The Scandalous, Dissolute, No-Good Mr. Wright by Tessa Dare

This was an interesting plot-line that was a good choice for a novella as opposed to a full novel.  Ms. Dare did a great job at the beginning setting the story, introducing the characters and moving the plot along in a way that didn't seem forced at all.  I really liked Harry from the beginning and was pretty tolerant of Eliza and her "all about her" attitude since she was acting exactly like any normal teenager would.  I also liked how this story moved along in terms of years instead of days like most stories.  It made me really look forward to their next encounter and made me wonder where they would run into each other next.  The way that they really didn't know too much of what was going on each other's lives seemed completely plausible since they couldn't correspond, they weren't in any way related and didn't even share the same circle of friends til later.  Also, the last meeting was really well-written and a fun scene to read.

So why the three stars only?  I just didn't like the back story that came out in the middle of the story about the characters.  I think it would have been better if Ms. Dare hadn't tried to make both Harry and Eliza martyrs.  One martyr per story please!!!  But, many kudos to the author for not dragging it all out (one good thing for novellas - the painful parts are short).

So, in short (no pun intended), well-worth the $.99.