Vowing to keep her mother's last wish, Amanda Neville is finally headed for her first London season. The last thing she needs is an unsuitable attraction to a, well, it is hard to know what he is. Supposedly his is a noble lineage, but his arrival on their doorstep unshaven and deathly pale beneath his ruddy tan seemed to contradict that. Nevertheless, her duty as first daughter of the house is to treat any guest with full courtesy.

Julia Justiss has another winner with the clever historical romance SOCIETY'S MOST DISREPUTABLE GENTLEMAN. Written with her usual (and delicious) skill to develop her characters into people the reader truly cares about. The setting itself becomes almost an additional character, helping the reader immerse themselves into another place and time.

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Author Note

I discovered the character of Greville Anders when I wrote FROM WAIF TO GENTLEMAN'S WIFE, his sister Joanna's story. In that book, we learn that Greville, a charming rake and only son much indulged by his family, has been fired for mismanaging the small estate given into his care by his cousin, the Marquess of Englemere. By the end of Joanna's book, we know it is Greville's farm manager who abused the tenants, embezzled money, and when Greville finally discovered his crimes, knocked him unconscious and sold him to a press gang. Though Joanna's story was over, I remained fascinated by Greville. What would happen to a landsman and gentleman of leisure when he is suddenly thrust into working as a common sailor'

I knew that the Greville who left England would not be the same man who returned, badly wounded, nine months later. As I began exploring his character, I realized that he would have to have suffered a sea change that turned all his notions of the world and his place in it upside down.

Enter Amanda Neville ' another minor character from WAIF. WAIF hero Ned Greaves, an enthusiastic agriculturalist like Amanda's father, Lord Bronning, met her while visiting her home and for a time, hoped she might make him the perfect wife. However, Amanda has no intention of staying mired in the country; her dream is to become a great political hostess, like her grandmother's friend Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.

Having already turned down Ned's offer, she's less than pleased when, while she preparing to leave for her London debut, the man whom her father agrees to house as a favor to the Marquess turns out to be a common sailor. She's even less pleased when this quite ineligible person, after changing his sailor's rags for proper gentlemanly attire, is far too attractive.

For his part, both amused and piqued by Amanda's thinly-veiled disdain, Greville decides to beguile his time by tweaking with some idle flirtation this girl who yearns to be part of a London Society he no longer values. Amanda would like to resist Greville'but the more time she spends in his company, the harder it is to remind herself that he is nothing like the sort of rich, powerful, politically-well-connected man she seeks for a husband.

Watching the two of them try to resist each other was great fun. I hope you'll enjoy it as well.