After eight years of
waiting for Piers Brandon, the wandering Marquess of Granville, to set a
wedding date, Clio Whitmore has had enough. She's inherited a castle,
scraped together some pride, and made plans to break her engagement.Not if Rafe Brandon can help it. A ruthless prizefighter and notorious rake, Rafe is determined that Clio will marry his brother—even if he has to plan the dratted wedding himself.
So how does a hardened fighter cure a reluctant bride's cold feet?
He starts with flowers. A wedding can't have too many flowers. Or harps. Or cakes.
He lets her know she'll make a beautiful, desirable bride—and tries not to picture her as his.
He doesn't kiss her.If he kisses her, he definitely doesn't kiss her again.
When all else fails, he puts her in a stunning gown. And vows not to be nearby when the gown comes off.
And no matter what—he doesn't fall in disastrous, hopeless love with the one woman he can never call his own.
Comment: This is the second book in the Castles Ever After by Tessa Dare. I liked the first book in the series so of course I'd try this one as well. It's also interesting that the hero is the brother of the hero of another book (Do You Want to Start a Scandal) with crosses over two of the series by the author, Castles Ever After and Spindle Cove.
I had already read Do You Want to Start a Scandal which should have been read after this one but, of course, I wasn't aware of it at the time. Nevertheless, this plot is pretty much independent from the other book so no spoilers besides who's protagonist if readers get to these books out of order.
In this story we meet Clio Whitmore, a young woman who has been the fiancée of the marquess of Granville for eight years but it seems the marriage won't ever happen and the to is already mocking Clio for all her wait. She then decides enough is enough when she inherits a castle and no longer needs to rely on a marriage to have a steady life.
The problem is that she needs to annul the engagement and cancel the wedding and for that a formal signature is required. Since her fiancé is in the continent, she searches for his brother, Lord Rafe Granville, for him to do so...
Rafe is a prize fighter and has gained a famous reputation despite his late father's disapproval. He feels he wouldn't ever achieve much so he fought for his money and life. He has always been attracted to Clio but she is promised to his brother. Feeling he can't fail at this too, he tries his best to convince Clio to marry his brother but in the meantime, can he resist her?
This was, unsurprisingly, a very romantic story with a lot of feelings and sweetness involved. The author is known for her sweet and funny style (without getting to silliness) while the protagonists slowly realize they are perfect for each other.
Her stories being historical, there are some rules but this is not the best author for those looking for historical accuracy. Precisely that is what makes her stories engaging and easy to read.
Thinking on this novel from a general point of view, I'd say this was a great story but there were a few details that, for me personally, weren't as well achieved and in the bigger scheme of things, I'd say this book felt it was one little step beneath the previous one in the series.
I liked most of the plot and several parts of it but it was difficult to not wish the situation about the wedding were solved more quickly or that the protagonist didn't have to doubt their potential happy future over some detail after they acknowledged their feelings. Not that these things couldn't be realistic considering what was going on but with such frankness and complicity between them, it felt like the final "conflict" before the HEA was very staged.
The best part of the story (and of the author's writing style?) is obviously how much attention she dedicates to the small things between the main couple. How much we see them interacting, how many scenes we have with them doing things together or in some way related to the other. It makes it look as if they have to be together and they are the perfect match.
I also liked Phoebe, one of Clio's sister and a character I hope might get a story one day. The other characters played their part but none seemed that impressive.
The romance between Clio and Rafe is filled with all the modern devices couple are suppsoed to face nowadays: mutual respect, lengthy conversations, exchange of confidences, trust and many other little things that it's difficult to imagine people back in the 19th century would feel inclind to share or acting in a unlikely behavior. Yes, this puts some readers off, but I think I can abstract myself from that and simply enjoy the story. I do think Clio was quite brave in trying to be happy when she had the means to do so but some of the stories she mentioned regarding how her mother saw her body figure seem a little too convenient for the story.
Rafe was an almost perfect hero, especially by how he thought of the heroine but that second guessing at a certain point, closer to the end, was really dispensable...oh well.
Everything considered, this was a cute story, not as strong for me as others by the author but what a great experience to just spend time reading something sweet and lacking weird or complex mysteries. It could have been better but it was not bad at all.
Grade: 7/10
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