-

How to Best A Marquess (Widow Rules #3) by Janna MacGregor    


⭐️⭐️



This second chance romance started out with great promise. Part of a series that’s had at it’s center three women who’d found out that they’d been all married to the same person, Lord Meriwether Vareck.

Beth (Blythe Elizabeth Howell) has promised herself to never marry again, and find out what has happened to her lost dowry.

Only her self-centered brother has decided to marry her off once more to an older lord in exchange for money, just like her first non marriage. I am at a loss to understand why Beth couldn’t find her voice to say NO!

Of course she’s a scandalous figure—even more so after she and Lord Meriwether’s two other wives/widows became friends. (Sister wives almost!)

So Beth is chasing down what’s happened to her dowry with longtime friend and foresworn would-be-husband Lord Julian Grayson. Grayson caused her heartache as a young woman. Julian is now a Marquis who requires funds to attract backers for his steam engine. He agrees to help Beth in exchange for the funds he needs when her dowry’s found.

We’re treated to them charging around the countryside with a strange Irish valet, meeting all sorts of mishaps, whilst panting after each other, with Beth still vowing never to marry again. Julian goes from broken hearted swain with a conscience, to lusty lover, to defender of the woman he’s always loved.  Beth goes from a young woman determined never to give into her feelings, to a siren, and back again to uptight widow. The will I, won’t I, push and pull between the two drove me crazy.

I did like the Duke of Pelham, a strange man who looked after his sisters unlike Beth’s awful brother.

So many adventures and yet in the end all I could wish for was a quick exit.


A St. Martin’s Press ARC via NetGalley.                                              

Many thanks to the author and publisher.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Things aren’t as they seem!

-
Image
A Murderous Tryst  (Beatrice Hyde-Care Mystery #11) by Lynn Messina    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Oh my! Bea certainly has a lot to contend with. Bea’s rattled! The Duke has been missing from their bed for a night. When a distraught Bea come downstairs the next morning she finds her beloved husband Damien clasped in the arms of a glamorous female. A female who turns out to be Kesgrave’s first mistress, Mrs. Penelope Taylor! What?! Of course Bea’s heart sinks and she falls back on her painful memories of Aunt Vera’s responses to such a situation. Bea is both shaken and traumatised, but determined not to show it.  It seems Penny has been accused of murder. Actually  Penny’s desperately trying to avoid Newgate.    As a former mistress Penny does the unthinkable thing in society’s eyes. She asks for help from Bea. Bea’s response is just as shocking. She says yes. Kesgrave is as usual inscrutable. Of course this is the beginning of a harebrained chase, complications between Bea  and Amien,  and an investiga
Read more

Women in war—Internment by the Japanese 1942-45.

-
Image
Sisters Under the Rising Sun  by Heather Morris    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A fitting tribute to the women interred by the Japanese in Indonesia and Malaya during 1942 until liberation in 1945. Amongst the internees are a group of Australian Army nurses who were not given recognition by the Japanese as members of the armed forces and therefore not prisoners of war according to the Conventions of war.  Sister Vivian Bullwinkle is the only survivor of the massacre of a group of soldiers and nurses on Radji Beach, Bangka Island near Sumatra  in 1942, after the sinking of  HMS Vyner Brooke. There are a number of civilian prisoners in the camps like Norah Chambers and her sister Ena.  Combined, the story of these women interred under terrible conditions, their struggles and achievements are monumental.  Their gifts to their fellows beyond speech. Music plays an important part in uplifting the prisoners’ spirits. It’s truly a privilege to read about their plight, their vows to each other, and their braver
Read more

The Three Muscateers—three widows, three sets of different circumstances

-
Image
The Widows' Wine Club  by Julia Jarman    ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Different enough to be interesting but I kept losing which character was which. I almost feel I need to read it again to follow who’s who. I do know that three women came together to form a support group, going to the pub for lunch etc. Better than the local widow’s group in the church hall.  All three had recently lost their husbands and now had to find a way to face their new lives. Viv Halliday is a knowledgeable gardener. Zelda Fielding is setting herself up with internet dates and searching the web for her unknown father. Janet had a controlling husband who it turned out was having affairs, and their son is just as controlling. How their lives unfold is the new challenge. A Boldwood Books ARC via NetGalley.                                               Many thanks to the author and publisher.
Read more