer to London in the Regency period.

Tropes

This story not only involves the obvious kept woman trope, done very well, but it is also an age gap romance, with Rose being nineteen, and Moore, just shy of forty. You also have a very distinct opposites-attract trope between stayed and disciplined Moore, and daring and vivacious Rose, as well as two characters from different classes. All classics, and all perfect here.

Secondary Characters

This is a novella, so there isn’t much room for too many secondary characters. Moore’s mother, one board member, Moore’s prospective bride, and one of Rose’s stage friends are the only secondary characters who really get personalities of their own, and they are believable, but again, this is a novella, so the focus is almost entirely on the main couple.

Point of View

This novel is written in first person (“I” as opposed to “she/he/them”), and it alternates between Rose’s perspective and Moore’s. First person is quite common in spicy contemporary romances, but it is less common in historicals. It works very well here.

In Summary

• This is a super sexy story that glitters in the Gilded Age. It is a novella, so it is short and focused, and oh my, the team rises right off the page!
• It is set in Manhattan, in 1896.
• The main characters are fully fleshed out, and you root for them both, as they put each other through the ringer. Don’t let the steam distract you from the fact that this is a love story with all the feels.
• The historical detail is spot on, but doesn’t overshadow the story. Again, this is novella, so almost all of the focus on the relationship between two main characters.
• The tropes are kept woman, age gap, opposites attract, and different classes.
• The heat level is easily a four out five. It is blatantly sexy from the very first page. And they do discuss contraception, such as was available at the time. Rose is a strong, proactive woman.

Keep Them Coming!

Keep letting me know about historical romances set in the Americas (not just the US!). I was happy to hear about this one right from Joanna Shupe herself. What other good historical romances from the “New World” half of the globe have you read? Please let me know so we can spread the word!

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Image in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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