Tag: a season for scandal

Book Reviews

Book Review: A Season for Scandal by Laura Wood

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day today. I am bringing you a review of one of the books that I read in January: A Season for Scandal by Laura Wood.

An all-female detective agency righting wrongs at the end of the nineteenth century; infiltrating a scandalous upper class world straight out of Bridgerton and using their wit and bravery to unmask a villain.

When Marigold Bloom finds her family business in trouble a chance encounter with the devastatingly handsome and extremely bad-tempered Oliver Lockhart leads her to the Aviary – a secret agency of women who specialise in blackmailing troublesome men. Soon, Mari is the agency’s newest recruit, sent to investigate the mysterious return of Oliver’s long lost sister. Forced to masquerade as a newly engaged couple, it is up to Mari and Oliver to determine if there is an imposter in their midst. But what happens when the line between truth and fiction starts to blur? And what do you do when a pretend romance starts to feel all too real?

My Review:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

My first, and only so far, five star read of 2026. This book is the second in the Agency for Scandal series by Laura Wood, each book in the series follows a separate character within the world – all female characters that somehow interconnect with each other and with the agency. This second book follows Marigold, she and her family live in and own a florist shop. She very quickly becomes involved with the agency who help her sort her own personal matters before recruiting her to their cause, you follow her as she embarks on this journey and the struggles she faces. Alongside this you revisit a character that you meet in the first in the series, Agency for Scandal, Oliver Lockhart and their paths become intertwined. I loved seeing a different side to Oliver’s character in this second book, you only have a fleeting image of him from Agency of Scandal but even then I knew I would love his book and getting to flesh out his character.
I enjoyed seeing Marigold’s strength of character and her eternal optimism, definitely a grumpy x sunshine partnership. At the beginning you see a cluster of bad things befall Marigold and the rest of the novel is spent rebuilding her in layers and I think this was done expertly by Laura Wood. It might be a book over 500 pages but I raced through it in what felt like moments.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it?

Monthly Wrap Ups

January Wrap Up!

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you are all having a good day today. It is February and that means it is time to discuss what I read in January. I had my Phd Viva exam in the middle of January (which I passed!), so I was worried that I wouldn’t get much reading done this month but I was happily surprised that I had a good month of reading, sprinkled with some disappointing reads too.

From my TBR:

  • Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber – I am currently reading this, I am only a few chapters in so far but I am curious to see where the story will go next.
  • Restore Me by Taherah Mafi – I have not yet read this, but I still have a week until the end of January as I am writing this so I should have plenty of time to get this one read also.
  • A Disaster in Three Acts by Kelsey Rodkey – technically, I did read this. Unfortunately it was a DNF for me quite quickly as the main character was too unlikeable for me to become invested in the story.
  • A Matter of Murder by Tirzah Price – I did read this, it was my first full read of January and I very much enjoyed the conclusion to the Lizzie and Darcy duology.
  • A Season for Scandal by Laura Wood – I loved this book, it is my first and so far only five star read of this year and I am excited to continue with the rest of this series.
  • Bloodlines by Richelle Mead – I did read this, it was a nice, quick reread for me.
  • Book of Night by Holly Black – Again, technically, I did read this. This was another DNF for me, it was taking too long to get into the story and I was losing any enthusiasm for it.
  • The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts by Robert Thorogood – One of my most anticipated reads of the year, it did not disappoint, it was a strong read for me this month.
  • The Mythmakers by Tamzin Merchant – I read this.

Outside of my TBR I also read: In the Market for Murder and Death Around the Bend, books 2 and 3 in the Lady Hardcastle Mystery series by T E Kinsey. This means I managed to read 9 or hopefully if I can read Restore me in time, 10 books this month.

What books have you read in January? Which ones did you enjoy?