How To Get Away With Scandal by Caroline Linden [ARC Review]

How to Get Away with Scandal by Caroline Linden is the fifth instalment in the Scandalous series, following Evangeline and Richard. The novel also revisits Joan and Tristan (the couple from the first book, Love and Other Scandals), this time largely through Evangeline’s perspective. As their story was the only other one I was already familiar with, this connection felt especially rewarding.

It’s rare to come across a historical romance featuring a heroine in her forties and her relationship with a younger man. It was refreshing to see the usual script reversed — to follow the chaperone rather than the young debutante during a London season. Evangeline’s story, however, began long before the events of this novel. There’s a persistent narrative in historical romance that one finds their happily ever after in their twenties and that nothing truly difficult follows. How to Get Away with Scandal tells a different — and arguably more mature — story.

Evangeline was unhappily married twice. The men in her life made decisions for her, leaving her with a profound loss of power, independence, and happiness. She was also made the scapegoat for men’s bad behavior, blamed for her husbands’ infidelity and cruelty. Given these experiences, her desire to remain unmarried after being widowed twice is entirely understandable.

Enter Richard, a well-known Swiss adventurer — a decade younger than Evangeline, yet no less captivated by her slightly eccentric nature. Despite the age gap, their relationship never feels unbalanced or fetishized. Evangeline is a grown woman; Richard is a grown man. Their love develops without age being a defining factor between them, even if it becomes one for those around them. Richard truly sees Evangeline. He neither knows nor cares about the gossip surrounding her. When he enters into an affair with her, he does so on her terms, fully accepting that the power lies with her. His stance is simple: if she wants him, he will stay — forever, if she’ll have him.

Richard’s love for Evangeline feels sincere and deeply rooted. While their relationship quite literally begins with a bang, something meaningful is already unfolding beneath the surface — a sense of one soul recognizing another. His pursuit of her is gentle and measured, always attuned to her comfort. He understands that pushing too hard would mean losing her. That doesn’t stop him from nudging her forward now and then, and I found that balance particularly satisfying. I especially loved the detail of the marriage license in the epilogue — prepared in three different countries. When they do marry, it’s entirely for themselves: no spectacle, no grand announcements. Just the two of them. It was quietly lovely.

I also appreciate Linden’s willingness to show how someone with “modern” views would have been perceived as eccentric or even scandalous in the Regency era. Many authors soften this reality, allowing their unconventional characters to move through society largely unchallenged. Linden doesn’t shy away from showing that Evangeline’s lifestyle and beliefs place her firmly outside the mainstream. Importantly, those beliefs are shaped by lived experience rather than existing in a vacuum. Evangeline is the black sheep of her family — but she is not a rebel without a cause.

That said, I did have a few reservations. First, the German used in the novel was noticeably inaccurate. As a native German speaker, it was clear that the language had been added without deep familiarity, which pulled me out of the story at times. Second, the time jumps — spanning roughly a decade — occasionally felt abrupt. Transitions between years could have been handled more smoothly to preserve narrative momentum. Finally, while I found Richard a compelling match for Evangeline, he wasn’t quite as fully realized as I would have liked. Beyond his devotion to her, his background and motivations remain underdeveloped. I was left wanting a clearer sense of where his beliefs come from and what shaped him into the man we meet on the page.

Overall, I would still highly recommend this novel. It’s a story that balances sweetness with emotional depth. Evangeline is a fascinating heroine, firmly grounded in historical realities while still resonating with a modern audience. Most of all, I appreciated reading a love story between characters who are older than the genre norm. Not everyone finds their happily ever after straight out of the schoolroom — and those stories deserve to be told, too.

**I received a complimentary copy to review**