La Contessa and The Marquis

Lindsay
Downs
Genre: 
Historical

Lord Rainer Cross, Marquis Hathaway, has set his sights on a new conquest, but unlike his rakish intentions, this time he means to have her as his wife. Bianca, the Italian Contessa de Massa, was born and raised in England before being taken to Italy by her father to marry. Now widowed, she’s returned home, for her own safety from her father. Rain’s godmother is also her godmother, the formidable Duchess Gorham.

 

A sweet tale set in Regency London, Rainer is more like what a real rake would have been; an intelligent man who eventually decides he wants to stop playing and doesn’t need to be led to marriage. His godmother is a rather scary, but wonderfully lovable and conniving character, who has him doing an egg-shell dance every time he’s even within earshot of her, and isn’t the least bit sorry that she’s aiding him in winning the Contessa - herself a formidable woman on her own merits. The aim to have the story written in the Jane Austen style doesn’t come close. Comma errors abound so often and so noticeably that the reader will have to back up, a lot, and re-read to understand, and a large chunk of syntax is in the wrong order and also unreadable on the first pass. Proper titles are only capitalized half the time, and all of these combined will cause the reader to weep, wail, and have a fit of vapors. But never fear, a solid round of line editing would render this amazingly wonderful story a solid five-star triumph!

 

Julie York