prelim review: While I enjoyed the story and the mystery as to who killed Ethan Holding, the paranormal elements left me feeling jarred, confused and irritated more often than not. Also it sometimes felt as if Carlyle was referencing a previous novel's plot/adventures, but this is meant to be the first in a new trilogy. ( )

Once upon a time the heroine could count herself as content if not truly happy. She had a wealthy gentleman who’s offered her marriage and his two young daughters have offered her the prospect of being a mother. Life was peaceful. Then her world came crashing down. Her fiancé had been murdered in his own home, she herself discovering his body. In the span of one night, she is homeless, families and under the suspicion of murder. Her only hope is an old acquaintance of her deceased father. Grieving the loss of the man who she may not have loved but did indeed care for, she arrives that the F.A.C club only to discover the man she seeks has left London. In his place she meets the imposing and rather frightening hero. The hero has not had an easy life. His gift for seeing death in the eyes of those he meets and from touching them skin to skin has made him feared even among his family. He is also horribly tormented by what he’s seen. So much so that he rarely sleeps and depends upon hashish to cope with the visions. He also is terribly lonely having no real chance of ever marrying in fear that his visions will drive him crazy. Then he meets the heroine. She is beautiful and is every bit as light as he is dark. He feels protective of her. She too is as lonely as he is having been shut out from the life she once knew and from the start he feels a frighteningly deep connection to her though he fights his emotions. This doesn’t stop him from taking her into his home as a governess for his nephews and this doesn’t stop him from succumbing to the overwhelming desire to kiss her. He can see that there is no way she could ever be capable of murder and vows to see her name cleared, even if this passion to be her champion casts suspension on him from his family and friends. Their passion and desire for one another is hot and burns off the pages and though the heroine welcomes her dark hero into her bed, she knows that he his holding himself back emotionally. Fear that one day he’ll look into her eyes and see her death is too much for him to bare and as such, he foolishly risks the possibility of never knowing the love they could share. I thought this book was absolutely amazing. I swooned over the tortured hero who was actually a kind person at heart and devoted to his calling to help his fellows via the club even though visions he saw in the service of the crown plague him still. It broke my heart to read about how he doesn’t know how to interact with his own nephews for fear of his gift or the fact that he can only sleep when he’s in the heroine’s arms. I found him to be an engaging character with just as many virtues as flaws though he doesn’t see himself that way. And as much as I loved the hero, I loved the heroine. The heartbreak I felt as she sobbed at the gates of the cemetery holding her fiancés body, she being excluded from even paying her respects, was great. And I felt so deeply connected to these two characters that I never wanting this book to end. But I can say that from start to finish I was hooked and never wanted to put it down. So rare now a days with the amount of books I read to find one that captures my attention so fully that I know I will remember it always. I eagerly await the time in which I can read it again and highly recommend this book to any reader who claims romance novels are drivel and not worth their time. For this book will show them that even ‘chessey’ romance novels can be poetic. ( )

"Oftentimes, he well knew, the worst sort of pain was the silent kind, the kind inflicted not by a slash of an assailant’s knife but by a thousand little cuts made up of thoughtless comments, cold restraint, and condescending eyes."

This quote from Liz Carlyle​'s "One Touch of Scandal" (2010) is why I love reading romances. From the Fraternitas Aureae Crucis series, book #1, this book has an alpha, tormented hero, a strong (not aggressive) heroine, an excellent plot and paranormal elements. I've only recently discovered Liz Carlyle as an author and am mowing my way through her back list. What a pleasure! This book has everything that makes my heart flutter & I read it as fast as I could. Great entertainment and a great example of the best of the romance genre. ( )

I enjoyed this one, a character who is half-Indian and also keeps himself at a bit of a distance from society because he is psychic and what he can see disturbs him because it's usually death or disaster and he's not comfortable with the knowledge. When Grace Gauthier shows up, suspected of murdering her finance, he's intrigued by her because she's a blank to him, but he's sure she's innocent and he's determined to help her.

I liked the story, enjoyable and entertaining. ( )

I was quite intrigued by Adrian, Lord Ruthveyn, the hero of Liz Carlyle's "One Touch of Scandal". He is very much a tortured hero, weighted down with the curse of the gift of "Sight". He cannot touch most people or look into their eyes without seeing a flash of the future and the fate which awaits to claim its victim. When he meets the lovely Grace Gauthier, she is reeling from the murder of her fiance, for whom she had worked as a governess. Grace is one of the few people whom Adrian cannot read, and hope begins to grow in him that she may his soulmate and his salvation. Someone is determined to brand Grace a murderess, and Adrian uses all of his power to protect the woman he loves more than his own life. He is a member of the mysterious and shadowy St. James Society, an organization whose members all possess abilities beyond the norm. Adrian is the most fully-realized character. His deep love for Grace and his struggle to accept the possibility that her love for him may heal his troubled soul are both very poignant. I would have loved to gotten to know Grace better as a character, but she was a wonderful match for the heart-needy Adrian. I really enjoyed Grace and Adrian together as a couple, and it was easy to envision them happily sending sparks off each other for many years to come. Theirs will never be an easy relationship, but it will always be very, very interesting! ( )