#marquess of bourne

[beautifulbookishdisaster]

"You were to take her home." "The lady is rather... unbiddable." "Thank you. That might well be the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me."

Sarah McLean, A Rogue by Any Other Name

[mermaidsirennikita]

Can you rec more books with the hero and the revenge plot but of course falling in love in the process?

For sure!

Historical:

The Return of the Duke by Lorraine Heath. The hero in this book lost his title/family when his father was convicted of treason. So it's a matter of both revenge and proving his father innocent (both because dad and because title) and getting some revenge, and the heroine HAPPENS to have been his father's mistress. HOT.

Glory and the Master of Shadows by Grace Callaway. Wei isn't out to get revenge against GLORY, but an extremely traumatic backstory and a desire for vengeance is very much a part of this story. Fun fact: Grace was in part inspired by wuxia with this book, and that is SO COOL and you can see it as you read the book. Vengeance is something you see featuring in a lot of wuxia films.

The Marquess Makes His Move by Diana Quincy. The hero in this book is both getting revenge and getting validation against the heroine's husband, as he fucked him out of his land, I believe? So he's disguised as a footman while doing so. But oops, now sexual tension is developing between the hero and that horrible dude's wife...

Never Seduce a Duke by Vivienne Lorret. As far as the hero knows, the heroine stole a priceless book from him (an Arthurian cookbook, it's crazy) and he comes upon her years later and wants the book/revenge. However.... they did fuck before she seemingly ran... and he did leave behind a bit of a SURPRISE with her...

The Prince of Broadway by Joanna Shupe. Clay agrees to teach Florence how to operate a casino (she wants to open one for ladies) while secretly plotting revenge against her father. Yet, oops: he played himself.

Beyond Scandal and Desire by Lorraine Heath. The classic book in which Mick Trewlove sets out to seduce his legitimate brother's fiancee as a part of his long-term revenge against his father.

A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean. My favorite MacLean--Bourne knew Penelope when they were kids, and then lost everything in a gambling situation. Years later, he returns and forces her to marry him as a part of his revenge plot wherein he's collecting all his land again (part of which is now connected to her dowry).

She Tempts the Duke by Lorraine Heath. This isn't a revenge against the heroine situation, but the hero is consumed by a desire for revenge after his uncle tried to kill him and his brothers when they were young--the heroine was his childhood sweetheart. It's like one of those things where he needs to decide if he can let himself love her or if he's going to be obsessed with vengeance, and it's honestly really lovely.

A Rose at Midnight by Anne Stuart. The HEROINE wants revenge against the hero because he essentially abandoned her and her family to the Reign of Terror. She actually tries to kill him at the beginning of the book. Check your triggers, but it's deliciously good.

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished by Sarah MacLean. The hero wants revenge against the heroine... after he finds out she's still alive... because she accidentally framed him for her murder....

Again the Magic by Lisa Kleypas. McKenna and Aline fall in love as teens, but her father forces her to send him away. McKenna seethes in raaaage for years, then comes back as a successful businessman to seek revenge against Aline.

What I Did for a Duke by Julie Anne Long. The hero in this one was cucked by the heroine's brother... so he decides to seduce and ruin the heroine as revenge. Unfortunately for him, she gets wise FAST.

Shadowheart by Laura Kinsale. Allegreto is motivated by a desire for vengeance and, you know, dominating part of Italy. He forces Elena to marry him to further his plans, only to find that she's his weakness. Check your triggers!

The Last Crimes of Peregrine Hind by Sierra Simone. M/m edition. Peregrine kidnaps the dandy hero for revenge, and essentially, bargaining and BDSM ensue.

The Madness of Viscount Atherbourne by Elisa Braden. The hero compromises (ruins, really) and marries the heroine as vengeance against her brother, who killed HIS brother in a duel.

The Ranger by Monica McCarty. The hero in this one is a spy behind enemy lines--and those enemy lines are run by the guy who murdered his father. And the heroine... is that guy's daughter. Fab.

Paranormal:

Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison. The hero, a godlike dragon shifter, kidnaps the heroine to get revenge on her for stealing from his horde. The theft is one penny. Fortunately for her, he is quickly like "SHE IS THE PRETTIEST GIRL IN THE WOOOORLD".

Lothaire by Kresley Cole. Lothaire's entire motivation is a 67-step plot to reclaim TWO different vampire thrones, as revenge for being disinherited and also losing his mother, because of course he has mommy issues. Acquiring his Bride and getting his full power is a part of that, which is why he kidnaps Ellie and plans on destroying her soul to install the goddess he thinks is his REAL Bride, because his Bride can't be a hillbilly, right???? (he's an idiot and I love him)

Dark/Mafia:

Mafia Madman by Mila Finelli. Enzo kidnaps Gia in order to get revenge against her brother-in-law, Fausto, for blowing up his life. Unfortunately, Gia is an amazing nightmare woman and therefore his perfect match. This stands alone, but I do think it's better if you read Mafia Mistress and Mafia Darling first. They're both so fun.

King's Captive by Amber Bardan. The hero kills the heroine's father and then sweeps her away to his private island... ostensibly for revenge. The twist ends up being what he's seeking revenge FOR. Notable for the "sensually masturbate to the mixtape I gave you while I stand on the other side of the door".

Fantasy:

The Winter King by C.L. Wilson. Wynter began a literally war to start a war against the heroine's family, as they killed his family. The war ends, he marries the heroine as a part of the treaty, but he isn't done with the whole vengeance thing yet...

