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Garden of Scandal
Garden of Scandal by Jennifer Blake released on Nov 1, 2009 is available now for purchase.
384 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1997
6 people are currently reading
118 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Blake
174 books545 followersA pseudonym used by Patricia Maxwell.
Jennifer Blake has been called a “pioneer of the romance genre”, and an “icon of the romance industry.” A New York Times and international best selling author since 1977, she is a charter member of Romance Writers of America, member of the RWA Hall of Fame, and recipient of the RWA Lifetime Achievement Rita. She holds numerous other honors, including two “Maggies”, two Holt Medallions, multiple Reviewer’s Choice Awards, the Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times BookReviews Magazine, and the Frank Waters Award for literary excellence. She has written over 60 books with translations in 20 languages and more than 30 million copies in print worldwide.
Jennifer and her husband reside in a lakeside Caribbean-style retreat in North Louisiana where they often entertain family and friends. Always a gardener, she spends much of her time encouraging her garden to bloom with her favorite daylilies and antique roses. She also enjoys walking her two dogs, Buffy and Lucky, and indulging in needlework, painting, and travel.
Jennifer Blake has been called a “pioneer of the romance genre”, and an “icon of the romance industry.” A New York Times and international best selling author since 1977, she is a charter member of Romance Writers of America, member of the RWA Hall of Fame, and recipient of the RWA Lifetime Achievement Rita. She holds numerous other honors, including two “Maggies”, two Holt Medallions, multiple Reviewer’s Choice Awards, the Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times BookReviews Magazine, and the Frank Waters Award for literary excellence. She has written over 60 books with translations in 20 languages and more than 30 million copies in print worldwide.
Jennifer and her husband reside in a lakeside Caribbean-style retreat in North Louisiana where they often entertain family and friends. Always a gardener, she spends much of her time encouraging her garden to bloom with her favorite daylilies and antique roses. She also enjoys walking her two dogs, Buffy and Lucky, and indulging in needlework, painting, and travel.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 21, 2016
This book has been on my shelf for many years because the blurb never really enticed me into picking it up. An older woman scandalously seducing a young upstart who tended to her gardens – both euphemistically and not. It isn’t really my favourite premise.
Laurel is about 40-45 in this novel, and Alec is about 30-35 I believe. So there is maybe a maximum 15 year age gap. Yet it was described in the book as if she was a 60 year old predator preying on a 16 year old schoolboy! Maybe we are more tolerant to such age gaps in this day and age but honestly… it wasn’t exactly illegal and scandalous. Even less so when Alec was supposedly this world-weary adult who’d had a hard life and was – again I’ll say supposedly – quite mature.
I use the term ‘supposedly’ because I didn’t like Alec at all as a leading hero. Laurel needed someone who was sympathetic to her past, but willing to gently draw her out of her isolation and back into the world. Alec was not this man. He was about as gentle and as subtle as a sledgehammer on glass. There were two key events that really turned me against Alec; The time he takes Laurel on his bike and despite feeling her terror, forces her to endure a ride out toward the town. Then has the nerve to wonder why she is angry. Secondly – and the worst – Alec knows that Laurel hasn’t driven since she hit and killed her husband, so he makes her drive. But he forces her and manipulates her into getting behind the wheel rather than supporting her, and when she is finally driving, he throws a branch behind the car so she thinks that she has hit him and she has a full on panic attack. And he thinks that this is okay because he is teaching her a lesson??!! NO, ALEC! BAD ALEC!
Laurel was simpering and insipid. She was bullied by her husband and is still bullied by her mother-in-law, sister-in-law and kids. She doesn’t stand up for herself or fight for herself. Every time she makes a decision, she then worries about it for a few pages because she lacks the confidence to think for herself.
Overall, it was all just a bit fluffy and light and the leading couple just weren’t likable enough to make me care.
