1.5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

Simeon Jones— debonair, polished, and suave— was softhearted.

I jumped into the School for Scoundrels series with this third installment, Her Adventures in Temptation. The beginning felt a little jarring thrust into the story with Simeon at a Viscount's house to paint a portrait for the lord's wife and that said wife, tipsily trying to visit Simeon's rooms one night. The Viscount catches his wife and angrily tells Simeon to bugger off but before Simeon can, the viscount's sister, Lady Myrtle asks to travel with Simeon to London. Simeon knows it will be a recipe for disaster and reputations but with Myrtle offering to pay triple the just lost commission on the viscount's wife's portrait, he can't turn it down. What followed was an occasional story with sweet moments but mostly felt like bullet points with no surrounding story.

She would go to London and use her mathematical skills to assist ladies with their monies, hopefully helping them become more financially secure.

Myrtle wants to go to London because she wants to prove to her brother that she doesn't need to get married and can successfully make a go at running a business to help women invest and take care of their money. Myrtle is a mathematical genius, readers know this because she says it a lot and spouts some mathematical lingo and apparently that translates to also being a money management guru. There really wasn't anything flushed out and integrated with Myrtle's character regarding her mathematical skills, it felt like a bullet point for the heroine and that was the extent of it. Myrtle also lacks serious tact and is oblivious when she says comments that conventionally come off rude. I don't know if her character was introduced in the previous series books and more understanding about her would come from having read those but, starting here, she doesn't really get developed. I know she only has two friends, her niece and past governess, so I don't know if it's just lack of social integration or if she is supposed to represent on the spectrum. For me, it came off “I'm not like all those other girls”, because of thinking and saying lines like this “I have misjudged you, Mr. Jones,” Myrtle replied in a bright voice. “You are quite clever, something that is rare to find in very attractive people. Usually they are able to sail through life just being attractive.”

“Pretend to be . . . married?” she squeaked, then frowned, annoyed at her own reaction.

The previous book might have also delivered some foundation on Simeon that I ended up missing starting here. He grew up destitute in a home for boys and developed friendships with five other boys, strong enough that they got the moniker, The Bastard Five. I was disappointed that those friendships were hardly ever shown, I think it wasn't until the very later second half that the other four guys showed up to have scenes with him. Simeon is poor, why he accepts Myrtle's deal to travel with him and an artist but again, like Myrtle's mathematical mind, his painting came off more of a bullet point. There was also a random thread of him having to take in his adoptive mother's daughter but there was absolutely nothing done with it and had me head scratching what the point was.

“I’ve never found it easy to be around others, even around members of my own family. I do find it easy to be around you. And not just because you’re so easy on the eyes. If only I could marry someone like you,” she said with a sigh. And then she clapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide.

The romance starts to develop between these two on their journey to London and when Simeon insists they must pretend to be married to save her reputation. There's a bullet point one bed scene and some “I think I'm starting to like this person.” The first half has a first kiss between these two and then they're in London and thinking they'll never see each other again. However, Myrtle's brother is in London, angry with her but now wanting her to chaperon his daughter for her coming out because tipsy wife broke her leg. Myrtle recognizes she doesn't have the social graces to navigate the ton, so naturally, she turns to the poor, bastard artist Simeon to help her. Their fake betrothal is back on, so society doesn't question why they're spending so much time together and Simeon claims he must paint Myrtle.

Dear God. Did she know what she was getting into? Did he know what he was getting into?

For some reason, Myrtle gets it in her head that Simeon could be a successful painter if only he didn't get distracted by sex (readers don't really see evidence of him being such a ladies man) and since she really enjoyed their kiss, gets a little something for herself as she's helping out with a new plan, for one week they'll indulge in bedroom play and then one week absolutely no touching, then see which week was more productive for Simeon. I can't say this all made sense and not just randomly thrown in. Anyway, Myrtle suddenly gets porn mouth (one ex. “I want you to— to fuck me,” she said at last, the words dropping like individual bits of flame into his soul. I'm saying this did not fit the character and/with time and specific situation, not that women don't ever talk like this) and after a handie and some head from Simeon, Myrtle thinks to herself that she is in love. The bedroom scenes had definite word spice but it all felt so forced to deliver “hot” but since the characterization and relationship development wasn't there for me, I didn't feel any chemistry.

“What do you want from me, Myrtle?” he asked again, this time in a softer tone. She lifted her face to his, swallowing hard against the emotion. “I want you.”

It took a little longer for Simeon to think he was in love with Myrtle but when he does, he had a sweet moment where he tries to show Myrtle but her obliviousness ruins the moment and they have a quick breakup in the last 10% before they both realize their mistakes and deliver the HEA. Their characterization, along with the feeling of setting because their wasn't much effort to deliver it, was missing from this for me and as a consequence, I couldn't feel their romance. This was full of bullet points but not much crafting and filling out of those points.