A Heart of Blood and Ashes by Milla Vane. The hero wants revenge against the heroine's father for a similar reason--killed his family. The heroine, however, offers to marry him and help him seek revenge because she wants her own revenge. Famously, this is the one where she jacks the hero off using her brother's blood as lube. It's INCREDIBLE.

[my-romance-library]

'The Rules of Scoundrels' series - Sarah MacLean

A Rogue by Any Other Name #1

A decade ago, the Marquess of Bourne was cast from society with nothing but his title. Now a partner in London’s most exclusive gaming hell, the cold, ruthless Bourne will do whatever it takes to regain his inheritance—including marrying perfect, proper Lady Penelope Marbury.

A broken engagement and years of disappointing courtships have left Penelope with little interest in a quiet, comfortable marriage, and a longing for something more. How lucky that her new husband has access to such unexplored pleasures.

Bourne may be a prince of London’s underworld, but he vows to keep Penelope untouched by its wickedness—a challenge indeed as the lady discovers her own desires, and her willingness to wager anything for them... even her heart.

/Marriage of convenience, friends to lovers

“I’m going to corrupt you,” he promised her skin, one hand sliding down the swell of her stomach, feeling the way the muscles there tensed and quivered at his touch. “I’m going to turn you from light to dark, from good to bad. I’m going to ruin you.” She didn’t care. She was his. He owned her in this moment, with this touch. “And do you know how it will feel?”

She sighed the word this time. “Splendid.”

//

One Good Earl Deserves a Lover #2

The bespectacled, brilliant fourth daughter of the Marquess of Needham and Dolby cares more for books than balls, flora than fashion and science than the season. Nearly engaged to Lord Castleton, Pippa wants to explore the scandalous parts of London she's never seen before marriage. And she knows just who to ask: the tall, charming, quick-witted bookkeeper of The Fallen Angel, London's most notorious and coveted gaming hell, known only as Cross.

Like any good scientist, Pippa's done her research and Cross's reputation makes him perfect for her scheme. She wants science without emotion—the experience of ruination without the repercussions of ruination. And who better to provide her with the experience than this legendary man?

But when this odd, unexpected female propositions Cross, it's more than tempting... and it will take everything he has to resist following his instincts—and giving the lady precisely what she wants.

/neuro-divergent FMC

Looking up at his wild grey eyes, she whispered, “My whole life . . . two and two has made four.”

He nodded, utterly focused on her, and she loved him all over again for paying attention . . . for understanding her.

“But now . . . it’s all gone wrong.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t make four anymore. It makes you.”

[sarah-maclean-completist]

72 Shelton Street A Rogue By Any Other Name A Scot in the Dark Adelaide Frampton Alec Stuart, Duke of Warnick Allendale House Aloysius Kingscote, Marquess of Eversley Benedick Hartwell Bombshell Brazen and the Beast Brook's Businesses Caleb Calhoun Coleford House Daring and the Duke Devon Culm Duncan West Eben James Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke's Heart Ewan Felicity Faircloth Georgiana Pearson Grace Condry Greek Mythology Heartbreaker Hell's Belles Henrietta Sedley Henry Carrington, Duke of Clayborn Heroes Heroines Homes Jacqueline Mosby James Talbott Jane Whitacre Jasper Arlesey, Earl Harlow Juliana Fiori Lady Calpurnia (Callie) Hartwell Lady Isabel Townsend Lillian Hargrove Locations Lord Gabriel St. John, Marquess of Ralston Lord Nicholas St. John Love By Numbers MacLeaniverse Wiki Madame Hebert Madame Hebert's Main Page Malcolm Bevingstoke, Duke of Haven Mara Lowe Mariana Hartwell Michael Lawler, Marquess of Bourne Minerva House Nastasia Kritikos Never Judge a Lady By Her Cover Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake No Good Duke Goes Unpunished Number Two, Wesley Street One Good Earl Deserves a Lover Penelope Marbury Philippa Marbury Punch Ralston House Rules of Scoundrels Saviour Whittington Scandal & Scoundrel Seraphina Talbot Sesily Talbot Simon Pearson, Duke of Leighton Somerset House Sophie Talbot Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord The Bareknuckle Bastards The Day of the Duchess The Dog and the Dove The Duke of Christmas Present The Fallen Angel The Place The Rogue Not Taken The Singing Sparrow Theatre Royal Timeline Trevescan House Wicked and the Wallflower William Harrow, Duke of Lamont Worthington House

[romanceaholic02]

A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean: High Stakes, Hot Scoundrels, and a Lady Who's Ready to Play

Listen up, Romanceaholics! A Rogue by Any Other Name serves us a delicious mix of revenge, passion, and one heck of a reformed rogue. Michael, the Marquess of Bourne, was cast out from high society and built his fortune as one of London’s most ruthless gaming hell owners. Now, he’s back to reclaim what was stolen by marrying Lady Penelope Marbury, a “proper” lady who’s sick of propriety and…

[starry-sky-stuff]

Historical Romance Recommendations

I've been talking with @missbrunettebarbie about different historical romance novels and I thought, since I've read a lot recently, that it would be fun to make some recommendations. Here it goes.

Marriage of Convenience:

Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas: Sebastian needs to marry an heiress to save him from financial ruin. Evie needs to marry to escape her abusive family, so she offers Sebastian a marriage of convenience.

