Reviews

The Gift of the Marquess by Darcy Burke

sarah_moynihan's review against another edition

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4.0

Married for three years, Poppy and Gabriel have not been able to conceive. Whereas Poopy wants nothing more than to be a mother and is heartbroken over her childless state, Gabriel is terrified of losing her in childbirth and is relieved that they have not conceived. Their mixed feelings regarding childbearing have driven a wedge between them and when an expectant mother arrives needing their help things will only become more complicated for them.
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The Gift of the Marquess is the second book in Darcy Burke's Love is All Around trilogy. This book focuses on the middle child of the Stafford siblings and the oldest sister, Poppy.

Having read both the first and last book in the series before reading this one, I found that this one is very different in comparison to the other two. Firstly in that it focuses on a couple that is already established and their deep feelings for one another are already known. This is not something that one comes across often in a historical romance and which I was very happy to read about. The second difference I noted is that this book is a lot steamier than the others in the series.

My heart really went out to both Poppy and Gabriel, I thought both their fears and feelings of despair were justified and I was hoping for a resolution that would avoid as much heartache as possible. It was an incredibly sweet story and the book in the series least prone to drama. I wasn't terribly invested in the characters, but I still enjoyed the story and it is a perfect story for the holidays.

I recommend this series if you're looking for sweet historical romances to enjoy this holiday season. They're all quick reads at about 150 pages.

books_and_more_books_byt's review against another edition

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5.0

The Gift of the Marquess is the second book in the new series Love is All Around. The series is based on the Duke of Harwell (Calder) and his two sisters Lady Bianca and Poppy, the Marchioness of Darlington. The first book was Lady Bianca’s story and this book is Poppy’s. They can be read as standalone, but they are better if read in series. They take place around the Christmas holiday and some parts of the books overlap in time.
This story is unique in that Poppy is already married to Gabriel, the Marquess of Darlington. They have been married for three years and have had no children. Poppy is devastated, but Gabriel is secretly glad because he fears losing Poppy in childbirth, like his mother and Poppy’ mother. When Poppy learns of Gabriel’s feeling she feels betrayed and sad. She decides to go back to helping at the Hartwell House, an orphan’s home, only to learn that Gabriel has brought a young pregnant girl, Dinah, to stay in a cottage on their estate. After confronting him and learning the Dinah’s situation, she dedicates her time to Dinah and trying to convince her to keep her child. Poppy and Gabriel are in a dilemma, they would love to raise Dinah’s child as their own but know that Dinah would regret giving up her child later in life.
I loved the characters and could feel their pain of wanting a child. This book touches the heart of those who have suffered the same but also gives us hope. I can’t wait to read Calder’s story and learn what had happened in his past to cause his bitterness. I received an ARC and am voluntarily leaving a review.

sassysmutlover's review against another edition

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5.0

This is a truly heartwarming and emotional story from beginning to end! It’s a unique story because they are already married and in love, but going through such a rough time that tests them. I loved that this is going on at the same time as the first book so you know what was going on with Poppy at the house party. It’s heartbreaking to see them both struggle in different ways and be torn apart.

The scene where Gabriel remembered everything that happened with his mother and everything after was so raw with emotion. I absolutely loved the moment they made up because their love was so strong and it was such a powerful moment for many reasons.

Poppy wants to be a mother so badly, but after three years she’s trying to come to terms with it won’t happen the way she dreamed. She so desperately wants a baby, but can’t help but try to help Dinah in any way possible. I loved her fire from the start and when she laid into her brother.

Gabriel thought he found a way to give Poppy her dream and banish his fears, but it only brought them up in full force. He will break your heart as he talks about his fear. I loved how much he cared about helping others and when he realized he couldn’t let fear control him.

The ending was absolutely perfect and I can’t wait to read her brother’s story and find out what happened to him.

Copy provided for an honest and voluntary review

mschaeff's review against another edition

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1.0

So I will start off by saying that this book does an at least vaguely smart thing for a romance novel, which is focusing on infertility as a legitimate concern, as well as highlighting the issue of maternal mortality. Great! However, that is sort of where the smart things stop. Gabriel and Poppy have been married for three years, and they are having trouble having a child. Poppy is pretty miserable about this, but Gabriel is secretly fine with it, since his mother and sister both died in childbirth. So did Poppy's mother! (I mean... look, I appreciate drawing attention to maternal mortality as much as the next girl, but I do want to point out that the risk was somewhere between 0.5 and 6%, so the death rate here is pretty impressive, even for a romance novel.)

This leads us to everyone's motivations for the entire book: Poppy wants a baby, and Gabriel wants to give her a baby. This is literally the only plot line aside from some random strangeness with Poppy's brother that never actually gets resolved. These aren't inherently bad motivations. They are, in fact, understandable! But here's where this book lost me: Gabriel offers to let a sick, pregnant woman from the local women's home come stay in their guest cottage. He's not, however, doing this out of the goodness of his heart, he wants the baby. And both he and Poppy tell her this! The book spends a lot of time with Poppy reassuring the woman that she can keep the baby if she wants to, but there's this weird coercive element to all of it. Neither of them seems to recognize that the woman is in a really difficult position, where she is relying on them for shelter, food, and medical care. She's also from a lower class background, so she's socially conditioned to give people of their rank anything they want. The power dynamic is skewed completely in one direction, which makes the whole, "Stay in our guest house, by the way, if you don't want your baby, we'll take it, but it's cool if you do, but by the way, really, it would have a good home with us!" plotline really sketchy.

