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jess_78 's review for:
Say Yes to the Marquess
by Tessa Dare
Review posted: Happily Ever After - Reads
Blog rating: B+
Clio Whitmore has been the butt of jokes with the ton for 8 years. Nicknamed “Wait-more”, she’s the girl who’s engaged to a man who’s made her wait for eight, long years while he’s been off working, or doing who knows what. Clio’s tired of it and after inheriting a castle, she’s decided to take hold of her life and start to do things for herself. No more waiting for Clio “Wait-more”, she has huge plans to start a brewery at her new castle, but she just needs one simple signature to get things started. She needs Rafe, her fiancé’s brother, to sign the papers ending their engagement. With Piers unable to attend to his business at home, Rafe has the power to sign for him, but he refuses and Clio needs to convince him to do it. Rafe has other plans that include getting the long awaited wedding planned just in time for Piers’s return. But Clio has had feelings for Rafe since they were young. What she doesn’t know is that Rafe has felt the same way but his feelings about his own worth, never having the approval of his father, and never being as good as his brother, weigh heavy on him. He’s convinced himself he’s just a brute, a prize fighter who has nothing to offer Clio. So he’s determined she get what she deserves, a good, solid man in his brother. Clio, however, disagrees.
I enjoyed this story quite a bit, although I will admit that it took me to about the midway point before it became a ‘can’t put it down’ book. It does take a little bit for the story to pick up speed, but once Clio and Rafe start to act on their feelings for each other, I couldn’t get enough. I loved what Clio gives Rafe: love. He’s never felt it, his family never showed it and he was basically estranged from them, especially his father. He’s never had someone love and care about him, just for him. He’s either been wanted for his fighting skills or…that’s it, in his mind. Clio has been there on the sidelines of his life for years and never let him completely slip away. She wrote him many letters, sent him many invitations, none of which he responded to, but the act stuck with him. He tries to resist her but once he’s in, he’s not letting her go for anything.
For Clio, gah, my heart went out to her. To be the joke for so long, to be kept waiting and waiting, I loved that she finally had enough and she made real plans for her future. She knows going into the brewery business, and being a woman, isn’t going to be easy at all. But she’s smart, she’s studied hard and without the support of her family, save her adorably awkward younger sister, she’s had to believe in herself because no one else has. But Rafe listens to her, he respects her and she’s desperate for that in her life. Add in the fact that she wants Rafe, period. She wants him in her life, she wants him as her husband, business partner, she just wants him and I loved seeing her get everything she wanted after being pushed to the side for so long.
Rafe and Clio have some sexy scenes together. Clio has never been kissed before Rafe does the honors (I hated Piers a little more just for that fact alone), and Clio wants to be wicked – Rafe has no problems with that and they have some very wicked scenes together that had me grinning! There are fun supporting characters introduced, namely Clio’s sisters, her youngest sister Phoebe stole my heart with her big, supersized brain, her awkwardness around people and what’s considered proper conversation and what’s not. I can only hope to get a story about her in the future. And then there’s Piers, the absent fiancé who does eventually return and his reasons made me go from hating him to being interested. We don’t get a lot of details about what exactly Piers has been up to for the past eight years, but it’s enough to have me wondering if it was a setup for him being the hero in an upcoming book. I’m intrigued to say the least.
But the story is all about Rafe and Clio and their romance that I adored. After a slightly slow start, I couldn’t get enough of these two once they got together and the sparks starting flying. Clio is strong and ready to live life for herself, Rafe is tortured and convinced he’s a man not worthy of Clio and together is when they both came alive, in life and on page.
Blog rating: B+
Clio Whitmore has been the butt of jokes with the ton for 8 years. Nicknamed “Wait-more”, she’s the girl who’s engaged to a man who’s made her wait for eight, long years while he’s been off working, or doing who knows what. Clio’s tired of it and after inheriting a castle, she’s decided to take hold of her life and start to do things for herself. No more waiting for Clio “Wait-more”, she has huge plans to start a brewery at her new castle, but she just needs one simple signature to get things started. She needs Rafe, her fiancé’s brother, to sign the papers ending their engagement. With Piers unable to attend to his business at home, Rafe has the power to sign for him, but he refuses and Clio needs to convince him to do it. Rafe has other plans that include getting the long awaited wedding planned just in time for Piers’s return. But Clio has had feelings for Rafe since they were young. What she doesn’t know is that Rafe has felt the same way but his feelings about his own worth, never having the approval of his father, and never being as good as his brother, weigh heavy on him. He’s convinced himself he’s just a brute, a prize fighter who has nothing to offer Clio. So he’s determined she get what she deserves, a good, solid man in his brother. Clio, however, disagrees.
I enjoyed this story quite a bit, although I will admit that it took me to about the midway point before it became a ‘can’t put it down’ book. It does take a little bit for the story to pick up speed, but once Clio and Rafe start to act on their feelings for each other, I couldn’t get enough. I loved what Clio gives Rafe: love. He’s never felt it, his family never showed it and he was basically estranged from them, especially his father. He’s never had someone love and care about him, just for him. He’s either been wanted for his fighting skills or…that’s it, in his mind. Clio has been there on the sidelines of his life for years and never let him completely slip away. She wrote him many letters, sent him many invitations, none of which he responded to, but the act stuck with him. He tries to resist her but once he’s in, he’s not letting her go for anything.
For Clio, gah, my heart went out to her. To be the joke for so long, to be kept waiting and waiting, I loved that she finally had enough and she made real plans for her future. She knows going into the brewery business, and being a woman, isn’t going to be easy at all. But she’s smart, she’s studied hard and without the support of her family, save her adorably awkward younger sister, she’s had to believe in herself because no one else has. But Rafe listens to her, he respects her and she’s desperate for that in her life. Add in the fact that she wants Rafe, period. She wants him in her life, she wants him as her husband, business partner, she just wants him and I loved seeing her get everything she wanted after being pushed to the side for so long.
Rafe and Clio have some sexy scenes together. Clio has never been kissed before Rafe does the honors (I hated Piers a little more just for that fact alone), and Clio wants to be wicked – Rafe has no problems with that and they have some very wicked scenes together that had me grinning! There are fun supporting characters introduced, namely Clio’s sisters, her youngest sister Phoebe stole my heart with her big, supersized brain, her awkwardness around people and what’s considered proper conversation and what’s not. I can only hope to get a story about her in the future. And then there’s Piers, the absent fiancé who does eventually return and his reasons made me go from hating him to being interested. We don’t get a lot of details about what exactly Piers has been up to for the past eight years, but it’s enough to have me wondering if it was a setup for him being the hero in an upcoming book. I’m intrigued to say the least.
But the story is all about Rafe and Clio and their romance that I adored. After a slightly slow start, I couldn’t get enough of these two once they got together and the sparks starting flying. Clio is strong and ready to live life for herself, Rafe is tortured and convinced he’s a man not worthy of Clio and together is when they both came alive, in life and on page.