Miss Linnet Berry Thrynne is a Beauty . . . Naturally, she’s betrothed to a Beast.
Piers Yelverton, Earl of Marchant, lives in a castle in Wales where, it is rumored, his bad temper flays everyone he crosses. And rumor also has it that a wound has left the earl immune to the charms of any woman.
Linnet is not just any woman.
She is more than merely lovely: her wit and charm brought a prince to his knees. She estimates the earl will fall madly in love—in just two weeks.
Yet Linnet has no idea of the danger posed to her own heart by a man who may never love her in return.
If she decides to be very wicked indeed . . . what price will she pay for taming his wild heart?
Linnet Thrynne has been compromised. Not only compromised, but she’s carrying a child…or the whole of the Ton believes. She actually only kissed the guy but her reputation is gone, gone, gone. Her family is determined to take care of the situation for her much to her dismay. Linnet’s father and aunt come up with a plan. She will be offered in marriage to a Duke who is determined to keep his bloodline going but unfortunately his son has told him that he’s “incapable” aka impotent. Since Linnet is supposedly pregnant with a duke’s baby and that duke has royal blood he’s all over the match.
Piers Yelverton is in Wales. He is a doctor and uses his castle as a hospital to treat patients. He has a crappy bedside manner and isn’t afraid to tell someone when they’re dying. He figures why beat around the bush, they’re gonna know sooner or later, right? lol Piers has some emotional baggage to say the least mostly to do with his father who was, at one time, an opium addict. He wants nothing to do with his father or anyone that his father chooses to be his bride. When his father shows up with Linnet he knows that there’s no way he’ll be marrying her no matter what his father says. Linnet, however, has her charms – and though they’re not the ones she’s used to using with other aristocrats her sharp tongue and refusal to back down from Piers’s demands start to show her in a different light. One that’s very appealing to Piers.
The pair start a relationship but Piers is still determined to stay unmarried – for his own various reasons. But what happens to Piers’s thoughts when it comes down to losing Linnet forever?
This was one of those books that I really didn’t expect to like. Even though I’d seen a few of my friends giving it high marks it’s really hard for me to like a hero that’s portrayed as an ass. But I read it anyway and I’m so glad that I did.
When I first started the book and read the circumstances around Linnet, her supposed pregnancy and her family’s solution to the problem I was floored. I was kind of saying to myself – wait…she’s not pregnant but everyone thinks she is so you want her to now go and seduce the guy who supposedly got her pregnant so you can then marry her off? What. The. Fuck? I couldn’t quite wrap my head around that one but luckily Linnet knew it was a completely asinine thing to do so she fooled them into thinking that she had done it when she really hadn’t.
Then Linnet gets to Wales and even though Piers had been described as a beast (because of his lack of personality) she was still shocked and dismayed at Piers live and in person. This was the man she was to marry? But Linnet wasn’t one to give up and didn’t back down from Piers and his tirades. In fact it got to the point where she was very much enjoying their bantering and looked forward to it. The two were actually quite the pair and I loved reading their conversations as I just never knew what I was going to get next.
Though the book had the humor and arguing/bantering there was also its fair share of romance but in a non-traditional sense. I actually loved that about this book because we got to see Piers be exactly who he was and still falling in love. He wasn’t a hero that magically became a loving, tender man just because he fell in love. If anything he became more determined not to be that type of mealy mouthed person. Piers definitely isn’t the typical hero but I liked him all the more for it. Linnet was perfect for him. Sure she was a beauty but that wasn’t the focus of the story of Piers’s love for her. Frankly that right there made me want to start the book all over again once I finished (ok, I didn’t but I wanted to! lol)
A well written book with great characters & a great romance – what more could I ask for?
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Great review Tracy! The premise raises my eyebrows as well but the characters sound fantastic. I like my hero cut from a different cloth so Piers is very much a hero I like 😉
There is always something special when a new novel appears from an author that has the track record Eloisa James has managed to build for herself. One would think that she would get in a rut, but she keeps surprising us. I like this review a lot–have not read a great deal of historical romance lately–Regency, that is, but this sounds really good.
I hadn't read anything by Eloisa James before this but I love Beauty/Beast stories so I picked it up. I was impressed. Now I'm picking up some of her backlist.
Leontine – Cut from a different cloth – that's a perfect term for Piers. If you read it I hope you like it!
Dr J – I've only read a few of her books but have liked what I've read. I'll have to look further into her backlist. 🙂
JenM – I really like Beauty and the Beast stories as well and this one was great. I think most tend to think of physically scarred heroes when they think beast so this was a nice change. Glad you liked it as well. 🙂
I just finished this one too! My reviews coming up. Not as good as your's, but says the same thing. Wasn't too into it from the blurb, but gave it and shot and ended up laughing so much. I really liked Linnet.
Great review! 😀
I loved this book! Knew I had to read it when I found out the hero was similar to the character Gregory House from the show. Love that show too. 🙂
Great review Tracy 🙂
Little Alys – I probably wouldn't have read this one if it hadn't been recommended by a good source. I'm so glad I did!
Leslie- I heard about the House similarities before I read the book. She did a good job imitating him. 🙂
Orannia – Thanks!