Month: September 2019

The Marquis She’s Been Waiting For by Ella Quinn

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Regency Era (1811-1820), Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

The Marquis She's Been Waiting For (The Marriage Game, #9)The Marquis She’s Been Waiting For by Ella Quinn

Tracy’s rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Series: The Marriage Game, #9

Release Date: September 3, 2019

Alexander Endicott is on his Grand Tour when he learns that his father has passed and he is now the Marquis of Exeter, he returns to London and is overwhelmed with news – not only has he inherited a title he is woefully unprepared to assume, but his mother has cause a bit of a scandal by running off with the estate steward and leaving him with his young sisters to care for. When he seeks out help, everyone’s advice is the same – marry!

Lady Dorcus “Dorie” Calthorp is in her second season and will only marry for love, she was disappointed last season when she believed she had found a match and learned that the suitor did not feel the same, so now she has decided to focus her attentions on a “nice, steady” man and has made a list, a list that definitely does not include the handsome Lord Exeter!

Alex decides that Dorie is perfect for him – she will train his sisters, help him with the estate and begetting an heir will certainly be no hardship, but the lady doesn’t seem to agree and goes out of her way to introduce him to other eligible ladies! Alex is sure that Dorie is the “one” and uses any excuse possible to call on her and ask for help with his estate and his sisters. Dorie might not want to marry him, but she cannot say no to his requests for help and the two end up spending a lot of time together. But by the time she realizes that Alex is the man she has been looking for, it seems like her matchmaking may have worked and he has set his sights on another! Or has he??

This was a very mellow, low key story, it is slow moving and uneventful for most of the story, and while I had no problem with the writing, the characters, the imagery or the story, I was waiting for something to happen and when something finally did “happen” at the end, it was a bit anticlimactic and breezed over rather quickly. I am also a bit surprised that after reading 80% of a book with nothing more than touching while dancing or riding that the final 20% of the book managed to include three somewhat heated love scenes – I have nothing against a steamy love scene – but these felt out of character when compared to the behavior of Alex and Dorie in the rest of the book. Overall, this was an “OK” book, nothing spectacular, yet nothing objectionable, I personally felt like it was a little slow and dull, but it did hold my interest throughout. This is the ninth book in the series, but it can definitely be read as a stand-alone and while is it not part of The Worthingtons series, this story takes place the same time and does overlap with Lady Augusta’s story – Believe in Me

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an e-ARC that was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher.*

Secrets of Lady Lucy by Rachel Ann Smith

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Regency Era (1811-1820)1 Comment

Secrets of Lady Lucy (Agents of the Home Office, #1)Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Agents of the Home Office #1
Publication Date: 9/18/19
Number of Pages: 282

Agents of the Home Office is this author’s debut series and she has gotten off to a great start with Secrets of Lady Lucy. The characters are fun and interesting, the story is fast-paced and the mystery is . . . well . . . it isn’t exactly solved because I’m assuming it will run throughout all of the books of the series. We meet characters and I’m assuming hints of couples for future books – and I can’t wait to learn more about them. I also hope we’ll get to visit with Blake and Lucy again in future books – just to check-in and see how they are doing.

In this book, we have a plethora of agents for both the Foreign Office and the Home Office – some know that the others are agents and others don’t. Everybody has their own secret life it seems. The Foreign Office and the Home Office seem to be playing in the same sandbox and are using different rules for the game. Then, there is the mysterious ‘head’ of the Foreign Office that nobody seems to know his identity. There are definitely a LOT of questions left hanging and I can’t wait to find out the answers and I’ll be really disappointed should they not be forthcoming.

Lady Lucy Stanford’s twin brother, Matthew, Marquess Harrington, has spent months coercing Lucy to come to London and participate in some of the season’s events. It is his desire that she finds love and marriage and he knows that won’t happen with her vegetating away in the country. Unbeknownst to her brother, Lucy is an agent for the Home Office and has completed many missions for them. One of her skills is creating and breaking codes.

Blake Gower, Earl of Devonton, best friends with Matthew, met Lucy when she was about twelve and he’s never forgotten her. He spent a summer break from Eton with Matthew and it was one of the most memorable of his life. Blake has just returned to London from the continent where he has been during the war and since the war. He was working for the Foreign office – making maps and providing invaluable information to the troops. Now, he needs to get his estates in order and find a wife. Since he has never been able to forget her, maybe Lucy is the perfect candidate.

Lucy meets Bake at a ball and each is intrigued with the other, but since Lucy isn’t in the least interested in courting or marriage, she does her best to ignore the strange feelings he invokes. As he spends more time with her – and with her brother – she gets to know him better and appreciates the amount of time he spends with her lonely eight-year-old younger brother. While she still doesn’t intend to marry, she does hold him in regard.

Several coded missives are intercepted and given to Lucy to decode – and when she does, she realizes that Blake might be the target of a kidnapping plot and she fully intends to keep him safe.

Lucy and Blake are off on an adventure and manage to find their HEA along the way. I really enjoyed meeting both of them and look forward to checking in on them occasionally in future books in the series.

As I mentioned earlier, there are lots of things I was left wondering about, but I am assuming that they are part of an ongoing plot throughout the series. So, hopefully, I’ll have answers eventually.

I hope you’ll read and enjoy this book

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.