The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare: After his fiancee leaves him because of his scars, the Duke of Ashford is intent on finding a new bride and getting an heir. Fortunately for him, seamstress Emma Gladstone turns up on his doorstep in a wedding dress and his problems are solved when she agrees to his offer of a marriage of convenience.

Lovers That Start Off Antagonistic:

To Love and to Loathe by Martha Walters: Diana and Jeremy have spent most of their shared moments bickering. So, when Jeremy’s latest mistress critiques his skills in the bedroom, he knows just where to turn to for some honest feedback.

It Happened One Autumn by Lisa Kleypas: Westcliffe is a stodgy, stuffy earl. Lillian is a forthright, opinionated American heiress. Its dislike, and attraction, on sight.

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished by Sarah Maclean: Eight years prior, Mara kind of accidentally framed Temple for her murder and disappeared. Needless to say, when she returns to clear his name in exchange for forgiving her brother’s debts, they don’t exactly get along.

Childhood Friends:

A Rogue By Any Other Name by Sarah Maclean: Penelope and Bourne were childhood friends until his financial ruin broke them apart. When Penelope’s father attaches Bourne’s ancestral estate to her dowry, he returns to marry her, regain the estate, and ruin the man who ruined him.

A Rogue of One’s Own by Evie Dunmore: Lucie has known Tristan since childhood and always regarded him as a dissolute rake. Tristan has been equally entranced by Lucie. When he buys half the shares in the publishing company she’s purchased to publish a suffragette report, he offers to sell her his shares in exchange for a night with him.

Friends to Lovers:

My Fake Rake by Eva Leigh: Grace and Sebastian have been friends for years, both having feelings for the other unbeknownst to them. Grace has pined over another man for years and to get his attention she plans to turn Sebastian into a rake to fake date.

The Duke Who Loved Me by Jane Ashford: When James Cantrell inherits an estate from his hoarder uncle, he plans to marry Cecelia, his childhood friend and the daughter of the man named trustee of his estate. Cecelia, who’s had feelings for James for years, doesn’t take well to his offer of a marriage of convenience. After being rejected, James decides to court Cecelia for real.

Second Chance Romance:

The Day of the Duchess by Sarah MacLean: Malcolm and Seraphina’s marriage has been shrouded in heartbreak and betrayal, but when Seraphina returns to get a divorce Malcolm is determined to win her back.

Female Leads That Are Widows:

When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn: Francesca Bridgerton was happily married to John Stirling when he tragically died. Michael, his cousin and best friend and certified rake, was in love with Francesca and fled after John’s death. Years later, Francesca has decided to have a baby and needs a man to do it.

Waiting for a Scot Like You by Eva Leigh: Beatrice is a widow intent on enjoying her freedom…by attending an orgy at a country estate, unbeknownst to her escort Duncan McCameron. Obviously, hijinks ensue. This one is interesting because Beatrice is older than Duncan and they’re happy ending doesn’t include marriage.

Books Where the Lead Has a Job:

Forever Your Earl by Eva Leigh: Eleanor Hawke owns a gossip rag and the Earl of Ashford is one of her favourite subjects. So, when the Earl marches into her office angered by the reports of his whereabouts they reach an agreement that she will shadow him during his illicit activities to get an accurate report and so he can keep her from discovering his real objective of searching for his best friend.

Scandal Takes the Stage by Eva Leigh: Maggie Delamere is a one of Cameron, Viscount Marwood’s favourite playwrights and completely uninterested in noblemen because of her past experiences. Plagued by writer’s block, Maggie reluctantly takes up Cam’s offer to use his country’s estate as a writer’s retreat.

Temptations of a Wallflower by Eva Leigh: Lady Sarah Frampton is known in society as the Watching Wallflower, but for years she’s been secretly writing erotic fiction under the pseudonym The Lady of Dubious Quality. Jeremy Cleland, a clergyman, is tasked with unmasking the author by his domineering father. Unbeknownst to him, the women he’s growing closer to is the person he’s trying to unmask.

The Rules of Scoundrels series by Sarah MacLean centres of the owners of a gambling den, so they're all employed

Books That Involve a Mystery:

The Duke Dynasty by Sabrina Jeffries: This series of four books centres on the family of Dowager Duchess of Armitage, who was married to three Dukes, all of whom died in mysterious circumstances. The central mystery of the series is finding out who killed the husbands and why.

Do You Want to Start a Scandal by Tessa Dare: Charlotte and Piers were caught together alone in the library, then accused of having a scandalous tryst. To avoid being forced to marry, they must discover who the real culprits are.

A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem by Manda Collins: Lady Katherine Bascomb is a newspaper columnist reporting on crime when someone gets murdered at the house party she’s attending. Andrew Eversham is the detective on the case, whose career was damaged by Bascomb's reporting.

Series Centred on Female Friendship:

The Wallflowers series by Lisa Kleypas

A League of Extraordinary Women series by Evie Dunmore

Girls Who Dare series by Emma V Leech

Books Where the Female Lead Isn’t a Virgin:

Bringing Down a Duke by Evie Dunmore

Forever Your Earl by Eva Leigh

The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt

When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn

Thief of Shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt

Never Judge a Lady By Her Cover by Sarah MacLean

Rake Romances:

Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas

To Love and to Loathe by Martha Walters

A Rogue of One’s Own by Evie Dunmore

When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn

Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas

Forever Your Earl by Eva Leigh

Scandal Takes the Stage by Eva Leigh

Say Yes to the Marquess by Tessa Dare

Non-Rake Romances:

Thief of Shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt

My Fake Rake by Eva Leigh

Temptations of a Wallflower by Eva Leigh

Lord of Darkness by Elizabeth Hoyt

If you want any other book recs, feel free to ask

[mediaevalmusereads]

A Rogue By Any Other Name. By Sarah MacLean. New York: Avon, 2012.

