Cinderella and the Scarred Viscount by Sarah Mallory ~ Book Review.

I am incredibly excited to be sharing my review of the gorgeous; Cinderella and the Scarred Viscount by Sarah Mallory. I have so much love for this book and can’t wait to share it with you all, firstly a big thank you to Sarah Mallory for my complimentary copy.

about the book

Cinderella and the Scarred Viscount by Sarah Mallory.

Genre: Historical Romance

An imperfect proposal…

But a perfect match?

Major James Rossington, Viscount Austerfield, survived Waterloo, but can he survive the Season as London’s most eligible bachelor? Convinced his battle scars make him unlovable, and to escape Society’s matchmakers, Ross proposes a wedding in name only to shy, sensible Carenza Bettridge.

Liberated from her cruel stepmother and bullying half-sisters, she blossoms into a confident, altogether desirable woman. He promised Carenza a convenient marriage, but inconveniently finds himself wanting more…

Review

My goodness, how much do I love this book? 🥰

That is a rhetorical question, no one could possibly answer it. It has it all, romance, sadness, heartbreak, drama, emotion, laughter, great characters and a beautiful feel-good message of loving yourself and others for who they are and not for what society dictates them to be. A principle we should all live by!

I have read so many Sarah Mallory books, she is easily one of my favourite romance authors (which is probably why my bank balance keeps on receding as it does, I blame the buy with one click button, I have no self-control and rapidly growing Sarah Mallory library). She never fails to pull at the heartstrings and take you on an unexpected and dramatic adventure, this book is no different, In fact, it is easily one of my favourite of all Mallory’s books I’ve read, I loved it!

As to be expected from the rather cliched title (which is my only niggle about the book) this is very much a Cinderella story, Carenza; young, beautiful, exotic, shy, put-upon, abused (emotionally and mentally, rather than physically) loyal and kind Carenza has lived her life being down-trodden by her awful stepmother and two half-sisters – who really are awful, honestly, I was hissing like a cat with every mention of them. She is living more like a servant than a devoted daughter, her father blesses him, and can see what is happening but because of his failing health and the fact that his wife is a voracious and domineering woman he can never get a word in edgeways. But the cunning t’old lad has plans!! 😉

I really felt for Carenza’s father, he is such a likeable gent but he has unfortunately found himself in the middle of a rock and a hard place, I love that he has figured a way out of said rock and a hard place on the arrival of Ross, the old lad is quite the chess player and he is effortlessly manoeuvring his pieces around the board without them even knowing it.

My heart broke for Ross, his fragile mind is always on the edge of pushing him over, he admits to contemplating doing something silly, Sarah Mallory has written Ross’s PTSD with the utmost sensitivity and realism, there was a certain scene at the end that was uncomfortable and incredibly high traumatic emotion but the subject is handled beautifully in the incredibly skilled hands of Ms Mallory.

I must comment on the cover, I liked how on the Mills and Boon cover you can see Ross’s scars more clearly, it’s a nice touch to the cover if you couldn’t see his visible scar then I would have been disappointed as they are so much a part of who Ross is. The Ross on the cover in his appearance isn’t how I picture him in my mind (in my mind I was picturing Sean Bean in his Sharpe Days, uniform and all) but again the art department has given us a beautiful cover. 😍

I could see where the story was headed especially with regards to two specific characters, I knew from the moment they popped up acting all innocent and way too good to be true that they were up to something, but the finale had me open-mouthed, I didn’t expect just how villainous this particular character could be. Unlike Carenza who was begging Ross to let this vile creature live, I was urging him on to rip the sod apart – Ross didn’t listen to me, he listened to the wifey!

This has a brilliant cast of characters, the main characters are wonderfully complex, fragile, and vulnerable and each has fallen into their own pit of darkness and loneliness. The secondary characters are just as wonderful, even the villains have an appeal to them – even though they have a very panto-esque quality to them, especially Carenza’s step-mother and sisters, I did feel like shouting ‘they’re behind you!’, and I am so wanting Brisco (Ross’s valet/fellow veteran) to have a story of his own.

Carenza and Ross are perfect together, they both must work hard to gain the other’s trust and affection and they both have their own trials to face before that much longed for happily ever after, but’s worth every, moment and the result is a perfect partnership of lust, romance and friendship.

Cinderella and the Scarred Viscount is gorgeous!! 😍

It’s a beautiful, heartwarming and glorious romance, full of raw emotion and drama. It’s perfectly which leads the reader to be swept up in the dynamic story. It has a wonderful message of accepting people as they are, learning to love and be happy in your own skin and treating others with kindness.

An absolute must-read for any who loves their historical romance with extra heart and gallons of emotion! ❤