Reviewer: Tracy An Exquisite Marriage (Regency Makeover #3) by Darcie Wilde
Series: Regency Makeover #3
Publisher: Intermix
Publication Date: Mary 17th 2016
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Series Rating:
An Exquisite Marriage
Everyone knows Helene Fitzgerald will never marry. She and her wallflower friends may be on the rise socially, but Helene is still nothing but a sharp-tongued bluestocking who very publically renounced her only marriage offer. Worse, her family is in serious financial trouble. So, how is Helene suddenly attracting the eye of Marcus Endicott, the Duke of Windford and one of England's most eligible aristocrats?
Trapped by his father's long legacy of mistakes, Marcus never thought he'd find a woman he'd want enough to risk his heart. But what began as a contentious friendship has transformed into a passion beyond anything he dreamed possible. Now, Marcus’s old secrets are threatening to destroy everything Helene and her friends have worked for. Can any passion be strong enough to carry Helene and Marcus away from their pasts?
Helene was once engaged but after finding out some horrifying details about her fiancé she ended the engagement loudly and very publically. After that she constantly spoke her mind whether it was proper or not and was then labeled a bluestocking. She doesn’t regret her decision to end the engagement but the money that her fiancé would have brought to her titled but destitute family would have been a godsend.
When she makes a plan with her two friends to increase their social standings she still doesn’t plan on marrying but her friend Adele’s brother, Marcus the Duke of Winford, ends up catching her eye and her heart. When he proposes to Helene and she hears his profession of love she can’t help but accept. Marcus, however, is hiding a big secret and when it comes out it may ruin their budding relationship forever.
This was a sweet novella. I liked all three parts of the Regency Makeover as all the men and women involved in the stories were deserving of the other. Adele, Madelene and Helene were lovely women who had been overlooked by society and I loved that they were doing something about being wallflowers. Not accepting your lot in life and striving to be better is one of my favorite things to read about – especially if it’s a story about women who people have dismissed as “not good enough.”
My only issue with this story, and really with the other two books as well, is that I wanted more from the romance. This was very sweet but it all happened rather quickly. Granted Helene and Marcus interacted well together and once engaged moved their encounters to the bedroom which went well, but I just wanted more. More of that build-up and tension between the two MC’s.
The rest of the story was a good one and one I enjoyed.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Regency Makeover
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