By: Ivy Owens
Well, well, well. I somehow stumbled upon yet another book where the hero is a super duper famous actor and our heroine is (very talented, don’t get me wrong) but just your typical “regular gal.” I would say I don’t know how this keeps happening but that would be a lie because I am the only one picking out the books I read. I just had no idea this was a trope I enjoyed? Or that I would keep surprising my damn self when I choose yet another book that has a movie star boyfriend. I am sure there is a life lesson in here somewhere?
But enough about ME, let’s get to the book. Ivy Owens is the pen name for Lauren Billings, who in turn is half of the writing duo of Christina Lauren. I saw the title making the rounds on BookTok and whatnot, and I was very disinterested because the cover looks like a child made it. (Are we still #nooffensing? Or was that not even a thing?) It just looks like a cheap, stock photo to me and I hate it and the title of this book. Yet, when I realized it was from Lo, I decided to add it to my TBR pile, and honestly, I am extremely glad I did. This is a good book with a terrible title and cover. The couple never even see fireworks together? ARE THEY THE FIREWORKS? IS THIS A VISUAL METAPHOR?
Georgia Ross is an investigative journalist for The L.A. Times. She is extremely career-focused, but especially since the end of a long-term relationship. A few months prior, she discovered her live-in boyfriend had been fired from his job for stealing clients for his own freelance company and he lied to her about it for almost a year. Most of their close friends sided with her boyfriend in the breakup. Georgia is investigating a shady London nightclub where women have been drugged and sexually assaulted when her layover flight from Seattle to LA is cancelled. While waiting to check in to a nearby hotel, she realizes her former crush, Alec Kim, the older brother of her childhood best friend is also on her flight. She strikes up a conversation with him, assuming he will not remember her. He does remember “Gigi” and they catch up over drinks at the hotel bar. He also invites her to stay in his suite, as he snagged the last open hotel room. One thing leads to another and the two share an amazing one night stand together. At the airport the next day, Gigi belatedly realizes that Alec is known to the world as Alexander Kim, an extremely famous actor on the BBC and in Korea. Feeling idiotic, Georiga doubles down on her work. Her boss sets up a meeting with a source for her nightclub investigation and it turns out it is Alec. His sister is one of the victims, but she is not ready to publicly come forward. The two embark on an affair for the two weeks Alec is in town for work.
As depicted in my lengthy synopsis, there is a lot of plot in this book, but Owens makes it work. The points are all connected and necessary to the story. It also helps support the many, many sex scenes between the characters. I, personally, prefer my romance novels to be slightly less steamy than this book, but, again, this worked for the characters and their history. It was very sexy without being cheap. The chemistry between Alex and Gigi was extremely well done, which kept the book from being as cheesy as this stupid fireworks cover. I was disappointed in Alec’s reaction and subsequent actions in the third act of the book, but, again, Owens is a master of this genre. She knows how to create realistic angst for the characters, while forwarding an actual plot. Knowing her audience, she is able to craft a reason for his actions and his almost immediate regret with excellent groveling.
I know this is a confrontational stance to take, but I am a fan of the epilogue in a romance novel, especially in standalone novels. I usually find it to be a lovely glimpse into the couple’s HEA. The epilogue here though, did make me pause and it is the reason I did not give this book 5 stars. While I like that the characters have taken the time to really figure out how their two very different worlds would blend together, it did seem that Gigi was giving up a lot of herself, and Alec was changing literally nothing. I know she ends up with her bestselling book of vignettes or whatever, but a lot of their life seemed to be her following him from location to location and seeing him for only snippets of time. I suppose the ending is showing him at a place in his career where he can be more selective in his projects, leaving more time to spend with Gigi, but this all left me more concerned for them than had the book ended at the last chapter.
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟/5
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Scandalized-Ivy-Owens/dp/1982199857
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/scandalized-ivy-owens/1140377096?ean=9781982199852
Or an independent bookstore! Try Mysterious Galaxy where, early this year, I obtained a copy of Christina Lauren’s Something Wilder https://www.mystgalaxy.com/book/9781982199852