NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERMary Balogh presents two of her classic Regency-era romances—seductive tales of ladies who are running away from love . . . and rogues who enjoy the chase. A COUNTERFEIT BETROTHAL Lady Sophia Bryant has no intention of marrying anytime soon. Her one desire is to reunite her parents, who have been estranged for fourteen years. Surely, if she happens to announce her … years. Surely, if she happens to announce her betrothal—even a false one—they will be forced to see each other. Devilishly handsome Lord Francis Sutton seems perfect for such deceit, always agreeable to games of passion in which he has nothing to lose. The trap is set—if only Lady Sophia can keep her foolish heart from falling prey to her brilliant snares.
THE NOTORIOUS RAKE
Lord Edmund Waite is everything that Lady Mary Gregg despises: lewd, lascivious, mocking—the most incorrigible and successful rogue around. A bluestocking like her would never tempt a man whose taste runs to pretty playthings—so Mary is startled to find herself the object of Lord Edmund’s desires. Even more surprising is her reaction to his shocking advances. She may be a lady, but this man knows so well how to make her feel like a woman.
Includes excerpts of The Proposal and The Arrangement by Mary Balogh
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A Counterfeit Betrothal
Overall:
Plot/Storyline:
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Emotional Depth:
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Romance:
Sensuality:
Intimate Scene Length:
Steam Scale (Number of Scenes): (I never really know how to rate these ones – there are 3 scenes but they are very short and vague. They are open door though, so I’ll give 1 flame
Humor: Yes
Should I read in order?
I didn’t read Waite #1 – I actually read book 3 first then went back to book 2. It’s probably better in order, as like many of her series, there’s the flow of relationships over the course of the series. This book has some brief mentions of the heroine of book 3, though she’s a pretty big plot point of their relationship. That said, I was fine reading out of order for this series (Just depends how much of a stickler you are for that!)
Basic plot:
Sophia’s parents have been estranged for most of her life (14 years). She comes up with a plan with her friends to create a false betrothal to pull her parents together and Francis is ready and willing to play the game with her.
Give this a try if you want:
– Dual story line – we have Sophie and Francis (Sophie is 18, Francis in his 20s, I assume) who are putting on the fake betrothal and we have Marcus and Livy, that have been married 19 years but estranged for 14 of those. (Livy is 36 and Marcus is 40)
– Enemies to lovers feel – lots of banter between Francis and Sophie – and also fake relationship
– Second chance romance between Marcus and Livy
– Not a lot of action here – the focus is on the relationship development of the couples
My thoughts:
I really enjoyed parts of this book and really disliked parts of this book. I did enjoy Sophie and Francis a lot. It was just funny and cute and sweet. We didn’t get time in Francis’ head (which would have given away his feelings) but the whole thing was just a hoot that I quite enjoyed.
My frustration came from Livy and Marcus. Their story is heartbreaking – Marcus makes a mistake fairly early in their marriage and they have both paid for it dearly for a decade. They are brought together by their daughter’s (fake) engagement, and spend time together for the first time since the incident. The story flips between the two couples, working on a HEA for both of them.
So “the incident” is Marcus goes out drinking with his friends and he gets roped into having a prostitute. He didn’t enjoy it and feels horrible. He tells Livy, who is obviously devastated. She refused to forgive him and he gives up after writing her daily for 6 months and they live separate lives.
I could get behind this – it was gut wrenching. But then when they come together, they hardly talk. They size each other up and make comments, they continue to hurt and make assumptions about each other. It was painful and I just wanted a bit more openness between them. They are intimate a few times (I think it’s 3 times) and every time I was hoping for some jump in their relationship but it kind of stayed stagnant.
What Livy keeps from the hero at the end of the story is a personal peeve of mine. I just think that’s so unfair and the time lost during those months is heart breaking.
The Notorious Rake
Overall:
Plot/Storyline:
Feels:
Emotional Depth:
Tension:
Romance:
Sensuality:
Intimate Scene Length:
Steam Scale (Number of Scenes):
Humor: Yes, a bit
Basic plot
When Mary meets Lord Edmund she finds nothing to like. He, however, is quite captivated by the widow, and soon finds himself doing what he can to get her to notice him.
Give this a try if you want:
– Lower steam – there’s 3 open door scenes but one is very short and vague, the other 2 are also pretty brief but I’m willing to count them
– Enemies to lovers feel – these two don’t get along, more Mary doesn’t like Edmund and pushes him away for much of the book
– Regency time period
– Hero loves first and pursues the heroine
– Experienced, widow heroine
– House party!
– You have to be okay with some questionable consent – discussed below – and also with a bit of a love triangle
My thoughts:
I’ll admit this one was rough for me. The characters don’t get a long for much of the book. The way their relationship begins was a big downer for me. And it concludes with a love triangle. So, a lot of not my favorite things in one story.
I found Edmund hard to like. There is a change in him over the book, but I guess I had a lasting negative first impression. There’s a lot of talk about how not pretty the heroine is, how he could never be attracted to her. But the first thing he does, when he barely knows her name is take advantage of her. The first two scenes in the book are towards the beginning and it completely ruined any tension that might have formed for me in the relationship.
The heroine has an extreme fear of storms. They barely know each other and she’s out of her mind with fright and that’s when we get our first scenes. It just set the tone for the story in a negative way for me and broke any tension the story might have had. As it progressed, their constant dislike of each other combined with another man introduced to form a love triangle for the heroine just make this book unpalatable for me.