Memoirs of a Scandalous Red Dress

I found the first few chapters bittersweet, not so much that 20 years had gone by. Pippen had children she was determined to do right by. It was more the disaster that Dash had become and his reaction to seeing Pippen. Perhaps realistic that a disillusioned,seasoned captain would be a drunk,yet still sad. The story picked up once Dash's recovery started and became the story of Pippen and Dash that one would hope for. I loved the ending! I hope that Elizabeth Boyle writes about John and Nate, those could prove to be great stories.

I'm a great fan of Elizabeth Boyle, and I loved Pippin's story. I found it to be a very poignant, mature story.

In finally writing Dash and Pippin's romance, Elizabeth Boyle had a lot of expectations to live up to. I think this book was born out of a realization that there was no way she could possibly satisfy all her fans, so instead she embraced a fairly bold and ambitious plot. This was certainly not your average romance, as others have mentioned, the bulk of the action takes place with Dash and Pippin in their forties. The story flips back and forth between 1814 and 1837, allowing us to see both events which were alluded to in past novels and also the interaction between current day Dash and Pippin. This is definitely a bittersweet romance. Dash has lived a relatively disappointing life and although Pippin loved her husband you get the distinct impression that she feels unfulfilled and stifled by the life she has lead. Memoirs is unusual not only for it's forty-something protagonists but also because it gives us genuinely flawed characters. Dash has become a drunkard who unrepentantly used his first wife and never really expresses remorse for his behavior towards her. Not a terribly savory history and one that crushes both Pippin's and our idea of Dash as a noble "gentlemen pirate". Ultimately, I enjoyed Memoirs because it was the story of two people, older and wiser, realizing they loved each other even after youth and the magic of first love had faded and despite their past mistakes. I gave the book 4 stars because I did have very high expectations. Realistically, I don't think there was a way for Boyle meet those expectations and she deserves a lot of credit for being willing to write a story for these characters that was so out of the box.

I really enjoyed this book. The word I use for it is "bittersweet". This is not a fairy tale romance, but more complicated than that. The characters are mature, have more life under their belts, and aren't perfect. Can they overcome what life has thrown them? We do get our HEA, though I worry a bit that Dash will be able to maintain his steady course. This a different tone that the other books in the series have been, but to me it was enjoyable and thought provoking. I finished it several days ago, and I'm still thinking about it, and chewing over the characters. To me, that's a good thing. It made me think.

Lady Philippa "Pippin" Knolles knows she loves American privateer Captain Thomas Dashwell and has for several years since he kissed her on the smuggler's beach way back in 1810 or so; but this was no happy ending as the fickle fingers of life such as war, marriage, and children kept them apart. In 1837, a widow of two years Pippin welcomes her naval son home. While the Admiral boringly speaks, Pippin glances around to another ship the HMS Regina where she sees a ghost of her past on board. She faints as the young sailor looked like her dashing Dash albeit over two decades ago that is. Unable to resist she goes to find her Dash, but learns you can't go home as he is no longer the daring hero; instead he is a drunk who lives on his past glory. Hoping to save her beloved like she did just before the second war with colonials, she turns to the scandalous red dress she wore to win his love the first time; hopefully this time forever. Lady Philippa and Captain Thomas Dashwell have been important characters throughout the Bachelor Chronicles (see CONFESSIONS OF A LITTLE BLACK GOWN, LOVE LETTERS FROM A DUKE, THIS RAKE OF MINE and TEMPTED BY THE NIGHT). Thus fans of the saga will especially appreciate this strong entry as the lead couple has changed especially Dash, but their love remains a constant. This is a superb historical that uses "flashbacks" to the Regency era, but the remarkable feat of this book and the other novels in the series is each story line is fresh and organized differently though the cast is somewhat a constant. Readers will have wonderful memoirs of Elizabeth Boyle's outstanding Chronicles for years to come. Harriet Klausner