How To Impress A Marquess by Susanna Ives
4 helms
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I’m always a bit apprehensive about trying new authors in the historical romance genre as there is no safety net of a tried and true author, just thoughts & words of other fellow readers until you make your own judgement. With Susanna Ives’s “How To Impress A Marquess” I broke a few of my normal rules 1) Read a series in order (I’m a stickler for this!) 2) Read up on new authors before requesting on NetGalley. I broke both rules, as this is the third book in the “Wicked Little Lies” series & I hadn’t read any of the others & I requested this title totally on a whim, without any inkling of the order of series or who the author is.
I’m so glad I did! It was unconventional right from the start as the heroine, Lilith Dahlgren is delightful & refreshingly different. She is a new age bohemian who lives life with reckless abandon & a free spirited mind, but nurses many hurts from her past. The hero, George Marquess of Marylewick is the acting trustee of Lilith, head of the Maryle family & is part of the deep hurt & injustice done to Lilith. What ensues is a discovery of two kindred & bruised souls who can only find the solace each so desperately seeks from each other.
This seems like a lighthearted read at first, but don’t be fooled. There is enough depth to the characters stop it from getting too “fluffy”. I loved the feminism this book exudes as Lilith defies society’s views on women & encourages others to challenge it too. Lilith in her love of George is so pure & honest, she beautifully words her feelings after they first make love: “I’m not another duty! I’m someone in your life who only wants to love you and not make demands of you. I want….I want this pure moment in all its beauty, not polluted by an unpleasant past or a future of demands”. George is great hero material as he is not an alpha male, but rather a hidden sensitive who blossoms under Lilith’s unconventional ways.
A beautiful romance which can be read as a stand alone, poetry from Keats & references to the impressionism movement thrown in for good measure to keep you fascinated!
*Thank-you Susanna Ives, Netgalley & Sourcebooks Casablanca for the ARC.