Laurel is about 40-45 in this novel, and Alec is about 30-35 I believe. So there is maybe a maximum 15 year age gap. Yet it was described in the book as if she was a 60 year old predator preying on a 16 year old schoolboy! Maybe we are more tolerant to such age gaps in this day and age but honestly… it wasn’t exactly illegal and scandalous. Even less so when Alec was supposedly this world-weary adult who’d had a hard life and was – again I’ll say supposedly – quite mature.
I use the term ‘supposedly’ because I didn’t like Alec at all as a leading hero. Laurel needed someone who was sympathetic to her past, but willing to gently draw her out of her isolation and back into the world. Alec was not this man. He was about as gentle and as subtle as a sledgehammer on glass. There were two key events that really turned me against Alec; The time he takes Laurel on his bike and despite feeling her terror, forces her to endure a ride out toward the town. Then has the nerve to wonder why she is angry. Secondly – and the worst – Alec knows that Laurel hasn’t driven since she hit and killed her husband, so he makes her drive. But he forces her and manipulates her into getting behind the wheel rather than supporting her, and when she is finally driving, he throws a branch behind the car so she thinks that she has hit him and she has a full on panic attack. And he thinks that this is okay because he is teaching her a lesson??!! NO, ALEC! BAD ALEC!
Laurel was simpering and insipid. She was bullied by her husband and is still bullied by her mother-in-law, sister-in-law and kids. She doesn’t stand up for herself or fight for herself. Every time she makes a decision, she then worries about it for a few pages because she lacks the confidence to think for herself.
Overall, it was all just a bit fluffy and light and the leading couple just weren’t likable enough to make me care.
April 10, 2020
I read this book because it was on my roomie's book table. I was bored and just started reading. Took me a day to finish. It's a kind of crazy scandal between an older woman and a younger guy. It has a happy ending, but there were a lot of challenges. I felt like the author overemphasized many things, I guess that just her writing skill. Make people more excited. I wouldn't suggest this book to read unless there is nothing to read and you're bored.
December 11, 2014
Queria poder dar mais do que cinco estrelas...
May 27, 2015
The concept that love can fix major emotional trauma and problems is not only laughable but damaging.
February 18, 2024
I just finished this book after putting it down several times, and I’m glad I did. It lagged a little bit, but the last part was steamy and exciting.
A young widow is isolated in her large Louisiana home alone for 5 years with only her housekeeper for company and her German Shepherd dog to guard her at night.
The small town believes she killed her husband and like to gossip with the help of her mother-in-law’s distain as well as her sister in law. Her two children are being influenced by their grandmother and her buying their affection.
A handsome young man appears and wants to clean up her garden and surrounding forest. He has returned to be a help to his Grandmother and dying brother. He has rumors about him as well.
The strong attraction between them is noticed by the town gossips and things begin to happen without any explanation.
Her dog is poisoned, threats are made via a letter and damage is done to the newly renovated garden.
The widow is suspicious of everyone, but the truth forces her to examine herself and her feelings.
Slow start, but great ending.
A young widow is isolated in her large Louisiana home alone for 5 years with only her housekeeper for company and her German Shepherd dog to guard her at night.
The small town believes she killed her husband and like to gossip with the help of her mother-in-law’s distain as well as her sister in law. Her two children are being influenced by their grandmother and her buying their affection.
A handsome young man appears and wants to clean up her garden and surrounding forest. He has returned to be a help to his Grandmother and dying brother. He has rumors about him as well.
The strong attraction between them is noticed by the town gossips and things begin to happen without any explanation.
Her dog is poisoned, threats are made via a letter and damage is done to the newly renovated garden.
The widow is suspicious of everyone, but the truth forces her to examine herself and her feelings.
Slow start, but great ending.
January 16, 2018
Me encanta esta historia. Es una novela romántica-thriller clásica, con una protagonista que de a ratos quiero sacudir por pelotuda y un protagonista que de a ratos me da ganas de masacrarlo por arrogante.
Pero es una historia hermosa y lo de ellos dos... madre del amor hermoso, es para quebrar cristales.
Recomendada ^^
Pero es una historia hermosa y lo de ellos dos... madre del amor hermoso, es para quebrar cristales.