Rating: 2/5 stars

Genre: historical romance

Part of a Series? Yes, The Rules of Scoundrels #1

Summary: A decade ago, the Marquess of Bourne was cast from society with nothing but his title. Now a partner in London’s most exclusive gaming hell, the cold, ruthless Bourne will do whatever it takes to regain his inheritance—including marrying perfect, proper Lady Penelope Marbury. A broken engagement and years of disappointing courtships have left Penelope with little interest in a quiet, comfortable marriage, and a longing for something more. How lucky that her new husband has access to such unexplored pleasures. Bourne may be a prince of London’s underworld, but he vows to keep Penelope untouched by its wickedness—a challenge indeed as the lady discovers her own desires, and her willingness to wager anything for them... even her heart.

***Full review under the cut.***

Content Warnings: explicit sexual content, gambling

Overview: I don’t know how to rate this book. On the one hand, MacLean has a knack for writing addictive romances, and I found the heroine to be fairly complex and the crux of the plot to be compelling; but on the other hand, there were a lot of tropes I personally do not care for in this book, so enjoying it fully was difficult. I ultimately settled on giving A Rogue by Any Other Name 2 stars because of my subjective experience, not necessarily because MacLean is bad at her craft.

Writing: I found MacLean’s prose to be fairly well-crafted; not only does it flow well, but it also balances showing and telling. Sentences and descriptions are lush and emotive when they need to be, and slow and sensual when appropriate. MacLean also paces her novel fairly well; on the whole, the story (and sentences) moves along at a quick pace that doesn’t feel rushed, and moments that were more emotionally weighty felt like they had room to breathe.

Perhaps the most interesting thing MacLean does with her book’s structure is insert small excerpts of letters in between scenes or between chapters. These letters are written primarily from the heroine’s point of view, showing her attempts to write to the hero from the time he goes away to Eton to almost the present day. In my opinion, these letters were a good way to show that the heroine had a long history of trying to reach the hero, and I think it worked better than MacLean simply telling the reader in some flashback or climatic scene.

Plot: The main plot of this book follows Michael (the Marquess of Bourne) as he seeks revenge on Viscount Langford, the man who took his entire inheritance in a game of cards. After nearly ten years, he finds that Langford has lost his lands to the Marquess of Needham and Dolby, who has added them to his eldest daughter’s dowry. Bourne thus traps the eldest daughter in a compromising situation which forces them to wed, and he must devise a way to get back at Langford while also dealing with the angst that his marriage stirs up. Not only is his wife, Penelope, one of his dearest childhood friends, but Langford’s son is the third part to their inseparable childhood trio. Bourne must thus figure out whether revenge or love for his childhood friends is more important.

On top of that, Bourne is notorious for not only losing his inheritance, but for building back his fortune by running one of London’s most dangerous gambling dens. His reputation, as well as the scandal should the circumstances of his marriage leak out, is sure to cause harm to Penelope’s family by making it impossible for her younger sisters to marry.

Honestly, I was pretty intrigued by this plot. The question of what matters more, revenge or love, was a really interesting promise with a lot of potential for angst and moral dilemma. I think in general, MacLean handled the plot well by making Penelope a formidable force and making the details of the drama feel real. The thing I really didn’t like, however, was how the initial “marriage trap” went down. Bourne puts Penelope in a compromising situation by having her spend the night alone with him. To her credit, she tries to escape, and Bourne was 100% a horrible person for making her stay with him. I honestly felt like that wasn’t the problem, since it created high stakes and a flaw that Bourne had to atone for. Where it went wrong for me was in Bourne’s character and his actions. I think if Bourne had just blocked the door and prevented Penelope from leaving their shared room, it would have been sufficiently bad, but Bourne also picks up Penelope and spanks her before ripping her dress so that even if she escapes, she’s well and truly ruined. To me, picking up a woman and spanking her feels infantilizing, and it’s a misogynistic flaw that I simply can’t get over. I also feel like ripping her dress and exposing her constitutes sexual assault, and I couldn’t get over that either.

Characters: Penelope, our heroine, is fairly likeable at the start. She’s the eldest in a line of daughters whose spinsterhood threatens to ruin her sisters’ chances at finding matches, and her dilemma between doing right by her family and doing something for her own happiness was a compelling one. I liked that she was sharp-tongued to the point where she would say or withhold things from Bourne to hurt him; it made her seem flawed without being overly petty, mainly because most of the things that hurt him were borne out of her frustration over her situation. The main thing I didn’t like about her was that she didn’t seem to have any female friends, and when she met another woman who was beautiful or who may have shown interest in Bourne, she got absurdly jealous. To MacLean’s credit, Penelope never acts in hostility towards other women and eventually develops a kind of friendship with Bourne’s gorgeous housekeeper, but I found this jealousy over a man who does nothing but hurt her disappointing.

