B+
Genre: Historical: European, Romance
I had a raging head cold and cough when I read Say Yes to the Marquess by Tessa Dare. I think under normal circumstances it might have ventured into “too cute” territory for me, but since I was feeling like absolute crap, it was just what the doctor ordered.
Clio Whitmore has been waiting eight years for her betrothed, Piers Brandon, to return from his foreign posting to marry her. She’s tired of feeling like the unwanted bride, and when an uncle dies and leaves her a castle–that’s right, a friggin’ castle–which she intends to turn into a brewery, she finally has the means to dissolve the engagement.
I need to take a moment here to state that 1. I wish I had a rich uncle leave me a castle so I could just walk out of all my burdensome obligations like “Fuck y’all, I got a castle!” and 2. I love that Clio is sharp and business minded and wants to turn the castle into a brewery. You go, Clio.
Clio can’t dissolve the engagement without the signature of Pier’s older brother Rafe (Piers is still in Vienna at this point). Rafe should have been the Marquess of Granville, but he had a falling out with his dad and was disinherited. So Rafe decided to be a prizefighter to support himself LIKE YOU DO and is currently training to win the heavyweight championship.
Rafe has a shitload of daddy issues and feels like a failure and refuses to be the one who screws up Pier’s engagement, so he decides to convince Clio that she does want to be a bride by throwing all kinds of bridal-y things in her face like gowns and cake and flowers. This of course means spending time with Clio and her family at her castle.
So you can guess what happens next. Feelings. Feelings happen next.
One thing I liked about this book was that it had a lot of secondary characters that I though contributed to the story in an interesting way. Clio has two sisters. Her older sister, Daphne, is truly loathsome. Her younger sister, Phoebe, is incredibly smart but lacking in social awareness. I wasn’t sure if Phoebe was intended to read as being somewhere on the autism spectrum, but it was possible.
In this scene Phoebe brings her “research” to the table after deciding that since their mother is gone, she and Daphne must give Clio “the talk”:
“Phoebe, darling. That’s so kind of you, but I’m sure it isn’t necessary.”
Daphne quickly agreed. “If Clio has any questions she can come to me. I’m a married lady now.”
“Yes, but you are married to an Englishman. And as Mr. Montague reminded us in the gardens, Lord Granville has been living on the Continent for some years. If she is going to keep her husband satisfied, Clio will need to be well-versed in the ways of Continental women. I was able to locate a few books in French. They were illustrated.”
Bad manners or no, Clio put her elbow on the table. Then she buried her laughter in her palm. “Truly.”
“Yes, but they weren’t very helpful. And the words they use are ridiculous. All this talk of folds and rods and buttons. Are we copulating or sewing draperies?”
Rafe also comes to the castle with his own entourage, namely his trainer Bruiser, who is pretending to be Mr. Montague the wedding planner, and Ellingsworth, his brother’s ancient bulldog.
Like I said, some of the scenes in this book bordered on a little bit too cute for me–Bruiser jumping on the bed and Ellingsworth eating Clio’s engagement ring–but it wasn’t overwhelming. Also Clio’s family is just genuinely, passive-aggressively awful to her to her that it balanced some things out.
Also there is cake porn in this book. CAKE PORN.
I tend to like my romances with a little more angst, but Say Yes to the Marquess worked for my Sudafed riddled brain.
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Yes, Piers is the older brother. He’s the current Marquess that Clio is supposed to say yes to.
I thought Rafe was older and everything went to Piers when he was disowned but I could be mistaken
I just loved Bruiser and the quizzing glass. That made the book for me.
Piers is the older brother. Rafe is younger, and if he were the eldest his father couldn’t willy-nilly disinherit him no matter how annoying he is. The only way Rafe becomes the marquess is if Piers dies without sons.
