Scandal - Julie Kistler

Scandal, by Julie Kistler, is number 268 in the Harlequin Blaze line and was released in August 2006. It's also one of only two time travel novels I've read in the Blaze line and both of them have been excellent reads that I would recommend to any Paranormal or Time Travel romance fan.

Jordan Albright is a teacher working on her dissertation, she's also teaching a popular and exciting course called Scandalous Women 101. But Jordan is far from Scandalous herself. She's quiet, even mousy, and never makes any waves even with her boring and all too predictable fiancé. That is, until, he pushed exactly the wrong button and suggests she puts aside her work and finds another topic to write about.

But the focus of her work, Isabella Tempest, and Isabella's brother, Nick, have captured her imagination. And in Nick's case, her dreams. She's not about to give up on her work. Even if it means following ghost threads of information in order to track down just what happened to Isabella and the beautiful, scandalous archway the talented artist produced.

When a flyer is left in her office door about an art display focusing on sex through the ages, Jordan almost believes she's seeing things. The arch, missing for over a hundred years, is part of the display and she has to go and see it for herself. Little does she realize that the arch is also a gateway into the past and right into the arms of Nick Tempest. A man who has haunted and seduced her dreams. A man who has been dead for over a hundred years.

Watching the story unfold between Nick and Jordan I could feel Jordan's frustration with the era, how things were so very different from the way the are now. Even something as simple as clothing and the ability to speak our own minds as women was denied to the women of the late 1800's. All of this is portrayed clearly in the book and Ms. Kistler makes the time period come to life in this book. Nick is trapped as well, not just by the era he grew up in, but the rules and expectations of his manipulative father. Perhaps, to us, the amount of courage it took to stand up to your parents, and step out of the role society expected of you, is a tiny thing. However, reading this novel not only was I delighted by a passionate romance between two amazing characters that leapt from the page, but I was treated to a lesson in just how difficult it must have been to live in that time period. It also showed just how deeply Ms. Kistler had researched the time period, covering everything from the manners and social expectations of the time period, to the clothing, all without swamping the novel in data dumps.

Scandalous is a remarkable and sensual novel. It's beautifully written and if this is a prime example of Ms. Kistler's work I will be looking for her other books. Thank you for a delightful read!

ISBN:978-0-373-79272-6