A review by ladytiara
Make Mine a Marquess by Tina Gabrielle

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

4.0

Make Mine a Marquess is really fun, and it has one of my favorite historical romance tropes, aristocrat comes back from the dead hellbent on revenge. 

Robert Kirkian, Marquess of Landon supposedly died five years ago when the ship he was on caught fire. Now he's back and determined to seek revenge on the cousin he blames for the fire, Lord Willard. He needs to prove that Willard was behind his near death and he wants to seduce Willard's fiance away from him.

Phoebe Dawson is the fiance in question. She doesn't have any strong feelings for her fiance, but her ambitious parents want a title for her, so they're pushing the match. She had her heart broken when she was 16, so she's not looking for a love match.

Of course, all kinds of inconvenient feelings get in the way and there's plenty of drama. Landon and Phoebe are great characters, and I was rooting for them. They've both had past trauma (of very different kinds) that informs their current actions. Of course, Landon is keeping a big secret from Phoebe, but the joke's on him when he actually falls for her. 

I should mention that there's technically infidelity in this book, so if that's a deal breaker for you, this may not work for you. But there are multiple mitigating circumstances: Phoebe is only engaged to Willard because her parents want her to marry him, Willard is only marrying her for her money, and Willard is an awful person.

If you're a fan of the revenge quest trope, this one is definitely for you. 

I received an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley in return for an honest review.