Bourne, our hero, is an archetype that I really don’t like: self-hating, brooding, controlling, and violent. While I liked his revenge vs love dilemma, I hated that he was self-loathing to the point of destroying everything around him (when he could have easily just... not). I think more could have been done to make him a selfish, obsessive, manipulating character without making him so controlling of Penelope. His actions regarding their marriage are bad enough; I really didn’t need him to try to control Penelope’s life by giving her no control over the household, over where she goes, etc. and I really didn’t need him to be so violent and jealous that he thought about murdering anyone who so much looked at Penelope.

To be honest, I was hoping Penelope would run away from Bourne and end up with Tommy, a childhood friend who seems to treat her with genuine kindness and worries about her happiness. Tommy was interesting in that he loves Penelope as a brother would, not as a suitor, and respects her decisions even if they are obviously toxic or self-destructive.

Other characters were interesting for their potential to offer commentary. I liked Penelope’s sisters, who embody different personality types and have different views on marriage and scandal. Watching Penelope worry for them was honestly touching, and provided unique opportunities for reflecting on romantic expectations versus realities. Bourne’s colleagues at the gambling den were also pretty great in that they seemed to be more respectful of Penelope than Bourne was. I liked that they called Bourne out for his behavior and didn’t try to control Penelope on his behalf.

Langford, our primary antagonist, wasn’t present enough for me to have an opinion one way or the other. Honestly, I didn’t feel that much animosity towards him - he was an ass for taking the entire inheritance from a 21 year old, but I felt like the blame was more on Bourne. I only reveled in his eventual demise because he got pretty sexist in the final showdown.

Romance: I’m going to just say it: I wasn’t rooting for Penelope and Bourne to be together. Most of their “love story” involved a lot of manipulative, controlling behavior on Bourne’s part, which would have been something to atone for and could have been a good story had Penelope not forgotten about it the instant Bourne showed some basic human decency. A lot of their fights consisted of Bourne being manipulative, Penelope realizing that everything he does is for selfish reasons, then forgetting it because she finds him attractive or because he does something nice. There was no acknowledgment or atonement for him hurting her or using her, and Penelope decides she loves Bourne because he raised himself above his scandal by building back his fortune. For some reason, she finds that admirable, but because we see Bourne ruining people in the same way he was ruined at the beginning of the book, I couldn’t see him in the way Penelope did.

Bourne’s redemption also felt pretty empty. Throughout the whole book, there’s this constant lamentation that he’s not good enough for Penelope, that he will only cause her ruin, but he wants her anyway. He’s also so obsessed with revenge that everything he does hurts Penelope, whether it be ignoring her happiness or going after Langford by way of Tommy. Instead of a slow, steady process where he comes to value love over revenge and where he makes up for all the hurt he caused her, he seems to turn on a dime with maybe 25% left of the book. Honestly, I found their whole romance exhausting after the first hundred pages, and I wished there was more of a gradual ennobling of Bourne’s character, rather than the self-indulgent pity party he seems to exhibit.

TL;DR: Even though A Rogue By Any Other Name has quick, witty prose and an interesting crux at the heart of the plot, the self-loathing, controlling hero and exhausting romance ultimately prevented me from enjoying this book.

[darlingofdots]

Most of my thesis writing yesterday and today has been spent roasting A Rogue by Any Other Name’s Marquess of Bourne for being a shit husband, and I don’t think I’ve enjoyed any other part of this thesis as much

[inclineto]

Books, October - December 2018

Unmasked by the Marquess - Cat Sebastian

The Fated Sky - Mary Robinette Kowal

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie - Alan Bradley

Dear Committee Members - Julie Schumacher

It Takes Two to Tumble - Cat Sebastian [I feel the author has not sufficiently considered the general unruliness of ducks]

The Shakespeare Requirement - Julie Schumacher [Retcon or gaslighting? You be the judge!]

Sourdough - Robin Sloan [suprisingly weird; amazingly charming]

Dining In - Alison Roman [if a hipster were a cookbook, what cookbook would they be?]

Adventures in the Anthropocene: A Journey to the Heart of the Planet We Made - Gaia Vince [quite possibly the chirpiest book ever written about adaptation, climate change, and global inequities: at first merely jarring, then a little creepy, and eventually - sometime in the midst of “we spoiled mountains; we spoiled rivers; we spoiled oceans and forests and savannahs and farmland and deserts and rocks (we spoiled rocks!!!)” - the cumulative effect is hugely depressing]

Transcription - Kate Atkinson [Wait. What???]

The Ruin of a Rake - Cat Sebastian [!!! I was going to give up because C.S. never quite writes the book I wanted, BUT THEN SHE DID.]

The Mere Wife - Maria Dahvana Headley

The Magpie Lord - KJ Charles

A Gentleman’s Position - KJ Charles

Beyond the Map: Unruly Enclaves, Ghostly Places, Emerging Lands and Our Search for New Utopias - Alastair Bonnett

Tris’s Book - Tamora Pierce 

All Systems Red - Martha Wells

The Water Cure - Sophie Mackintosh

A Gentleman Never Keeps Score - Cat Sebastian [Oh. NOPE. (dnf)]

Melmoth - Sarah Perry

Just Vibrations - The Purpose of Sounding Good - William Cheng

The Henchmen of Zenda - KJ Charles (dnf)

The Portable Veblen - Elizabeth McKenzie

Ghosts of Greenglass House - Kate Milford * [don’t you dare read this without reading Greenglass House first]

