Lady Astrid Everleigh is 25, a bluestocking, and ruined. During her one and only Season she spurned Edmund Cain, Lord Beaumont. He then proceeded to spread lies about her being a wanton harlot and the rest is history. Well now Lord Beaumont has come sniffing back around like the worst sort of alley cat - not for Astrid mind you - but for her younger sister, Isobel. Their parents dead, they're now at the mercy of their uncle who wants to see the match with Beaumont made because "reasons." Well Astrid isn't about to let that happen. The odious man ruined one sister, he's not getting his claws into poor, sweet Isobel. There's only one viable solution - Astrid needs to marry and quickly. Then Isobel's fate would be for her husband to decide - and Astrid has the perfect candidate. Someone powerful and with a fearsome reputation. Someone who will frighten the bejesus out of her uncle and Beaumont to the point where they'd have to back off. And that someone is Lord Nathaniel "Thane" Harte, Duke of Beswick - AKA The Beast of Beswick.
Nearly killed in the war, Thane returned home severely wounded and scarred. "The spare" - his father took one look at his hideously disfigured son and expired of a heart attack. Then his older brother, the heir, dies in a riding accident - leaving Thane with a dukedom he never wanted but now has. He's hidden himself away leaving the gossiping ton to tell all manner of stories. He spends his days destroying his father's priceless porcelain collection with a cricket bat and being belligerent towards his servants. And now in waltzes Lady Astrid, bold as brass, proposing a marriage of convenience. It's the last thing he expects, the last thing he wants, but the very thing he needs.
This is a perfectly pleasant Regency historical that follows the typical "lighthearted" formula. There's the servants who act familiar, the snarling hero whose bark is worse than his bite, the blue-stocking heroine with a quick wit, a delightfully bawdy Aunt, and enough verbal jousting to melt even the most cynical of reader hearts. I liked most of the secondary characters and I loved Thane and Astrid together. They're truly a delight when they're on page together.
So where did it all go wrong? Well it went on and on and on and on forever. Seriously. Like I never thought I was going to finish reading it. Amazon says the print version clocks in at 384 pages and it reads like it. Oh man does it read like it. This book easily could have lost 84 pages and been the better for it. Heck, it could have probably lost a solid 100 and been dynamite. But as it is it drags on to the point that the witty banter and light historical vibe soon starts to resemble an anvil hanging around my neck, my eyes glaze over, and Dear Lord when is this book going to end?!
Honestly this was probably around a B/B- for me for the first half, but the longer it drags on, the more the pacing pulls out like salt water taffy at the county fair, any good will I had started to die a slow, agonizing death. To make matters worse, I pretty much spent the whole book wanted to smack Isobel - which means while I might be inclined to read another book by this author, it surely is not going to be the next book in this series. I barely tolerated her as a secondary character, I can't imagine slogging through a whole book where she's the heroine.
In the end this is promising but needed a much more ruthless editor. Someone to slash and burn meaningless scenes and tighten up the entire proceedings. In other words, this needed to be a Harlequin Historical. It did not need to be 384 pages of indulgence that turned into slogging funeral dirge. Promising but ultimately a trial.
Final Grade = C
