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A review by romancelibrary
Marry in Scarlet by Anne Gracie
3.0
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This year, I challenged myself to finish at least 5 series out of the many unfinished series that I've lost track of. I read the Marriage of Convenience series in order as each book was published. And as much as I like Anne Gracie's writing, I'm not a fan of this series. But I figured I might as well finish it off since I had an ARC from last year. Marry in Scarlet is the final book in the series, but it can be read as a standalone. I ended up listening to the audiobook and I surprisingly liked the narration. Rosalyn Landor is still the superior historical romance audiobook narrator though.
Lady Georgiana Rutherford AKA Lady George has no interest in marriage, even though her great aunt keeps pushing her toward Hart, the icy Duke of Everingham. George cannot stand Hart because he is proud and icy. As for Hart, he is unexpectedly drawn to the unconventional George. So we have an icy, proud, and stuffy hero paired with an unconventional and independent tomboy-ish heroine. Their dynamic is a lot of fun and kind of remind me Pride and Prejudice. I surprisingly enjoyed George as a heroine. I typically have an issue with the way historical romance authors write independent heroines in historical romance. But Anne Gracie did a great job writing George as an independent heroine who actually fit in the Regency time period. Furthermore, I really enjoyed it when George puts Hart in his place and calls him our on his manipulative tactics.
Keep in mind that this is less of a marriage of convenience and more of a married in scandal type of romance because George and Hart get caught in a compromising position. The actual wedding doesn't take place until the 75% mark LOL. I was personally not surprised because the first book in this series follows the same pattern. That being said, I still wanted George and Hart to get married earlier on. Another thing I did not like was the small focus on George's Aunt Dottie, whose story I couldn't care less about.
Lastly, I did not like that the plot takes a left turn in the last 15% of the story. Anne Gracie pulls a Random-Children trope à la Lisa Kleypas at the very end and this is not a compliment lol. Lisa Kleypas has pulled this surprise trope in many of her books before and it always irritates me. Unless the kids are heavily involved in the story from the beginning, unless it's made clear that they will consistently be a part of the story, I don't like random kids showing up out of nowhere and taking over the plot. Hart's ward was briefly mentioned in the beginning, but why only make him an important part of the story in the last 15% of the story? It was all so annoying.
Overall, I did enjoy the romance and the dynamic between Hart and George. But I was not a fan of the plot and the pacing. The epilogue was cute though and it was a great conclusion to the series.
This year, I challenged myself to finish at least 5 series out of the many unfinished series that I've lost track of. I read the Marriage of Convenience series in order as each book was published. And as much as I like Anne Gracie's writing, I'm not a fan of this series. But I figured I might as well finish it off since I had an ARC from last year. Marry in Scarlet is the final book in the series, but it can be read as a standalone. I ended up listening to the audiobook and I surprisingly liked the narration. Rosalyn Landor is still the superior historical romance audiobook narrator though.
Lady Georgiana Rutherford AKA Lady George has no interest in marriage, even though her great aunt keeps pushing her toward Hart, the icy Duke of Everingham. George cannot stand Hart because he is proud and icy. As for Hart, he is unexpectedly drawn to the unconventional George. So we have an icy, proud, and stuffy hero paired with an unconventional and independent tomboy-ish heroine. Their dynamic is a lot of fun and kind of remind me Pride and Prejudice. I surprisingly enjoyed George as a heroine. I typically have an issue with the way historical romance authors write independent heroines in historical romance. But Anne Gracie did a great job writing George as an independent heroine who actually fit in the Regency time period. Furthermore, I really enjoyed it when George puts Hart in his place and calls him our on his manipulative tactics.
Keep in mind that this is less of a marriage of convenience and more of a married in scandal type of romance because George and Hart get caught in a compromising position. The actual wedding doesn't take place until the 75% mark LOL. I was personally not surprised because the first book in this series follows the same pattern. That being said, I still wanted George and Hart to get married earlier on. Another thing I did not like was the small focus on George's Aunt Dottie, whose story I couldn't care less about.
Lastly, I did not like that the plot takes a left turn in the last 15% of the story. Anne Gracie pulls a Random-Children trope à la Lisa Kleypas at the very end and this is not a compliment lol. Lisa Kleypas has pulled this surprise trope in many of her books before and it always irritates me. Unless the kids are heavily involved in the story from the beginning, unless it's made clear that they will consistently be a part of the story, I don't like random kids showing up out of nowhere and taking over the plot. Hart's ward was briefly mentioned in the beginning, but why only make him an important part of the story in the last 15% of the story? It was all so annoying.
Overall, I did enjoy the romance and the dynamic between Hart and George. But I was not a fan of the plot and the pacing. The epilogue was cute though and it was a great conclusion to the series.