Wouldn’t inheriting a castle be more of a headache and a huge liability than independence granting? They’re expensive to maintain, and converting it into a brewery would also involve expense. (To quote Northanger Abbey: “The number of servants continually appearing did not strike her less than the number of their offices…how inexpressibly different in these domestic arrangements from such as she had read about: from abbeys and castles, in which…all the dirty work of the house was to be done by two pair of female hands at the utmost. how they could get through it all had often amazed Mrs. Allen.”) And does Clio know anything about brewing beer? About selling it wholesale? Payroll for employees to renovate, maintain, and produce the beer? This sounds like a recipe for disaster. (If her uncle had helpfully left her his interest in the shares of a functioning brewery that would be something. A white elephant castle…not so much.) Never mind the severe restrictions on owning real property for a woman. I think Clio could own property if she was single and an orphan and/or widow (I seem to remember the legal term was femme sole) but I’m not sure. I suspect the response to inheriting all that property might be “oh, God, now I really have to get married because I need help maintaining it.” Speaking as someone who’s recently seen the headaches of inheriting (and disposing of) one small apartment, I think inheriting a castle would make you want to dig up whoever stuck you with it and stake them through the heart in sheer frustration.
I just love Tessa Dare”s books . As I mentioned in the giveaway thread, she had me at the very first page. Clio had been engaged to Piers for eight years. She reflects on the fact that when he asked her for a long engagement she should have replied ‘define long’. For me that phrase defined the tone of the book and I enjoyed it a lot. I find her writing witty and fun and romantic, in doses that work great for me. I like her heroines and heroes alike (the heroes are hot!). I miss her promotional home made videos though. They were hilarious! Tessa, you complete me.
I did enjoy the book but had to suspend belief for most of it.
For example: Why does Clio need to go to Rafe to dissolve the engagement? Why not just write Piers? Why does Rafe feel responsible for the Earldom when apparently Piers doesn’t? Although some of these questions are sort of answered in the 2nd half of the book, it was too late for me.
Rebecca: some of those issues are explained. She plans to use her dowry to fund a lot of this, and she is an orphan, so legally she can own the property. She’s also spent a chunk of her 8 year (!!!) engagement researching the brewery business. Totally realistic? Probably not. Within a stone’s throw of plausible? Close enough for me?
Now I want a book about the little sister.
I’m glad I read the comments because I was verging on a rage-fest at the idea of the oldest son being skipped over for the title because daddy got mad at him. Not how it works–altho I’ve read other books that did this.
I totally read Phoebe as being on the autism spectrum. I also felt like Daphne was meant to be more sympathetic that she was. But after she decided to play the take away Clio’s food game I was unimpressed with her.
I thought Daphne was a total cow, but a particular scene featuring her husband made me literally laugh out loud! I expected cute and funny and was not disappointed, I loved this book.
I liked the very realistic depiction of a hero with Attention Deficit Disorder. That term is never used, of course, but Rafe’s need for physical activity to help him focus, his past difficulties in school and the way prizefighting has helped him pull his life together reminded me very much of a friend of mine who uses martial arts to control his ADD.
@Laura, the reason Clio needs Rafe to sign the dissolution papers is because her dowry (which she needs to maintain the castle and start the brewery) is tied up in the negotiated marriage settlement, and Rafe has Piers’ power of attorney while he is overseas. Clio does not want to wait for Piers to return to start the brewery (and she also hopes to avoid an unpleasant confrontation with him).
There were some obvious anachronisms with regard to the wedding trappings, but I was willing to suspend my disbelief because I enjoyed the story (and the hero) so much.
I normally love Tessa Dare books, and while I liked this one there was a bit too much saccharine for me. I think for once I would love a novel where the hero isn’t emotionally tortured over his love for the heroine, but just goes for it. I mean, clearly Piers was kind of a jerk for leaving Clio waiting for eight years without giving her any idea of what her fate would be. Yes he was off doing daring and dramatic things in the name of the crown, but he either should have filled her in, or let her out of her arrangement. The fact that Rafe would want to force her into a marriage with someone who pretty much abandoned her for that long didn’t make sense to me. If he loved her, he’d be angry on her behalf … not trying to push her into the situation even further.