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
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The
Reviewer |
Leslie
Halpern |
Reviewed
2010 |
NOTE:
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