Much Ado About Margaret by Madeleine Roux

Tracy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: Stand Alone Title

Release Date: October 22, 2024

Since the death of her father, Miss Margaret Arden and her sisters live with their mother in a cottage owned by their Aunt Eliza and are dependent on her good will. But Margaret has a plan to save her family, that doesn’t involve marrying a rich man. You see, Margaret is an author (an unpublished author, but an author nonetheless) who has just finished her third novel and is trying to find a publisher to publish it and set her on the path of financial freedom. As luck would have it, the publisher she sent her manuscript to (and who never even bothered to acknowledge it) is going to be at her aunt’s salon and she plans to use the opportunity to pitch her book. She is shocked to learn that Mr. Bridger Darrow of publisher Dockarty & Co is an uncommonly handsome man, but once he starts talking any attraction, she felt dies a quick death when he berates her writing and wishes her good luck with her life. But fate has a wicked sense of humor and the two are reunited a couple of months later at her cousin’s wedding. She isn’t thrilled to see him again, but maybe he isn’t as bad as she thought, especially when a tragic mishap turns fortuitous, and he wants to publish her book. Then when her cousin’s new wife is implicated in a horrific scandal, he is the first to help her clear Ann’s name. Will this lead Margaret to her very own HEA or will fate pull the rug out from under her and she will lose everything?

Bridger Darrow is the younger son of landed gentry, with no possibility of inheriting, Bridger joined the military. Now after years of war, he has had enough and it ready to settle back into civilian life. He has inherited a publishing company and is trying to make it profitable and what he needs is a really good book. In all fairness, he tried to read Miss Arden’s book, but was bored to tears after only a few pages and never finished it. Still trying to find his golden goose, he is in London when he is called to his father’s estate. His father is dying, and the estate is in shambles thanks to his older brother, Paul’s reckless spending and now he has disappeared. Leaving Bridger to clean up the mess. When he learns that Paul has left to go the wedding of Bridger’s best friend, Lane. He sets out to find his brother and drag him home, but instead finds Miss Arden as well as a scorned former love interest. And that’s when things get interesting, and he realizes that he seriously underestimated Margaret. But as with everything in his life, nothing is going to be easy. Can he save his brother, prevent a scandal, save his business and win the girl?

I so wanted to love this book and thought it would suck me in and hold me fast until the end. It didn’t. I liked Margaret and her sisters, but Bridger was not really a hero I could root for. Add to that the fact that Margaret and Bridger don’t really spend time together until the book is almost half done, which made it hard for me to become invested in their HEA. I didn’t hate the book, and I enjoyed parts of it, but I found it very “put-downable” and it is not a book I would read again.

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

The Proposition by Madeleine Roux

Tracy’s rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: N/A

Release Date: August 2, 2022

Clemency Fry did not believe in marriage, that is until she met Lord Boyle and was charmed and completely smitten, so much so that when he proposed a mutually satisfying union, she accepted with no qualms. But soon after they became betrothed, tragedy strikes and her relationship with the once charming Lord Boyle turns sour and she is sure she has made a huge mistake. She is debating what to do when she meets Audric Ferrand and learns what kind of man her betrothed really is.

Audric Ferrand is on a mission to avenge his sister, Delphine who was seduced, ruined, and then abandoned by Lord Boyle. He convinces Clemency to help him and they begin to plot how they can bring down the vile Lord Boyle. But the proposition is not without risk, to both their reputations and their hearts.

When I read the blurb for this book, I was excited, but sadly the reality of the story was not nearly as satisfying as I had hoped. This is my first time reading this author and I found her writing style to be a bit slow and drawn out for my taste, and when you add to that the numerous historical errors regarding Regency-era etiquette, fashion, and even actual historical events, not to mention the actual comeuppance of Lord Boyle being carried out by someone other than the protagonists, I was disappointed. But overall the story had good bones and likable characters, so while it was a slow read with an even slower-burning romance and not a book I would read again, I am not sorry I read it.

*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.*