Scandalous Affairs Books in Order

Scandalous Affairs sits close to Lost Lords of London in tone and in some of its concerns, but it is even more interested in fallout, who gets blamed for old crimes, who is forced to carry family shame, and who decides to fight back. The books feel a little younger, quicker, and more rebellious than some of Caldwell's other series.

These heroines do not sit still.

Claire Poplar, Faye Poplar, and the women who follow are tied to families touched by earlier wrongdoing, especially the disappearances haunting Caldwell's wider world. That gives the series both romance and a running thread of investigation. A Groom of Her Own, Taming of the Beast, My Fair Marchioness, It Happened One Winter, and Loved and Found all work as love stories, but they also live in a world where the past keeps making demands.

The heroes are a mixed lot, from dangerous men with power in London's shadowy spaces to wounded former lovers and titled gentlemen trying to do better than the generation before them. Caldwell uses that variety well. One book may feel grittier and more suspenseful. The next may be warmer or more fairy-tale in shape.

What unites them is the sense that scandal is never just gossip. It changes where a person can go, who will marry them, and what they believe they deserve.

If you like your Regency romance with a dash of investigation and a strong next-generation energy, Scandalous Affairs is a satisfying run.