The book offers pretty stereotypical views on gender roles, has some questionable consent issues with the other woman's baby, and is overall a little lackluster. Two stars.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

ela_35's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

 I liked this book, but I expected there to be more interactions with side characters. 

I liked Gabriel and Poppy, but I wanted to see more scenes where they do something other than talk about Gabriel’s fears and Poppy’s disappointment. I wanted to see them going to balls or Hartwell House and interacting with others. 

I thought that there would have been more scenes with Gabriel and Poppy at Hartwell House where they are helping and interacting with the mothers and children, but there might have only been one scene at the beginning and after that the people living at Hartwell House cease to exist. Since Dinah goes to live in Gabriel and Poppy’s cottage, I thought that at least she would be shown more, but she still wasn’t a fully developed character. 

The description is not completely true. Yes, Poppy distances herself from Gabriel, but she also stops going to Hartwell House because she can’t bear looking at all the women with children. When Gabriel and Poppy talk more, they both decide to be more dedicated when it comes to helping Hartwell House. 

I didn’t like Calder at all, Felicity seemed like an annoying character, and I’m not interested in seeing Calder change or seeing how their relationship will develop so I’m not going to continue with this series. 

plottrysts's review against another edition

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2.5

It's like Darcy Burke took O. Henry's "Gift of the Magi," one of the most depressing Christmas stories around, and thought "how can I make it even more depressing?" The answer? It's a marriage in crisis novella.

"And why," you ask, "Is their marriage in crisis?" It's because after nearly 3 years of marriage Poppy isn't pregnant yet. But wait, it's not what you think! Gabriel isn't upset - he's just happy he won't lose his wife in childbirth. Instead, Poppy's annoyed that Gabriel ISN'T upset that she can't get pregnant.⁠

So, um, yeah. This is 150 pages of "The Gift of the Magi" but with A BABY as the gift. We didn't love it even if it is way sexier than it deserves to be.⁠

7-Word Summaries:

Laine: Festive tale of infertility and marital strife. ⁠

Meg: Childfree by circumstance but he’s loving it!⁠

rani_reeds's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

annakr5's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

2.75

meschaeffer's review against another edition

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1.0

So I will start off by saying that this book does an at least vaguely smart thing for a romance novel, which is focusing on infertility as a legitimate concern, as well as highlighting the issue of maternal mortality. Great! However, that is sort of where the smart things stop. Gabriel and Poppy have been married for three years, and they are having trouble having a child. Poppy is pretty miserable about this, but Gabriel is secretly fine with it, since his mother and sister both died in childbirth. So did Poppy's mother! (I mean... look, I appreciate drawing attention to maternal mortality as much as the next girl, but I do want to point out that the risk was somewhere between 0.5 and 6%, so the death rate here is pretty impressive, even for a romance novel.)

This leads us to everyone's motivations for the entire book: Poppy wants a baby, and Gabriel wants to give her a baby. This is literally the only plot line aside from some random strangeness with Poppy's brother that never actually gets resolved. These aren't inherently bad motivations. They are, in fact, understandable! But here's where this book lost me: Gabriel offers to let a sick, pregnant woman from the local women's home come stay in their guest cottage. He's not, however, doing this out of the goodness of his heart, he wants the baby. And both he and Poppy tell her this! The book spends a lot of time with Poppy reassuring the woman that she can keep the baby if she wants to, but there's this weird coercive element to all of it. Neither of them seems to recognize that the woman is in a really difficult position, where she is relying on them for shelter, food, and medical care. She's also from a lower class background, so she's socially conditioned to give people of their rank anything they want. The power dynamic is skewed completely in one direction, which makes the whole, "Stay in our guest house, by the way, if you don't want your baby, we'll take it, but it's cool if you do, but by the way, really, it would have a good home with us!" plotline really sketchy.

The book offers pretty stereotypical views on gender roles, has some questionable consent issues with the other woman's baby, and is overall a little lackluster. Two stars.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

beckymmoe's review against another edition

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4.0

Reviewed on my blog, Becky on Books, on 10/13/19.

The Gift of the Marquess is Ms Burke's first foray into writing an already-married couple, and is loosely based on [b:The Gift of the Magi|143534|The Gift of the Magi|O. Henry|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348417439l/143534._SY75_.jpg|171430] by O. Henry. Like the other books in this series, it's a holiday novella and a pleasant way to pass an afternoon as the weather starts to change.

I liked Poppy and Gabriel's story; their conflict was as heartbreaking as it was realistic. It was clear that they loved each other, but equally clear that neither was quite sure how to bridge their differences. They both got a little bit of help with that (Poppy from her sister Bianca of [b:The Red Hot Earl|48119783|The Red Hot Earl (Love is All Around #1)|Darcy Burke|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568138065l/48119783._SY75_.jpg|73339635] and Gabriel from an unexpected source) and manage to work their way to an extremely sweet HEA at the end.

I wasn't totally comfortable with the original solutions that they came up with for "fixing" their problems (involving one of the women from the charity home they support), though it helped that they weren't always 100% comfortable with it either. Ultimately I was pleased with the way their situation resolved itself, though I had hoped they'd eventually go with their other option
fostering, or adoption of an orphaned child
. Maybe they still will in the future?

The Gift of the Marquess is the second book in Ms Burke's Love is all Around trilogy. Some of the events occur concurrently with that book, but this one could still be read as a standalone.

Rating: 4 stars / B+

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.