A Musician’s Alphabet - Susan Tomes

A Seditious Affair - KJ Charles [yes, again, shhhh]

A Fashionable Indulgence - KJ Charles

Band Sinister - KJ Charles [281 deliciously frothy pages of swelling film score ~*feelings*~ with a lot of cheerful despoiling and the gentlest possible version of Us Against the Unfair World; it’s escapist and a bit melodramatic and I LOVED IT]

Niccolo Rising - Dorothy Dunnett

A Pocketful of Crows - Joanne M. Harris

Stone Mad - Elizabeth Bear

The Beauty - Aliya Whiteley

The Story of Kullervo - J.R.R. Tolkien

Affinity - Sarah Waters *

A Key to Treehouse Living - Elliot Reed

Not All Dead White Men: Classics and Misogyny in the Digital Age - Donna Zuckerberg

Nowherelands: An Atlas of Vanished Countries, 1840-1975 - Bjorn Berge

Red Clocks - Leni Zumas

Clouds of Witness - Dorothy L. Sayers

Mapping Society: The Spatial Dimensions of Social Cartography - Laura Vaughan (dnf)

Letters from Father Christmas - J.R.R. Tolkien

Unfit to Print - KJ Charles

Chemistry - Weike Wang

A Princess in Theory - Alyssa Cole

Beauty Like the Night - Joanna Bourne

Confessions of the Fox - Jordy Rosenberg [my god, I tried, and there are some fantastic passages, but the trouble here is that picaresque pastiche allows absolutely zero room for error (dnf)]

When Katie Met Cassidy - Camille Perri

Sylvester, or, The Wicked Uncle - Georgette Heyer [because once you’ve read two takes on the Sylvester plotline in the same quarter, you may as well just go ahead and (happily) reread Sylvester]

[hell-yeahfilm]

TO LOVE AND TO LOATHE

Diana Bourne decided at age 18 that in order to make her way in the world, a viscountess with no significant dowry had better marry money. And since Diana never really expected much more from the "addlepated" male gender, it really didn't matter who. Of course, her cheeks blush in the presence of Jeremy Overington, the Marquess of Willingham. But though he's blond and beautiful, he's also broke, a notorious rake, and a very poor candidate. Besides, when they're together, they spend all their time trading witty insults. Five years pass, and Diana, who succeeded in marrying well, is now Lady Templeton, a widow and—with her ample bosom and "elegant slouch"—the toast of the ton. But Diana's older husband, the viscount, was never much in the feathers, and she wonders how she can gain some new passionate experience. Diana doesn't want to marry again. Why would she? She's young, free, and wealthy. As romantic novels would have it, Jeremy also needs some help. The married mistress he just spurned has intimated that he might not be the lover he thought he was. Jeremy asks Diana to spend time at his country pile, Elderwild, with a bunch of fashionable 20-something couples and his grandmother, the outspoken Marchioness of Willingham. And would she mind giving him her opinion of his bedroom technique? Interestingly for romance, though Lady Di loves his kisses, she's critical of his finger work. And she guides him on how best to make sure his future lovers are not faking it. Through traded barbs and some overly frenetic plotting, the lovers come to understand that the uncaring faces they present to society are not the people they really are. Waters introduces an interesting rival for Diana, the desperate-for-marriage sister of an earl, who turns out to have different gender goals.

from Kirkus Reviews https://ift.tt/3mnTB1h

[beautifulbookishdisaster]

The trouble with lies was that they were too easy to believe. Even if you were the one telling them. Perhaps especially if you were the one telling them.

Sarah McLean, A Rogue by Any Other Name

[mermaidsirennikita]

Who are your favourite Self Made Man heroes from romance?

Oh, I lots. My favorite self-made Kleypas heroes are Derek Craven (the best one, no other self made hero stands up to him, that's my MAN), John McKenna (became a highly successful business bitch just to prove a point, and I respect that), and Rhys Winterborne (Mr. Do Me In Your Department Store So I Know It's Real). Kev Merripen would be there, but tbh Kev is less self made and more "the Hathaways' Chief of Staff" who'll fuck you super good.

We talk a lot about Winter Makepeace, rightfully so, but what about his brother Asa??? Asa is running a pleasure garden, he ran away from home for years only to show up SUPER MAD in Scandalous Desires when he found out Mickey O'Connor was boning his sister, he gives big snarky rake energy but then when push comes to shove he's like the sweetest man ever???? And he'll put on a show in a moving carriage while confronting a highwayman directly after.

It should be pointed out that right after Winter loses his virginity in a moving carriage in Thief of Shadows, he like, STOP DROPS AND ROLLS outta there to face an angry mob or something... And right after Asa jacks off in front of Eve in Sweetest Scoundrel, he has to be all "THE LADY SAID NO" to ye olde carjackers. The Makepeace dudes bounce back HARD.

I loooove Jack Dodger in Between the Devil and Desire by Lorraine Heath. Such a deeply competent yet deeply wounded and super slick romance hero. And there's a level of debatability about his TOTAL self made status, but he counts to meee.

Once More, My Darling Rogue actually has another "is he tho" self made hero lol. Because like. Drake Darling spent his young childhood in HORRENDOUS conditions... But he did then get adopted by a duke and duchess. BUT BUT BUT so much of his struggle in his book is not feeling like he's really Sterling's son... and then the end.... I want to WEEP. But also, Drake tells this woman with amnesia who he fully knows is not his housekeeper, that she's his housekeeper, just because she's a bitch (and he wants to fuck her real bad). He makes her wash his back AND HE HAS A GIANT DRAGON TATTOO (which he got because his adoptive father HAS ONE ALSO LMAO). How can I not endorse that kind of hero.

