A Novel with Thoughts and Ponderings

HOW THE MARQUESS WAS WON

Author: Julie Anne Long ISBN: 9780061885693 1/2012 HISTORICAL Publisher: Avon
Time Period: Regency

How the Marquess Was Won by Julie Anne Long
The Scandal Sheets call him Lord Ice.
Ruthless, cold, precise, Julian Spenser, Marquess Dryden, tolerates only the finest—in clothes, in horseflesh, in mistresses. And now he’s found the perfect bride, the one whose dowry will restore his family’s shattered legacy and bring him peace at last: the exquisite heiress Lisbeth Redmond.

She's not afraid to play with fire...
But one unforgettable encounter with Lisbeth’s paid companion, Phoebe Vale, and the Marquess is undone: this quiet girl with the wicked smile and a wit to match is the first person to see through the icy façade to the fiery man beneath. But their irresistible attraction is a torment as sweet as it is dangerous: for surrendering to their desire could mean losing everything else they ever wanted.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS: Top Pick

Julian, the Marquess of Dryden, is a man that the entire ton is looking up to. They copy what he wears, what coach or horses he drives, and even his hairstyle. Ever since his father passed away, Jules has determined to slowly, and with a studious purpose, rebuild his family’s fortune, especially their family’s properties, which his father gambled away. He plans his life carefully and meticulously, in minute detail, so it comes as no surprise to any of us when we find out that he chooses his bride in the same way.

Miss Lisbeth Redmond is a suitable young woman of good ‘stock’, and she would bring him a property that was in his family before his father lost it. With a proposal in mind, he heads to Pennyroyal Green, but makes one mistake. Stopping by a local shop to buy a gift for his intended, he sets his eyes on a school teacher, and his life is altered forever. With a wonderful sense of humor and self-deprecation, this young woman is everything our hero never wanted or planned for in his life.

Phoebe Vale is a school teacher with no illusions of who she is or what she wants and expects of life. She’s content with her life and in a place that she single-handedly carved out for herself with hard work and an optimistic outlook. I got the feeling that she liked herself; and that, in itself, gave her confidence and was what also attracted Jules to her. She wasn’t afraid of life and took it one day at a time. She may not have wanted to be a spinster, longing for love like all young women do, but she wasn’t afraid of it, either. As she stops by the local store and jokingly talks to the proprietor about ‘Lord Ice’, whom she has been following like everyone else through the broadsheets, the man himself walks in, and our poor girl had no chance at all.

What follows is a romance that will melt your heart. Everything was so well written that I was left panting, sighing, and praying that this author NEVER stops writing!

The characters, plot, setting, secondary characters, pace and prose were out of this world! I swear, you’ll be devouring the pages with such speed that you just might have to reread it at a slower speed as soon as you finish it.

Julie Ann Long is fast becoming an author to be pre-ordered! I am looking forward to her very, VERY long writing career. As with all her other books—not just this series—this one’s keeper shelf worthy and a reread MUST!

Melanie Friedman

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