A Scoundrel's Surrender by Jenna Petersen

Grade: D-

passion rating: hot

Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover and the couple on the cover of Ms. Petersen’s latest is downright skanky. The chick looks like a stripper at a mid-level men’s club. She’s got streaked layered hair, lots of black mascara, lip-glossed pink lips, and is aiming a sexy pout at whoever took this photo. The guy’s sporting “hot dude” stubble and a chest so smooth I suspect he waxes. They both look too modern and too much like possible porn stars. The cover of screams sizzling contemporary; its prose drones dismal historical.

A Scoundrel’s Surrender has a boorish bastard for a hero. Two years ago Caleb Talbot found out he wasn’t his father’s son and freaked out. He ran away from home, refused any contact with his loving family (who, with the exception of his older brother, had no idea why he’d dumped them), and took up drinking copiously in low-rent taverns. Caleb is a jerk with really bad timing. A few days before he did his disappearing act, he’d made love to Marah Farnsworth, the virginal best friend of his sister-in-law. When Caleb bolts, he does so without offering any explanation to Marah. The guy’s an ass.

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