Lauren Smith: The Scoundrel of Drury Lane

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/168506582-the-scoundrel-of-drury-lane

book blurb:

He was falsely accused and sentenced to die...

At nineteen, Christopher "Kit" Hollingsworth is spared the noose but sentenced to serve seven years in Australia as a convict. The men who betrayed him have plans to make sure he never returns to England. But Kit's strong will and thirst for vengeance ensure his survival.

Seven long years later, he returns to London but he's forever changed. Gone is the innocent, handsome young lad he'd been. Now Kit is a towering, muscular man of twenty-six with scars inside and out. He wants England to see the new him, the man who lost his soul, and he wants the three men who destroyed his life to forfeit theirs. The only light in his dark night is a beautiful, innocent young woman who paints the sets at the Drury Lane theater. There's just one problem...she's the daughter of one of the men who sent him to prison.

*Historical Romance *handsome lord  *plans for revenge *Lord x Painter FMC  *class differences

*some spice  *gruff MMC learning to feel again  *found family *loss of parents (in past) 

*Book sirens ARC 2026  *false imprisonment  *

*Trigger warnings (Harsh treatment while MMC was in penal colony leading to scars)

Thoughts:

I picked this one up without reading the previous books this is both the 7th book in the Scandals and Scoundrels of Drury Lane series (various authors) and the first book in this authors own series.  

To start with Christopher "Kit" Hollingsworth is a young and handsome lord's son but he is also on the naive side and ends up getting involved in a shady business deal with 2 other people as part of a shipping company unfortunately for Kit the other two work together to frame him for a crime he didn't commit and a "witness" gives false testimony against him sealing his fate thankfully his father is able to save him from a death sentence but it is reduced to 7 years in the penal colony of Australia where he has to regularly fight for his life and is overworked and often attacked. 

Seven years later Kit is no longer the young man full of visions of joy for his future but a solidly built man who has had a hard life but has come through these tough times stronger... and focused on revenge against the 3 men who had him falsely accused and sent away.

Upon returning home he learns that his father (the Earl of Kentwell) has passed away and he now newly back to town has to assume the role as the new Earl all while trying to navigate his life returning to normal... but it will never be truly normal it is just his new normal.  Thankfully he has several loyal friends who stood by him knowing he was wrongly accused and helped his father while he was away and to secure that the title of Earl would still be there waiting for him when they knew he would return.

Seeking his friends help to find out where the 3 men are located and form a plan of action as to how he is going to bring down his enemies he finds that one of the men has already passed away (the witness) but his daughter works at a local theater at first thinking she's an actress he goes to make inquiries only to find out she is a set painter and has to change tactics enticing her to come to his home to do his "returning home" portrait he is determined to know what she knows of her father's involvement in the plot to get rid of him and if she is living off of the wealth that he got from turning against him.

Only when he meets her he is instantly entranced by her beauty and kindness, she lives like a pauper so is she hiding the money or did she just never have any to begin with?  Early on Suzannah finds out who Kit is but agrees to continue to come to his home to do his portrait... we at first don't know if Kit plans to enact revenge on Suzannah or not as he is still set on revenge but she is starting to crack through his armor and bring out a softer side he hasn't seen in himself in years. 

The longer Kit and Suzannah spend together the more Kit's anger and emotional turmoil settles down he hasn't felt love in a long time but is this what he feels for Suzannah?  The story is somewhat repetitive in places and loses focus on the revenge plot that was a primary focus in the beginning somewhere around the middle but picks back up when Kit is now not only worried about his enemies finding him but what would happen now if they find out that he has more than himself to care about?

This was a sweet love story and I enjoyed watching Kit come back to life and find a new purpose the longer he spent with Suzannah.  The issues are all tied up by the end of the book I just wish this part had a bit longer to build it seemed to be done with and tidied up pretty quickly.  

I did have a somewhat difficult time keeping track of some of Kit's friends as they were introduced throughout and kind of all together during parts of the book so I was like "who is that again?"  I'm sure they will get easier to remember throughout the rest of the series I plan to read the next one in the series at some point.

I like how the epilogue leads into the beginning for the next book in the series it was a fun way to introduce our next FMC.  

Have you read this book?  Have you read any other books in this series what did you think?