Recomendada ^^
November 16, 2013
Women's fiction / Romance / Thriller(ish)
Woman who has been essentially housebound since the death of her husband is brought back to life by a younger man who comes to the house to work on her garden.
Everyone in the town thinks she killed her husband on purpose. She hit him with her car while backing out of the garage. She doubts her innocence, too, sometimes. To escape the gossip, she stays in her house, only seeing her children, mother-in-law and sister-in-law . . . not the best support group for her, it turns out.
Now a man has shown up in her garden and wants a job fixing it up. She's drawn to him, but doesn't want to get involved, especially with a younger man. When more rumors start, she's even less interested, but they still develop a relationship that helps her to move on, despite what other people will think of her.
Woman who has been essentially housebound since the death of her husband is brought back to life by a younger man who comes to the house to work on her garden.
Everyone in the town thinks she killed her husband on purpose. She hit him with her car while backing out of the garage. She doubts her innocence, too, sometimes. To escape the gossip, she stays in her house, only seeing her children, mother-in-law and sister-in-law . . . not the best support group for her, it turns out.
Now a man has shown up in her garden and wants a job fixing it up. She's drawn to him, but doesn't want to get involved, especially with a younger man. When more rumors start, she's even less interested, but they still develop a relationship that helps her to move on, despite what other people will think of her.
May 22, 2011
Very intense, very sexy. The plot is kind of like a play, where most if it happens in the same place between only two people, and most drama is dialogue based. Has some weak points (how he just shows up at her doorstep, how quickly he falls for her, how cocky some of the things he says are, his love pronouncements are very "ideal lover" and are unlikely to come up in real life), but overall it is very well written, and the intensity of the romantic scenes made even me, a seasoned romance genre reader, blush. He says some very poignant things to her. The story was well put together and original with lots of southern flavor, gossip ridden, haunting pasts, quirky characters... neatly woven together at the end.
July 23, 2011
This one was a bit different. The heroine had killed her husband by backing a car over him. She now has agoraphobia. The hero had been married before to a much older woman and had been accused of her murder. He falls in love with the heroine, another older woman but only by 10 years, at first sight. The hero is just convinced that they belong together. when the locals find out about the relationship, someone starts doing bad things to try to keep them apart. The hero just sticks with the heroine no matter that she tries to break up with him. I liked his persistence. The story could have been a bit clearer in spots especially regarding his previous marriage but was worth reading over all.
October 12, 2022
This book is very well written. It is a story about the growing relationship between 2 people with definite issues. I enjoyed the development of their characters and the way they faced the problems; sometimes trying to hide and sometimes confronting. The heroine had more to deal with, but the hero had his issues also. There is a mystery about who and why someone seems out to hurt the heroine, and it is brought to a successful conclusion. However, I feel the book is more about the relationship between the characters. I enjoyed it a great deal and I am looking forward to reading other books by this author.
November 5, 2015
Great read. Unusual. For once I wasn’t sure who the “villain” was! Wonderful descriptions of love between characters. Widow has become a recluse and let the gardens around her wonderful old house go to ruin. Enter the wonderful younger man with a mysterious past who has come home. He takes on her garden and her. But is he the scary threat, too? Sure seems like he has all the opportunities to jinx everything. Very enjoyable. An 9 out of 10.
August 2, 2014
She's housebound, judged as murderer by her hometown but not by the system.
He's there to free her, now there's a series of vandalism, could be him to make her dependable.
he's a decade her senior and makes her feel like a school girl.
someone is spreading rumors why he is in town, looking for an easy older woman to prey,
could be that the reason why he is not leaving her or there's something else in his mind.
He's there to free her, now there's a series of vandalism, could be him to make her dependable.
he's a decade her senior and makes her feel like a school girl.
someone is spreading rumors why he is in town, looking for an easy older woman to prey,
could be that the reason why he is not leaving her or there's something else in his mind.
May 14, 2007
Surprisingly good!
Doesn't stray from the formula much, but resists being overly saccharine.
Doesn't stray from the formula much, but resists being overly saccharine.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews