It Takes a Scandal by Carolyn Linden takes our series to the countryside, where sisters Abigail and Penelope meet the mysterious Sebastian Vane, neighbor to their new country estate. It has elements of Hades/Persephone (even literally descending below ground to a secret grotto for an intimate encounter) as well as Beauty and the Beast (though our Beast is simply thoroughly misunderstood and misaligned, and if anything, is more traumatized than severe). This dragged a bit for me, as I don't love when the story feels so isolated (taking place almost entirely between the neighboring estates) and because it generally leaned more dark and reflective than I had hoped. It felt almost gothic at times - our tortured hero is Really Tortured, and the story takes some dark twists toward the end as our mystery unravels.