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The Wrong Marquess is the third book in Vivienne Lorret’s The Mating Habits of Scoundrels series. It features Miss Elodie Parrish, a woman who has waited her whole life for her next door neighbor to propose to her, and London’s Most Elusive Bachelor, Brandon, Marquess of Hullworth. Brandon is great, I enjoyed the plot and I wish I could give the book a higher grade, but Ellie was just so incredibly frustrating that she kept me from loving it completely.
Elodie’s father died when she was seven and two things happened on the day of his funeral: 1) Ellie became convinced nearly anything and everything could cause her death and 2) Ellie saw her neighbor George in a favorable light for the first time. They became best friends, with George promising to one day marry her. Fast forward eighteen years and Ellie is still waiting for George to propose. He continually tells her he just needs to sow his wild oats and she’ll be the first to know when he’s ready. While she’s waiting for this to happen, she literally runs into Brandon Stredwick, Marquess of Hullworth, and after he refuses to retrieve her dropped handkerchief, decides he’s incredibly rude and she will hate him until her dying breath. Almost immediately after this, she meets Brandon’s younger sister Meg and befriends her. Brandon is convinced every unmarried female is attempting to trap him into marriage, hence his rudeness to Ellie. He suspects she has made friends with his sister with the single goal of getting closer to him, but finds himself intrigued by Ellie’s indifference to him.
Brandon finds Ellie’s ledger detailing the research she and two of her friends have been doing on gentlemen in the ton, with Ellie’s part being focused on getting a man to propose. As a result, he becomes even more convinced she’s trying to trap him in marriage until she laughs off his concerns. She tells him she’s set her cap at someone else, but George fails to appear time after time at functions he’s promised Ellie he’ll attend, and Ellie makes excuses for his behavior throughout and continues to hope he proposes, regardless of her growing attraction to Brandon. Finally, George arrives at a function and Brandon is surprised and dismayed to discover Ellie wasn’t lying about being interested in someone else after all. He makes it his mission to help Ellie overcome all her fears – such as going over bridges or riding a horse, both of which she’s convinced she will fall from and die – or going into a loggia because she fears that the arches will not hold the weight of the roof. (Somewhat surprisingly, normal doorways do not bother her.) Brandon also begins helping her get over her greatest fear: that she needs to marry George in order to be happy.
This was a good read overall. Brandon is a little churlish at first but this is understandable because of all the women trying to force him to marry them; the man can’t go anywhere in public without being bombarded with dropped handkerchiefs or fainting debutantes. But he quickly became one of the most thoughtful and charming heroes I’ve ever had the pleasure to read about. The secondary characters were so much fun to read about that I almost wish Ellie’s aunts would get their own book and I hope Meg does get one.
The main plot lies in Brandon subtly courting Ellie at the same time he’s trying to help her overcome some of her fears. He’s so incredibly patient with her while George merely makes fun of her and tells her to get over them. There is a subplot leading into the next book that involves the ladies’ guidebook on scoundrels, and Prue, Ellie’s friend who was ruined by a mysterious lord and sent into exile with her aunt and uncle before the events of the first book. Here, we finally find out which lord was responsible. I was shocked by this revelation and I’m so looking forward to her book now.
My only issue with this entire novel was Ellie. And not even Ellie as a whole but Ellie’s absolute refusal to see and accept what a jerk George really is up until around the eighty percent mark in the book. Her fears and her attempts to overcome them are very interesting and help to redeem her a little, but she was so aggravating because no matter what George does, she’s there with a ready excuse for him. And even after she starts falling in love with Brandon, she still insists on wanting to marry George. It was maddening.
With a great hero, fun secondary characters, and an interesting plot, the biggest drawback to The Wrong Marquess is the heroine and her stubborn refusal to accept that George is a bad person, and her irrational fears regarding nearly everything in her life. After a while, the other constant pursuit of Brandon by other women also becomes tedious but not enough to drag down the entire narrative.
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Grade: B
Book Type: Historical Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 30/06/21
Publication Date: 06/2021
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
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Judging from our grades, it looks like the author’s been getting better (though has plateaued at a B)