Tag: Janna MacGregor

How to Best a Marquess by Janna MacGregor

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

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

Tracy’s rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: The Widow Rules, #3

Release Date: April 25, 2023

Once upon a time, Heiress Miss Blythe “Beth” Howell and Julian Raleah, the Earl of Weyhill and heir to the Marquess of Grayson planned to marry, but when her brother refuses Julian’s suit, he leaves her life without another word and breaks her heart. Now eight years later, Beth is one of three women who were wedded, bedded then duped, and discarded by trigamist Lord Merriweather “Meri” Vareck. And while his first two “wives” were each left something when Meri unexpectedly died, Beth was left with nothing except a bunch of receipts. When her lout of a brother tries to force her into another marriage, she becomes determined to retrace Meri’s final steps and retrieve her dowry – she turns to her former beau for help – offering him half of whatever she finds in exchange for his escort and helping her find her missing dowry. When Julian, now the Marquess of Grayson, refuses, arguing her reputation would be ruined and she would be shunned, she points out that marrying a man that was already married to two other women destroyed her reputation, and since she never plans to marry again, it doesn’t matter anyway. She asks him to think about it and give her an answer at the wedding of a mutual friend in a few days. She leaves hopeful and trying to ignore the feelings that being close to Julian again brought out in her.

Julian was heartbroken when Beth’s brother refused his suit and called him a fortune hunter and then threatened to buy up his father’s debts and ruin them if Julian didn’t walk away from Beth. With no other choice, he walked away, but he never gave up hoping that one day they could be together. But the years have been hard on both of them and Julian is still as penniless as he ever was, but things are looking up as an investment consortium is considering financing his steam engine. If successful, he will never have to worry about money again and finally, he will be in a position to offer for Beth with no fear of retribution from her brother. He has every intention of refusing to escort Beth when his contact at the consortium implies that Julian may have to make other models of the engine and wants to make sure he can afford to do so – He can’t. Again faced with no choice, he agrees to accompany her. He then decides to use the time to woo her and hopefully change her mind about marriage.

This was a story that I have read before, but the author did manage to put a new twist on their separation, instead of using the most common trope of misunderstanding or a third party lying to keep them apart, Julian readily admits to cutting ties with her to save his family. Because of this and her invalid marriage, I did understand why Beth was disillusioned with men and marriage, but she really bore that cross a lot longer than she had to, and it got annoying and tiresome, yet the author held fast to that plot device until almost the very end of the book – sigh. Then there was their intimate relationship – or their attempts at an intimate relationship. It was funny at first that every time they started to get physical, they were interrupted, but that too was overused and got annoying after about the fifth time, and even when the characters commented on the fact that they were always being interrupted, the author still kept using it – sigh. So by the time they finally completed the act, I was done and didn’t even care, I just wanted the book to be over. This book had a lot going on and except for the couple of annoying things I mentioned, it was a good book featuring a road trip, a charming valet, great secondary characters, highwaymen, rotten relatives, longing, betrayal, a bit of angst, a little heartache, surprising discoveries, a kidnapping attempt, a girl with a gun who is not afraid to use it, the turning of tables, a character determined to be a martyr, and friends who convince them to give love a second chance leading to a HEA complete with a very odd, yet interesting epilogue. This was the third and final book in the series, but I didn’t read the first two books and had no problem figuring out the backstory. For me this book was OK, I enjoyed the idea of the story and liked the ending, even though I was annoyed that certain things dragged on until practically the end of the book, but I wouldn’t read it again.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.*

Blog Tour – Wild, Wild Rake by Janna MacGregor

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

Wild, Wild Rake (The Cavensham Heiresses #6)Barbara’s rating: 3.5/4 of 5 stars

Series: The Cavensham Heiresses #6
Publication Date: 2/25/20
Number of Pages: 368

I am so delighted to have finally gotten to know Devan Farris better. We’ve met him before, and frankly, I was confused by him. Was he a good guy or a – well – not bad guy but … Anyway, now we know. This is a well written, well-plotted story with very likable characters – some of whom we’ve met in other books. I even loved that the villain was duly punished!

Avalon and Devlin are prime examples of why you shouldn’t believe what you hear. Each has a reputation that doesn’t match the real person at all. In one case it was a carefully crafted reputation and in the other case, it was a reputation created by others to be hurtful. In the end, both are equally hurtful.

Devan is the gentlest, sweetest man you could meet and you would never know that from his terrible reputation – the Wicked Vicar. You know that there are alpha heroes and beta heroes – well – I’m thinking that Devan might come in as a gamma or delta hero. No, he isn’t a doormat, he isn’t a coward, he is just a very, very sweet and giving man who puts others before himself. He is the Bishop’s favorite vicar to move around to troubled parishes because he is so good at straightening them out. Everybody is charmed by him and he quickly becomes a cornerstone of whatever parish he is sent to. Except, when he is sent to Thistledown, the patroness doesn’t want him and blatantly asks him what it would take to make him go away.

Lady Avalon Pearce, Marchioness of Warwyck was forced into a marriage she didn’t want. Her husband was cruel, dismissive, and cold, but he gave her the greatest gift she’d ever gotten – her son, Thane. Then he had the good grace to die and leave her a widow. Though he still managed to mistreat her even from the grave, she was free of him and managed to build a good life for herself and Thane. Thistledown was hers. They were her people and she’d see to their welfare. They’d welcomed her when she had been abandoned by all who should have loved and protected her – and now she was doing all she could to assure their welfare. She doesn’t want the new vicar in her parish – he is too handsome, too charming, and she just knows he was sent by her son’s guardian to spy on her because he wants an excuse to take her son away. She’ll pay the vicar off, offer whatever she has to in order to get him to leave.

Since Devan has no intention of leaving – and he was sent by her son’s guardian – Lady Avalon is fighting a losing battle. Devan isn’t really spying, he refused to do that, but he is assessing Thane’s academic readiness, as well as acting as a tutor to Thane. All of that throws Devan and Avalon together more and more often. They have known each other for years and have bickered for years – now, that bickering turns to teasing and endearments. When push comes to shove, Avalon is the one to stand up and defend Devan when he needs it.

I loved how their relationship developed slowly over time – actually over all of the years they’ve known each other. Neither is what the other thought they were and it was a delight to see them come to realize that. I thought the book was a bit slow at times and it was easy to allow my attention to wander. I also got a little tired of Avalon’s back-and-forth and I thought Devan was a bit too soft and submissive, but I still thought it was an enjoyable read.

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