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The Wild Marquis
The Burgundy Club series, book 1

By Miranda Neville
       

What would bring together a reserved widowed bookseller and a notorious womanizing marquis? That, and other mysteries, are explored in the Regency romance The Wild Marquis. A collection of interesting characters (both dead and alive) from the lives of Juliana Merton and Cain, The Marquis of Chase, factor into the story. Readers also will enjoy figuring out the answer to four additional questions: Who killed Juliana’s husband? Who fathered Juliana? Why was Cain banished from his family home at age 16? Who is trying to sabotage Juliana’s bookshop?

With this many mysteries to solve, it should be apparent that the romance must share time and space with other characters and subplots. One particularly intriguing part of the story is the ongoing rare manuscript auction for which Cain hires Juliana as his representative. Author Miranda Neville, who formerly worked in Sotheby’s rare books department, puts her specialized knowledge and experience to good use, immersing the reader in an unusual auction setting with its own language and customs. The mysteries also present fun challenges for the reader and aren’t so obvious that the ending becomes clear from the beginning of the book. The frequent Shakespearean references (for those well-versed in the Bard’s works) add more color to the story, which in some ways parallel Romeo and Juliet.

As a widow, Juliana doesn’t have to deal with unrecognized feelings of lust like the young virgin misses who frequent most historical romance novels. She knows what’s going on between herself and Cain, and can act upon these urges accordingly. That’s not to say that a notorious womanizer doesn’t have some things to teach a reserved widowed bookseller who had previously married for convenience.

This enjoyable romance (book one of The Burgundy Club series about men who acquire rare books) contains one distracting factor worth mentioning, however. Several names sound strangely similar, which makes remembering who’s who quite a chore sometimes. For example, there’s Cain (also called Chase), the Caxtons and the Combes. There’s Mrs. Merton, Lady Moberly, the Earls of Melkbury, and Markely Chase (an estate). There’s also Tarleton, Tarquin, Thomas, and Mrs. Timms. Less similar names would have made this colorful cast of characters a little easier to differentiate.

 

The Book

Avon Books/HarperCollinsPublishers

March 2010
Mass Market Paperback
978-0-06-180870-8
Romance – Historical (England, 1818)
More at Amazon.com
Excerpt
NOTE: Sexuality and Violence

The Reviewer

Leslie Halpern
Reviewed 2010
NOTE:
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