Say Yes to the Marquess: Castles Ever After Kindle Edition

"In that moment, Clio looked inside her heart. It was the clearest glimpse she’d ever had. She saw the entirety of her future. Their future. The castle, the brewery. Children. Christmases and Easters and summer rain. They’d always have rain."

Say Yes to the Marquess was such a fun book. Like the first book in the series, we have a young, unmarried woman in Regency England, inheriting a castle from "fairy godfather" Lord Lynforth. After inheriting her castle and newfound power that gives her, Clio Whitmore is a woman thoroughly finished with waiting. Finished with waiting (eight years!) on her erstwhile fiancé to finally come home and marry her; finished waiting on her life to begin; finished with letting her family and society hurt her; finished waiting on a first kiss. I appreciated the depth the author gave Clio, and the character growth that resulted in her moving away from family doormat to home owner, business owner, and decider of her own fate.

Rafe Brandon is a second son, revered prizefighter, Clio's would-be brother-in-law, and he's determined to see his brother finally marry her. He's also been in love with Clio his whole life. One again, I really dig his thoroughly Tessa Dare drew her leading characters. Rafe is tormented with guilt: never the type of son his father desired, a disappointment in his education, a fighter instead of a diplomat like his brother. Rafe carries a lot of self-loathing on his shoulders, and interestingly, it seemed he might have had ADHD, or something similar. I often find book heroes like Rafe to be tiring (you know, the dudes with Secret Pain), but not in this case.

I liked Rafe and Clio together. A lot. The chemistry was damn electric, was given time to develop and grow strong. Each brought so much love strength, and promise to the relationship. I believed.

Say Yes to the Marquess was fun, making mr giggle multiple times. Mr. Montague and Phoebe were particularly good for comic relief. Bless Phoebe for researching "marital relations" for her older sister. Bless Mr. Montague and his ridiculous monocle.

On a personal note, I couldn't have been more grateful for the laughs and love this book gave me. My family experienced an unexpected death today. After hours of tears and thoughts and questions, I decided to try and read a bit. I did not think it would go well because I had a horrible headache and could not concentrate. But, I found myself getting back into the story, losing my thoughts, and even smiling.

THAT is the power of a good book.

As always, I am SMITTEN with Tessa Dare's characters and the situations they find themselves in. If nothing else, the cakes incident would have sealed the deal for how awesome Rafe was. Yet, there was so much more to this big, lovable rake.

Admittedly, I'm a sucker for couples who have to wade through a shared past before they can come to terms with a future. And Rafe? He certainly had some lingering issues about himself and his likability. It took a while before he was convinced Clio really might want him for who he was.

Then there's Clio. She of the eight year engagement. I have to admit I found her family a little unbearable. Not her whole family. Just Daphne and her husband. I totally get why she put up with her sniping and such, but I spent the majority of their interactions waiting for Clio to snap and tell her off. To be fair, Clio's veneer of politeness was mighty thick and I knew it would take a while for her to find the backbone to step up and deal with Daphne. (Also to be fair, Daphne's sniping worked given what we were told about their mother and that her actions were the ones Daphne learned from.)

Meanwhile, Rafe and Clio together made me smile. His roughness against her polite breeding. His kisses....oh, his kisses. I really, REALLY liked those. Not to mention Clio's cake noises. Because a good cake totally deserves cake noises.

*slow thumbs up*

-Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal

I've loved all Tessa Dare's other books, especially the first Castles Ever After and the Spindle Cove series, but this was a disappointment for me. There was some good stuff (hot scenes! Heroine who stands up for herself!) but not enough. Dislikes--possible spoilers:

1. Too many "quirky" secondary characters. From the buffoonish trainer (casually and somewhat disparagingly depicted as bisexual) to the autism spectrum sister (to use another ahistorical term) to the dog to the sleepwalking brother-in-law to the bossy sister... It felt like silly characters just being thrown in to break up romantic scenes.

2. Inconsistent main characters. This wasn't as big of an issue, but something about the H/h felt phoned-in. For instance, the heroine develops body image issues halfway through the book, the hero varies from being articulate to being terrible with words, etc.

3. Plotting was thin. The heroine tells the hero over and over again she won't go through with the wedding, and the ways he tries to change her mind seem not only disrespectful of her feelings, but kind of...dumb. It almost felt like Dare knew how flimsy the plot was, and tried to patch it over with the silly secondary characters.

4. Not historical. All the wedding planning felt anachronistic, as did some of the social relations. It felt like a modern novel shoehorned into a historical setting.

I love Dare's books, and she's a very talented writer, but this wasn't up to her high standard for me.

Tessa Dare is one of my favorite authors! Her writing is equivalent to my all time favorite, Julia Quinn.

This books is another great romance from Ms. Dare! Clio is such a wonderful heroine. I loved her tenacity and determination. Tired of waiting around for a fiance who clearly doesn't want to be with her, she is tired of waiting around for life to start and takes control of her own future! She knows what she wants and she GOES for it!

Rafe, in love with his older brother's fiance, is determined to make Clio wait for his brother. He feels it's his duty. But isn't forbidden love one of the best kinds of stories?! Rafe is different than any other regency romance hero that I've ever read before because he's a fighter by profession. Usually the heros are some kind of title holding man with lots of money and power. Rafe is a second son, no title, and fights for a living. While Ms. Dare never says that Rafe has ADHD in the story (for obvious reasons, they didn't have labels or even recognized disorders like that), I believe that's what he has. It makes for an interesting backstory for Rafe! Clio is his perfect match and it was so fun reading about how they found each other.

This is the second book in the Castles Ever After series but isn't connected to the previous novel in any way except that Clio inherits a castle from the same Earl that the previous heroine inherited her castle from. The next book in the series (When A Scot Ties The Knot) is another "stand alone" but the fourth book (Do You Want To Start A Scandal) is about Piers, Rafe's brother who was engaged to Clio for most of this book. I would suggest reading Scandal right after Marquess and then go back and read Scot Ties the Knot.

This book is sexually explicit. Tessa Dare writes some pretty descriptive and raunchy sex scenes. Much more descriptive than most other regencies I've read. Be aware if that's not quite up your alley.

Such a sweet story with troubles and love and realistic.

Clio has been waiting 8 years to marry Pierce who has been out of country since. Her mother settling for nothing less than perfection, forcing Clio to mold into a stiff, eloquent catch for a Marques. Her mother dies and she learns she had been gifted a castle and a small fortune.

Planning to finally break free, she plans her dreams, until her intended's brother denies her requests. Rafe is determined to give Clio the best life she could have by forcing her to marry his brother. They both deserve it. She is, after all, perfect in every way, and Pierce is always the well-behaved perfect man. Rafe, on the other hand, is a brutish prizefighter that only wants to get back to his championship training.

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Oh, this is beautifully written. Tessa Dare did well here. There is no villain, which I usually cannot bide without, but it works so well here.

It's not a beauty and the Beast theme, but it has that spark of loving someone fully, faults and all.