I love Griff from Scoundrel of My Heart by Lorraine Heath because he begins as this spoiled second son of a duke, then his family loses literally everything, and he has to start over as a self made man!!! Yes!!!!!!

Li Tao in The Dragon and the Pearl by Jeanie Lin. My man.... grew up on the streets... was killing people for spare change and doing some street fights... blossomed into an amazing warlord, who ALSO has a dragon tattoo!!!

Joanna Shupe writes wonderful self made heroes. Her Uptown Girls trilogy has all self-made heroes, I think--Frank from The Rogue of Fifth Avenue grew up super poor and becomes a successful lawyer/fixer (who wants to bone his boss's daughter real good), Clay Madden is a casino owner, Jack is a successful gangster, which counts, I think.

Speaking of casinos, imo Bourne from Sarah MacLean's A Rogue By Any Other Name is borderline because like yeah he's a marquess but he gambled away literally everything when he was what? 18? 21 max? And he had to dig deep to become a successful gambling hell owner.

Cull from Pippa and the Prince of Secrets by Grace Callaway is SO swoony to me. He's all scarred and tough but tender and adoring with Pippa and just wants to make her happy and also has a flute with which he commands a child army, it is what it is.

[btstrashbean]

I’m in need of a aristocrats! Tae and Yoongi AU, like just imagine it…

“You’re not supposed to be here, little Duke,”

Taehyung raises his head at the gravelly voice. There stood a man, dressed immaculately, but with a small cut under one eye and bruised at the knuckles. The marquess of Bourne.

“How did you even get through to The Angel?”

He doesn’t know why, but a surge of defiance wells up in him. “I received an invitation,” he said haughtily, “And a password,”

That gained the disinterested marquess’s attention. “A password?”

“Éloa,” He announces, trying to look down his nose at the shorter man, whom despite the fact was infinitely intimidating to Taehyung.

“Chase,” The marquess, Yoongi, muttered under his breath, sweeping across the room, storming past the doorman and up a flight of stairs Tehyung hadn’t seen when he had been let in.

“Hey!” Taehyung assumed he was to follow the marquess, stumbling past a large archway into a mahogany room.

Once inside, Taehyung gasps, staring through the large mosaic glass that made up a full length wall of the room.

“Chase! What did you do?!”  A growl ripped across the room, erupting from none other than Yoongi, aimed at a rather dainty figure holding a handful of cards in her hands.

“What did I do?” She said cryptically, and from where he was, Taehyung couldn’t really see all of her face, but from her thin lips and high nose, he knew she had to be a beauty.

“Cross,” Yoongi uttered, throwing a cursory glance at Taehyung, before stalking towards the woman.

“Why don’t we show you around?” A gentle voice said, and although Taehyung didn’t want to, he let himself be brought out of the room.

[steenpaal]

Somerset de Chair - Wikipedia

Somerset de Chair

Member of Parliament for South West NorfolkIn office 1935–1945Member of Parliament for Paddington SouthIn office 1950–1951 Personal detailsBorn

Somerset Struben de Chair

(1911-08-22)22 August 1911 Windsor, England, United KingdomDied5 January 1995 (aged 83) Antigua, Leeward Islands, Lesser Antilles, West IndiesNationalityBritishPolitical partyConservativeSpouse(s)(1st) Thelma Grace Arbuthnot, (2nd) Carmen Appleton, (3rd) Margaret Patricia Manlove (née Field-Hart), (4th) Lady Juliet Wentworth-FitzwilliamRelationsAdmiral Sir Dudley Rawson Stratford de Chair KCB KCMG MVO (father)Children4 sons, 2 daughtersAlma materBalliol College, OxfordProfessionAuthor/PoliticianMilitary serviceAllegiance

 United KingdomBranch/service

British ArmyRankCaptainUnitRoyal Horse GuardsBattles/warsAnglo-Iraqi War (1941), Battle of Palmyra, Syria (1941)

Somerset Struben de Chair (22 August 1911 – 5 January 1995) was an English author, politician and poet. He edited several volumes of the memoirs of Napoleon.

Early and personal life

De Chair was the younger son of Admiral Sir Dudley Rawson Stratford de Chair, KCB, KCMG, MVO. He first was married on 8 October 1932 to Thelma Grace Arbuthnot (1911–1974), with whom he had two sons: Rodney Somerset and Peter Dudley.

His second wife, Carmen Appleton, gave birth to sons Rory and Somerset Carlo. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1958, allowing Somerset to marry his third wife, Margaret Patricia Manlove (née Field-Hart); they had a daughter, Teresa Loraine Aphrodite (who married Sir Toby Clarke, 6th Baronet).

The third marriage ended in divorce in 1974, and in the same year and at the age of sixty-three, he married his fourth wife, then 39 years old, Lady Juliet Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, only child of Peter Wentworth-FitzWilliam, 8th Earl FitzWilliam, who had divorced Victor Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol in 1972. Somerset and Lady Juliet had a daughter, Helena, who married Jacob Rees-Mogg.

The hurdler Lawrence Somerset Clarke is his grandson.

Somerset de Chair was educated at The King's School, Parramatta in New South Wales between 1923 and 1930 before attending Balliol College, Oxford.

