Snowdrops and Scandalbroth is a very clever Regency that explores, in the lightest and funniest of ways, the double standard that we sometimes apply to the behavior of heroes and heroines. An underlying assumption of romance is that heroes are enslaved to lustful urges. So if a healthy, virile man does control himself, is it a sign that something is, shall we say, wrong?

Courtney Choate, Viscount Chase is a committed virgin and it’s killing him. Handsome, priggish and very randy Courtney has discovered that his virtue is being misinterpreted by the ton as lack of interest. He is eager to marry. But, who will marry his lordship if he is unlikely to beget an heir? What Lord Chase needs, is to develop a sinful reputation, while maintaining his high moral standards.

Developing a rake’s reputation without the sin is a challenge. Courtney needs a mistress to show off, but not one who will gossip to others. It seems an impossible problem until the night he meets Kathlyn Partland, a penniless governess, suddenly out of a job. Finding Miss Partland wandering the London streets late at night, Courtney offers her enough money to start her own school if she will pose as his mistress and accompany him to the Cyprians Ball. Kathlyn is initially reluctant but, soon takes pity on Courtney, assuming that his injuries in battle have rendered him incapable of making love.

To play the role of courtesan, Kathlyn assumes a fictitious name planning to keep her real identity a secret and protect her reputation. Of course eventually her name is revealed, which makes for a lively story.

Courtney and Kathlyn are a treat to watch as they display many of the foibles of real people. Kathlyn is bright, virtuous and kind, though likely to lecture Courtney when he needs it. Courtney starts out as a snob but love softens and humbles him. By the end of the book Courtney is still a fuss-budget but not an annoying one.

The emotions displayed are always playful even when the subject is not. Kathlyn’s tender reaction toward Courtney’s “injuries” is a good example. When she finds that he plans to bed his future bride Kathlyn is initially concerned that Courtney may be overly optimistic “Perhaps you should practice first,” she says when he tells her he is capable of performing as a normal husband.

Ever the stuffed shirt, Courtney responds by telling her “I do know the mechanics as it happens. I also read a great deal.” He lists what he is reading and we can only imagine the poor man’s craving “The Kama Sutra, Oriental pillow books, French novels, there is a world of knowledge out there.”

My only disappointment in Snowdrops and Scandalbroth was the overly complicated external plot which includes a jewel theft. It was fine in the first part of the book but began to bore me in the second. As a result of this, I felt that the book was about thirty pages too long.

Overall what makes Snowdrops and Scandalbroth worth remembering are the hilarious conversations, in which Lord Chase, without sounding the least bit effeminate, speaks words we would expect from a heroine. It is then that we have the opportunity, however fleeting, to consider the appeal of a hero willing to save his body for the woman he loves.