The Earl of Marsden (better known as Mars, which is one of the more delightful romance novel names I’ve seen as of late) has an issue with women. Mainly in that he only has use of them as mistresses, and otherwise can’t be bothered. This comes back to bite him when his former mistress dumps their baby daughter off at his place. With no use for Menadora (which he quickly shortens to Dora, but again, delightful names here) she is off to entertain her newest lover, and Mars is now a single father.

With all the best intentions of raising his child, he quickly runs into old nemesis in need of a job, Clarissa Taylor. Although she dislikes Mars, Clarissa needs the money, and as a former foundling herself has a soft spot for Dora. No sooner has she agreed to work in Mars’s home and help raise the infant, however, than Mars has a better idea. Let’s get married! Married for the baby! Chastely married, with no intentions of the marriage becoming anything else!

This one is really, really cute. I do not normally like children, in books or otherwise, but Dora is a super cute book baby, and Mars’s attempts to be a good father endeared him to me pretty quickly. He’s one of those flop heroes–handsome, a bit oversexed (though he could have been…. more so…) and kind of useless, but charming in that sense. Clarissa’s initial spars with him were super fun, and I honestly could’ve used more of them–it did feel like she fell a bit too hard a bit too quickly, though who among us has not become dickmatized by a handsome, rich earl with a cute baby?

There’s actually a good bit of plot going on here. You have the baby plot, which leads into the marriage of convenience plot, and the mystery of Clarissa’s backstory, and Mars’s issues with his mother, and Mars’s issues with the guy who was boning his mother, and… I’m not really complaining. A lot of the recent historical romance release I’ve read have been a bit lacking in terms of plot, and you really can’t fault Maxwell there.

I think the issue we eventually ran into was something of an Anthony Bridgerton and Kate Sheffield situation. The guy had valid emotional trauma, which got in the way of him loving–and I support that. I love a man who doesn’t know how to love. The issue is that the heroine really doesn’t have much of a problem. She doesn’t put up a big fight, she doesn’t have a lot of her own baggage. She’s just kind of like “okay, I will try to Fix You ™”. And I know that a lot of people enjoy that trope, and they will enjoy it here, I just feel like Maxwell could have made Clarissa. bit more of a pain in the ass to match how much of a pain Mars was being for her.

Overall, however, it’s a fun (and funny!) romp that I would recommend if you’re in the mood for something light, a little sexy, and full of soapiness.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for a review.