Guest Review: Tempting the Marquess by Sara Lindsey

The Weston Siblings have been blessed with Shakespearean names and an affinity for impropriety. Prepare to fall in love while discovering how the Westons are won.

While Olivia Weston loves matchmaking and romantic novels, she intends to make a suitable match. But first she wants an adventure, and when given the opportunity to visit a reclusive widower living in a haunted castle, Livvy can’t possibly resist.

After his wife’s death, Jason Traherne, Marquess of Sheldon, shut his heart to everyone but his son, and until now he has succeeded in maintaining his distance. But there’s something about Livvy–her unique blend of sweetness and sensuality—that tempts him beyond all reason.

Though there’s nothing suitable about the feelings he inspires in her, Livvy can’t help falling for the marquess. But can she persuade him to let go of the past and risk his heart again?

Author Sara Lindsey has given historical romance fans another great read! This is the second in her series about the Weston family which was begun in her first book, Promise Me Tonight. I have to say, right up front, that I LOVE these Westons. I tend to like family series – this particular family is interesting, a loving father and a mother that has her nose in one of Shakespeare’s plays most of the time, the siblings have the same kinds of love-hate relationships we all have with our siblings, and the girls are all a bit edgey as characters go simply because their mother and father are, in their own way, living on the edge of propriety. In the first book we met Olivia’s sister, a girl who was considered by the ton to be a “diamond of the first water” or a beauty who is sometimes called “incomparable.” Olivia has no illusions she is in the same category of physical attractiveness, simply because she has always compared herself with her sister and found herself to have fallen short. She’s one of those gorgeous women who can’t seem to see what everyone else sees.

Olivia has traveled to Wales with her Aunt Kate, her mother’s sister, in order to be present at the Christmas & Twelfth Night festivities. The castle is remote, said to be haunted, inhabited by a widower and his son, both of whom are cut off from their local society as well as the larger world of English aristocracy due to the decision of the marquess who is Aunt Kate’s stepson. Aunt Kate together with daughter Charlotte, the marquess’ half-sister, and Olivia Weston have now invaded the solitude of Jason Traherne’s life and domicile. Livvy, as she is known to her friends, has wanted to get to know Jason ever since she has discovered a miniature of the marquess as well as his deceased wife’s diary. Livvy knowing she has ventured into very personal territory, has nevertheless talked her aunt into bringing her to Wales in order to meet this remote and mysterious gentleman.

Jason Traherne has probably never met a woman like Livvy. She overwhelms him with her wit and repartee, her complete openness about her opinions, her intellect, her grasp of life in general, and her covert but ever present disregard for all the social rules. If something doesn’t make sense to Livvy, then she wants nothing to do with it. She is immediately “taken” with Jason’s son and he with her. Before the story ends he is calling her “Mamma-Livvy.” That gives us a good hint as to the direction this story will ultimately take the reader.

Sara Lindsey is a darn good storyteller and from my perspective does not disappoint here. I sometimes get tired of dark, discomfitted, taciturn heros who hang on to their grumpy ways far longer than is good for the flow of the story. Lindsey has let us see Jason’ dark side but she doesn’t keep him in that frame of mind too long. But he has his secrets and these must be exposed and some of the myths upon which he is basing his relationships must be debunked, once again testifying to the truth we all know, even in our own experiences, that genuine, authentic relationship will never survive apart from honesty. Livvy’s love of the mysterious and her penchant for getting into other people’s business gets her in trouble, but Lindsey has a way of bringing all the characters to a good end without seeming to do so according to a pre-arranged formula. One other observation: many authors clog up their stories with pages and pages of internal conversation and mental anguish that, after a while, just seems incidental to the story and the development of the character. I think Lindsey has kept a good balance here and is one of the reasons I really like her writing style.

At the risk of being repetitive, historical romance fans will like this book. Those of us who are becoming acquainted with the Westons will really like this book.

I give this book a 4.75 rating out of 5.

The series:

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place

This book is available from Signet. You can buy it here or here in e-format.