The Scoundrel and I: A Novella

The Scoundrel and I captivated me from the first paragraph. Katharine Ashe's rich, descriptive writing style lends itself to this Cinderella-themed novel.

Katharine Ashe is well-known for creating complex, honorable heroes in her novels and pairing them with forthright, educated heroines. She blends humor and romance into each one of her stories. I was drawn to the character of Anthony Masinter as he was sincere in his motives to help Elle. Honor and duty are very important to this naval officer. Elle works at the print shop and proofreads the letters between Lady Justice and Peregrine. She believes that Anthony is a scoundrel but needs his help to keep her job. Elle cares for her ailing Grandmother and the scenes between these two characters are written from the heart.

There’s quite a bit of fun and great dialog between the characters during their journey. Anthony and his sister transform Elle from a shop girl to a princess. Loved the shout out to Lady Beaufeltheringstone from the author’s former Ballroom blog! Anthony and Elle attend Lady B’S ball as part of their scheme to steal some type from Anthony’s uncle. Loved the sense of suspense in these scenes.

Anthony and Elle are keeping secrets from each other and the secrets are revealed as this well- paced novel reaches its conclusion. The last few chapters were intense and not what I expected. Katharine Ashe has the ability to deliver a 200 page novella that reads like a novel! All of the characters are unique and well-developed, the plot is original and works within the Falcon Club series.

I enjoy that the author writes great dialogue and keeps within her time period ( i.e. no Americanisms) in tone, dialogue and social setting. The importance of the written word is an important theme in the novel and the author gifts the reader with the collection of letters written by Lady Justice and Peregrine. After reading the letters, I can’t wait to read The Earl in October!!

If you are looking for a fabulous summer romance filled with passion, humor and intrigue—pick up Katharine Ashe’s The Scoundrel and I!

Katherine Ashe's writing in this story reached right in and grabbed my heart...You want nothing but a HE A for Tony and Gabrielle and this author puts them through their paces to find it...

In THE SCOUNDREL AND I by Katharine Ashe she mixes two flawed characters, a chance meeting, two problems to overcome, and a difference in social rank, and she comes up with a light, funny, and sweet "My Fair Lady" mash up. Our hero, Captain Anthony Mainster, is tall, gorgeous, and rich, but he has low self esteem because of a learning disability. Our heroine, Gabrielle Flood, is a clumsy commoner who is passionate about her job at a print shop. They make a great team as they try to clean up the mess Elle has made of her life. I highly recommend this novella.

A page turning storyline with intriguing characters who are witty and amazing in their own persona…integrity of the first degree and huge hearts. A reader’s delight in the small nuances threaded throughout the book. I loved it and look forward to where this story might pick back up. Adventurous and compelling at the same time; it is challenging to put down once I started…this is one of those “just one more page…just one more chapter…wow, I finished the whole book…oh, I have an hour before I need to get ready for the day, better get some sleep now—oh but it was so worth it.” Katharine Ashe did an amazing creative journey on this one. I highly recommend it.

The Scoundrel and I ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ written by Katharine Ashe

As a printers assistant, Gabrielle Flood lives with her Grandmother and they are bearly making ends meet. Her grandmother is very ill and Gabrielle trying to boost her spirits decides to bring hundreds of pieces of type in a frame from the print shop she works at to let her blind grandmother touch them. Her grandmother was a type setter when they were in America.

It's on this trip to her apartment she is practically run by Captain Anthony Masinter and looses many of the pieces of type.

This is the beginning of a truly wonderful book. These two befriend each other for a cause to replace this unusual type and wind up falling in love worts and all. This book also unravels the mystery of Lady Justice and Peregrine from the Falcon Club. I can't wait to read that novel. This is a fully packed novella with quite a few twists and turns to be enjoyed by the reader.

