An above-average Regency Romance read, but a bit of a let-down following the stellar Romancing the Duke. Maybe Say Yes to the Marquess just isn't my brand of catnip, but I didn't have as much fun as I did with the first in the Castles Ever After series. That said, there's a lot to like. It ticks a bunch of contemporary (almost hipster!) boxes -- our heroine hopes to turn her castle into a micro-brewery, our hero is a prizefighter who struggles with ADHD. If you love weddings and wedding planning (as I do), you will have fun with the descriptions of dresses, cakes, flowers and the other accoutrements of a splendid Regency wedding. (And the very unique end result is worthy of a feature on IndieBride.) At its core, though, I just didn't connect with the romance -- I'm not sure I ever understood why Clio and Rafe fell for each other in the first place. I liked Clio. She's a woman who's been engaged for eight years. Her fiance is wandering around the continent as a diplomat and he's never shown any interest in her. Now, she's inherited a castle and is ready to shuck off the last of her constraints. All she needs to do is get her fiance's brother, Rafe Brandon, who has power of attorney for his brother while he's out of the country, to sign off on her plan.But Rafe's not cool with that plan. He thinks Clio is the perfect woman and he's not going to let her get away... from his brother, of course. So he follows her back to her castle (where her two sisters and one of their husbands also are) and begins an assault that is designed to woo her back into wanting to get married. His plan includes music, flowers, dresses, and cake. And though there are missteps along the way (her sister orders her wedding dresses in a size that she thinks Clio should be), Rafe rallies and manages to make Clio sure that she wants to get married. Just not to the man he thinks...Great characters, even the secondary ones. I loved Clio's managing sister Daphne (who thought that their mother's ways of doing things were showing love, but who truly wanted the best for her sisters) as well as the younger sister, Phoebe who I hope gets her own story. A girl who can do higher math problems in her head, can count cards, and is never without a ball of twine so she can make fantastic shapes is one whose hero I want to meet.
What do You think about Say Yes To The Marquess (2000)?
Not sure I was ready for a hero with what reads like ADHD but liked the take charge heroine
—Jocelyne
I really love Rafe and Clio. I am also looking forward to Pier's story.
—mrscranky
