I’ve heard some good things about Nicole Byrd, but if A Lady of Scandal is any indication, she is not for me. The book was full of improbable – yet strangely boring – circumstances.

Ophelia Applegate of Yorkshire longs to be an actress – not just an actress, but the “Toast of London” – and so runs away to London and fame. Her twin sister Cordelia, the Practical One, accompanies her to help keep her out of trouble. No chance of that. The night of their arrival, they are set upon by ruffians bent on selling them to a bawdy house, but are rescued by Ransom Sheffield. After hearing their story, he finds them refuge at a church rectory where his cousin Giles is the vicar.

The next day, they all find jobs at the theatre; Ophelia acting, Cordelia sewing, and even Ransom as an extra in order to, he says, protect them, but he has his own agenda. The night before, the girls saw him climbing into an upper window of the theatre, but whether he was retrieving a “certain item of great value” to his family or just stealing, they don’t know.

Ophelia has a brilliant plan – she will act while wearing a mask and use a stage name in order to keep her reputation intact. Uh-huh. For some reason, the theatre owner goes along with it, and even allows this neophyte “actress” to rewrite the play. Each night the girls return to the rectory where three young, handsome, single men – Ransom’s brother is there as well, hiding out because he’s in trouble – live. As a reputation-saving plan, this all seems perfectly logical, don’t you think?

As improbable and silly as this all is – did I mention how silly this is? – it managed to be extremely boring reading as well. When I wasn’t rolling my eyes, I was yawning. I didn’t care for either Ophelia or Cordelia and I didn’t care what happened to them or if they found true love with two of the three Sheffield men. And when, through a series of events too tedious to explain (and apparently too tedious for Byrd to explain, for they take place “off-stage”), they are taken in by relations high up in the ton, they still go to the theatre each day and then go out to be introduced to society at night. Words like “improbable, silly and tedious” don’t begin to do this book justice. The only reason this book received a “D” instead of an “F” is because it was so boring that I couldn’t muster up the outrage required for an “F”.

A word about the Sensuality Rating: it is “Warm” only on a technicality. The book had a straight “Kisses” rating – and not many of them – until very near the end when both sisters have a love scene. These scenes really seemed unnecessary and, as each happened within 24 hours of each other, really too much. By the time they occurred (the first one 40 pages from the end) I just wanted to be done with the book, but no, I had to sit through two consummation scenes. Were they any good? I don’t know. I was so eager to get to the end that I skimmed through them.

I see that Nicole Byrd has received six “B’s” here at AAR, while A Lady of Scandal is her third “D”, so it appears that she is rather hit and miss. This one is definitely a “miss,” which is what I counsel you to do.