I noticed in Katharine Ashe's note about this book, she was seeking to write a "sweet and easy story"...the kind she likes to read herself during a lazy summer, "heartwarming and real love affirming". I love those myself, and I think she did a wonderful job with these guidelines on Elle and Anthony's story. While yes, it was a novella, I did not feel that the sweet story that unfolded was in any way rushed or forced to adhere to the word count. These were both well-drawn, sympathetic characters, and Anthony especially drew me in immediately as I did not have to wait until his character developed from an often stereotyped arrogant rake to the sweet and caring person that he was...he was sweet and caring all along. And that, in itself, is a refreshing way to view the hero from beginning to ending. Both Elle and Anthony were relatable in that neither were perfect, with both having had some hard knocks in life but still managing to rise above those on their way to finding each other.
Very well done story....enjoyed it immensely!

I received this copy as an ARC for my honest review. I have every book Katharine Ashe has written. Each book I have read by her I have given it a 5 star rating. But this one I didn't like it as well, for the reason's being, I felt that it was a little to detailed and descriptive about certain ideals. When it comes to my personal reading a lot of detail information causes me to lose focus on what I'm reading. I feel that it takes away the flow of telling the story for me.

For other readers I find that they would love the details and it would never phase them. Now that I said what I didn't like about the book, now let me tell you what I love about it.

Captain Anthony Masinter and Gabrielle Flood our different from day and night. He's a War Hero and she's a printers assistant. He's from the Upper Class she is from the working class. How does these two even cross paths you ask? A terrible mishap brings these two together. They are like oil and water at first. But when Anthony comes up with suggestion's to fix the problem for Gabrielle, this is when their adventure starts.

The situations these two get themselves in are funny and heartwarming. As we read and watch their friendship blossom and eventually into love is so well written. I love the way Katharine turned this enemies to friends into a Cinderella love story is amazing. Theirs even places in the story that made me cry. Gabrielle is such an independent and free spirit, where Anthony is such an honorable man that he feels he has to save the world at times. Especially if he feels he's in the wrong and caused the problem. Gabrielle, will do just about anything for the people she loves, especially her grandmother. Thus how the two meet, when Gabrielle does something she knows that can get her in trouble if she's caught. She does it so she can make her grandmother happy and smile.
What these two do for duty and love is amazing and I adore this. Katharine's writing made me feel each emotion of the characters. This is the kind of writing that keeps my focus and in check. I do recommend this book to any reader that loves Katharine Ashe. Happy Reading.

The scoundrel and I is a novella by Katharine Ashe. It can be read alone, but fans of the author will meet again some characters which appeared in Kisses, she wrote (my review here: (...)), and the inflamed letters Lady Justice and Peregrine send to each other that are published and sold in all England. Lady Justice and Peregrine’s story will be published soon and titled The earl, second volume in Devil’s duke series (my review of The rogue, first volume, here: (...))

The scoundrel and I tells the story of Gabrielle Flood and Anthony Masinter. Their encounter doesn’t take place under the best auspices: while the heroine breaks a rule in her work to please her grandmother, the hero causes an accident with possible terrible consequences for her.
Anthony, our hero, is a real hero. He’s determined, respectful, but he also has (too much) sense of sacrifice. He feels responsible of his second in command’s death so he will take a decision that is going to change all his life. That’s when he meets our heroine.
And because he is a hero, when he realizes what he did to her, he’s going to do everything to help her.
Gabrielle and Anthony spend a lot of time together, get to know and like each other, and fall in love with each other. But the initial projects of our hero will counteract our couple’s happiness. As well as the hesitations and the fears of our heroine, that bring her to take some decisions I didn’t understand, especially at the end. To say, my heart was heavy for the hero.
Another detail that bothered me about Gabrielle at the beginning, it was her tendency to correct the hero on his language. I found that very improper because she didn’t know him at all. The logical reason could be that she felt safe enough with him to do that. What I liked a lot, was that once they knew each other better, their exchanges about the corrections were funny.

As a negative point, I found the end too easy, and that’s a pity. Because the rest of the novella was very good, with enjoyable characters. There was also a lot of emotion. The heroine works in a printing house and I can say that the world is very well described by Katharine Ashe. She also manages to include the setting to her story without making it heavy. In any case, when she describes the printing world, it’s like we are there too.

The heroes are attracted to each other, we feel the sexual tension, we also have some sensual scenes, but no hot scene. I found that very plausible given the story.

To finish with the review, I thank a lot Katharine Ashe who dedicates the novella to her Princesses, her private fan group. I had fun with the story.