He was Conservative MP for South West Norfolk between 1935 and 1945, losing his seat by 53 votes. He was one of the Conservatives who voted against the government in the crucial Norway Debate in May 1940 that brought Winston Churchill into office. He then served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary in 1942–44. De Chair returned to Parliament as MP for Paddington South from 1950 to 1951.

Since he had been a cadet in the Officers' Training Corps at Oxford, De Chair qualified for a commission as a Reserve Second Lieutenant of the Life Guards in 1938. He was mobilised on 24 August 1939, a few days before the United Kingdom's entry into World War II. He served as an intelligence officer with the 4th Cavalry Brigade during the Anglo-Iraqi War and the Syrian Campaign where he was wounded on 21 June 1941. Later service was with the General Staff with the rank of Acting Captain.[1]

Writings

De Chair wrote historical non-fiction, a number of now largely neglected novels, one play, three collections of poetry, and several works of autobiography. He also edited several volumes of the memoirs of Napoleon in English.[2]

Houses and art

De Chair was known for his extravagant taste and lived in a series of large country houses. He lived between 1944 and 1949 at Chilham Castle and leased Blickling Hall from the Marquess of Lothian.[3][4] He owned St Osyth's Priory in Essex from 1954 until his death in 1995, and also bought Bourne Park in Kent with his last wife, Lady Juliet Wentworth-Fitzwilliam.

Bibliography

Fiction

Enter Napoleon (1934)

Red Tie in the Morning (1936)

The Teetotalitarian State (1947)

The Dome of the Rock (1948)

The Story of a Lifetime (1954)

Bring Back the Gods (1962)

Friends, Romans, Concubines (1973)

The Star of the Wind (1974)

Legend of the Yellow River (1979)

Non-fiction

The Impending Storm (1930)

Divided Europe (1931)

The Golden Carpet (1943)

The Silver Crescent (1943)

Mind on the March (1945)

Edited and translated

The First Crusade (1945)

Napoleon's Memoirs (1945)

Napoleon's Supper at Beaucaire (1945)

Julius Caesar's Commentaries (1951)

Napoleon on Napoleon (1991)

Edited

The Sea is Strong (1961)

Getty on Getty (1989)

Autobiographies

Buried Pleasure (1985)

Morning Glory (1988)

Die? I Thought I'd Laugh (1993)

Drama

Poetry collections

The Millennium (1949)

Collected Verse (1970)

Sounds of Summer (1992)

References

External links

[cremsie]

tale of woe

okay so this is my new pony Marquess of Lynefield-upon-Bourne  Ma always told me I was too irresponsible for a pony  psht I’ll show her

things are going well  we’ve bonded she knows me for me and she appreciates it listens to my worries and supports my dreams

together we’ve grown and we’ve seen so much and still we have so much to learn. We’re going to enter the horse race together and show my emotionally distant father that we can achieve our dreams.  we’re gonna save the family farm 

Marquess of Lynefield-upon-Bourne nOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[maythemarvelbewithyou]

A Rogue by Any Other Name (The Rules of Scoundrels #1) by Sarah MacLean book review

What a scoundrel wants, a scoundrel gets... A decade ago, the Marquess of Bourne was cast from society with nothing but his title. Now a partner in London’s most exclusive gaming hell, the cold, ruthless Bourne will do whatever it takes to regain his inheritance—including marrying perfect, proper Lady Penelope Marbury. A broken engagement and years of disappointing courtships have left Penelope with little interest in a quiet, comfortable marriage, and a longing for something more. How lucky that her new husband has access to such unexplored pleasures. Bourne may be a prince of London’s underworld, but he vows to keep Penelope untouched by its wickedness—a challenge indeed as the lady discovers her own desires, and her willingness to wager anything for them... even her heart. Michael, Marquess of Bourne, lost all he ever had one night in a game of cards. And that night his life made a turn, toward one goal: revenge. Now a powerful man, co-owner of London's most famous gaming hell, he's prepared to do anything to accomplish his goal, even marry his childhood friend, Lady Penelope Marbury (what a sacrifice XD).To up her chance in getting married, Penelope's father increased her dowry, with Michael's lost estate. She doesn't really want to get married, well, she does, but out of love. After learning about the dowry, she goes for a walk in the old estate, and comes across Michael But soon her happiness evaporates when said man abducts her and decides to ruin her reputation enough so that she'd have no other choice but to marry him.Penelope was a means to an end--the path to Michael's revenge. Every time he touched her or showed her the slightest interest, it was for his benefit and his goals. Naturally, Penelope didn't want to be a part of his revenge though. Well, Michael is rather surprised to discover that this woman, this marriage means so much more to him. It scared him. Michael is an ass. He built an icy cage around himself and he wears it like armor. Anything that made him weak - like for example, having compassion or trusting people - is gone. He is hard, ruthless, and vicious. When Michael is being an ass, it hurts her feelings and she tells him and shows him that her feelings are hurt. That in turns makes Michael feel like an ass, and he doesn't like it. She thaws him out, piece by piece, and he resists it so hard, that even his friends and co-owners in the gaming hell rub his nose in the fact that he is screwed up. Michael does have a change of heart in the middle of the book. Penelope was awesome. She had backbone and adventurous spirit, and she didn't put up with any of Michael's crap. A Rogue by Any Other Name is a wonderfully penned and witty historical romance. I love this book. I love the cover. I love the writing.