How to Best a Marquess (The Widow Rules #3)
Janna MacGregor
Beth Howell needs to find her dowry, post haste. After her good-for-nothing first husband married her―and two other women, unbeknownst to them all―she’s left financially ruined and relegated to living with her brother, who cares more for his horses than he does his blood relatives. If Beth fails to acquire her funds, her brother will force her to marry someone fifty years her senior and missing half his teeth. She’d prefer to avoid that dreadful fate. But her now-deceased husband, Meri, absconded with her money mere days after their illegitimate marriage. To find it, Beth will have to leave town and retrace Meri’s steps if she’s to take her future into her own hands. Julian Raleah, Marquess of Grayson, cares not a whit for social norms and generally growls at anyone in his path. Grayson has had a heart of stone ever since his engagement to Beth Howell went down in flames―long before she married that cad, Meri, and sealed her own fate for good. But now she’s on his doorstep, asking for use of his carriage and accompaniment on the hunt to find her lost dowry. Surely Grayson cannot go on the road with the woman who has occupied his thoughts for the past decade. Yet, knowing she needs him, how can he resist helping her this one last time? And maybe that’s just enough time to change the ending to their over-too-soon love story.
Publication Year: 2023
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4/5. Releases 4/25/2023.
For when you're vibing with... Roadtrip romance, a heavy dose of second chance, hot bathtub scenes, THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED, and a bit of sweetness.
Beth Howell is in trouble. After discovering that her late husband was a bigamist--and that her marriage was never valid--she's socially ruined and financially dependent on her brother, who's on the verge of forcing her to marry an old man. She had a dowry--but her husband ran off with it within days of their marriage. Taking matters into her own hands, she goes on a hunt for the money... and the only man she can think to ask for help? Julian, the Marquess of Grayson: her former fiance.
This took a minute to get going, but once it did, I was quite charmed by the soft-yet-hot chemistry and sense of knowing and longing between our leads. It's a classic second chance, with a good dose of roadtrip romance.
Quick Takes:
--There are certain things you want from a historical roadtrip romance. Tense carriage rides, highwaymen, general mayhem. You get all of this here, but it's a bit... tenser, because Julian and Beth actually know each other quite well and are still not entirely over that whole "ended engagement" thing. The sense of them knowing each other and having both a lot of affection for each other and a lot of unresolved beef is strong with this one.
--If you're a fan of the "hapless man is unable to deny wacky broad anything", this is for you. I am a fan of that dynamic, personally, and it's deliciously clear from the jump that Julian really can't deny Beth much of anything. And part of that is also due to guilt. If it wasn't for him, would she be in this mess at all?
--I will say that I think the "why" of the broken engagement could've been a bit angstier. The general conflicts keeping our couple apart really weren't quite as intense as I would've wanted, but I am nothing if not an angst hound.
--There is a really lovely sense of friendship that really isn't friendship because while they know each other very well and like each other a lot, they also want to fuck like rabbits. I really loved this sort of back and forth they got into fairly early in the book where they just sort of kissed for fun and made flimsy excuses about why they were constantly kissing and how that's actually just a normal thing for pals to do? Just friends being buds, slipping each other some tongue on the regular. It's nonsense reasoning, and I was digging it.
--There is a thing relating to the dead bigamist husband that I found to be a bit... much, but it's pretty minor. You'll know it when you see it.
--A lot of the dynamic in this book is "who you are in the eyes of others and how you're perceived by them versus who you are with someone who truly knows the soul of you". It's very touching, and I was about it.
--The flirting is a LOT. You get all the casual kissing, the There's Only One Bed thing, them trying to catch glimpses of each other naked all the time. It really feels like you're reading about two people with a decade's worth of unresolved sexual tension.
The Sex Stuff:
There are several sex scenes in this book, and while they aren't super lengthy, they are well done, and the sexual tension leading up to them is very good. There's one scene (the bath shenanigans!!!) that was just so decadent and caring and all about the spoiling, and that was... quite nice. I did not expect that from Julian, to be real.
This is the end to a trilogy, and I would actually say each book is better than the last, which is always nice. There's a gentle, soft sense to Janna's writing style, which doesn't always work for me--but with her, it does. It's a lovely read.
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
0* received a copy for review.*
The final book in this trilogy finds Beth struggling to move forward. Her terrible brother is determined to marry her off. Her diary is still missing and now the man she loved is back in her orbit.
It has road trip, forced proximity, 2nd chance, and hunt for treasure.
Julian is such a big cinnamon roll. He just wants to build his steam engines and restore his family fortune. However, Beth needs help and so he goes.
Beth is strong and very stubborn.
Solid finish to a great series.
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