Reasons for Marriage by Stephanie Laurens

The Chick – Lenore Lester
Been left to rule the roost since her mothers passing, she is content with her life.

She doesnt want her heart to be broken and has no desire for marriage so hides behind her Clark Kent glasses.

The Dude – Jason Montgomery, the Duke of Eversleigh

The death of his younger brother at Waterloo means that he must now marry or everything will go to a dreadful distant cousin.

Can he find someone who ticks all the boxes?

The Plot in 10 (ish):

Jason: I must marry or my dreadful cousin will get everything, I will make a wife shopping list.

Lenore: Welcome, as you can see I am a woman (tick) and I can run a household (tick), I prefer to live in the country (tick), but I am plain as you can tell by my Clark Kent disguise.

Jason : Hey you don’t actually need those glasses. I know your superwomen (flings off glasses)

Lenore : Oh

Jason: Marry me, you fit all my wife shopping list items

Lenore: Ok, *Bown Chicka wow wow* damm I think I'm falling for you, but that wasn’t on the shopping list

Jason: Damm I think I'm falling for you, but that wasn’t on the shopping list

Lenore: I'm now breeding and all this partying it is not fun with morning sickness, all for your shopping list

Jason: Enough with the shopping list. I love you.

Lenore: really??? I love you too

Huzzahhh!

The End

The Book:

A pact between the brothers had decided that Ricky was to marry and continue the Montgomery line, so that Jason could carry on with is Rake pursuits. When Ricky was killed in Waterloo this changed everything. Jason writes a list of all the things he wants in a wife and discusses with his best friend Frederick, over who might fit the bill.

An invitation to a party at the Lester house draws their attention to Lenore. A single woman who runs the Lester house and ticks all their boxes. They venture off to the house party to see if she is as good in person as on paper.

Jason sees past her disguise and asks her to marry him giving his reasons for marriage. She is hesitant but agrees on the practicality of it all and looks forward to being able to run all Jason's houses. After they are married she becomes pregnant and has to deal with morning sickness, an excess of engagements and no longer the intimate connection with her husband.

I like Jason as a well rounded character, you understand the points he demands of his future wife and the love between them develops at a nice controlled pace. Although I don’t quite understand why he must wait for them to return home from London before he can start to show her how he loves her.

Lenore is a nice character too and doesn’t seem flat in anyway. When we meet her, Lenore hides behind badly fitting clothes, pinafores, glasses and tied back hair so as to not seek any unwanted attention and manage her brothers house-parties with indifference, which is explained nicely. It is only Jason that can see that it is a fake appearance and when she says yes to marrying him she takes them off. I do find this part a bit confusing as apparently she had been wearing these awful clothes and glasses for a long time as a shield to stop her getting hurt and for her to quickly forgo them without much hesitation, seemed a bit sudden to me, I thought she would be a bit more uncomfortable in her new attire without the pinafore to hide behind. And it is also one of those Clark Kent situations that taking off a pair of glasses makes her a completely changed person and all men stop and stare.

I was pleasantly surprised with this one, which I thought is one of her best stories. I liked it how they showed their relationship after marriage and how it developed. This book is part of a series but in no way did I feel it was setting me up for the next chapter. The only reference to the next book is her brother asking for her to help find him a wife once she is settled. I have not read the other books in the series so perhaps I will change my mind on that.

Favourite quote : “she is breeding, is she not?”, its an unusual way to ask if someone is pregnant.

A-

Find it on Amazon - The Reasons for Marriage (Lester Series)

A Secret Love by Stephanie Laurens

The Chick: Althea Morwellen

having given up on her coming out eleven years ago when the family’s money was in dire straights. She has brought the family back from ruin only to find out that her father may have ruined them again. She must enlist the help of her child hood friend. However, she and him have not got on since puberty and so she must disguise herself to get his help and hide the family’s disgrace.

The Dude: Rupert 'Gabriel' Cynster

A rake about town who is enlisted by a countess to help bring down a villian.

The rub: Unknown to him the countess is in fact his old childhood friend who he cant seem to be in the same room with any more. But he is quite happy to spend time with the countess

The Plot in 10 (ish):

Althea : oh no my father has gone and signed away all the estates money to villian.

The Countess: will you help me prove this is a villainous scheme and save the estate?

Gabriel: Im bored and you look like a nice project ...Ok. But I'll need a reward for my efforts

*Bown Chika wow wow*

Gabriel to Althea: hang on you look familiar, and smell familiar.. wait are you her?

Althea: damm got the perfumes mixed up... surprise!

Gabriel: I have just realised that I have loved you for a long time... marry me?

Althea: only if you say I love you

Gabriel: I love you

Huzzah!

The End

The Book: 

Since her ruined season was ruined 11 years ago when she discovered that her father causing the estate to be ruined she has taken over the accounts and has scraped and saved so that her step brothers and sisters can have everything need, only to find that her father has unknowingly signed away all that she has managed to a con artist. She needs help to prove that the speculation is a con before the money entailed is called upon and the family will be ruined.

She knows one person who can help her, Gabriel Cynster. They played together as children but have drifted apart and now cant stand to be in the same room together. To hide her family’s financial crisis and to make certain that he will help, she conceals her identity using a black veil and pretends to be a widow countess. Knowing him s well she is able to present it to him to ensure he helps.

Gabriel is bored of the ton pursuits and agrees to help, he sets himself a challenge to conquer the Countess because she has an attraction he cant refuse. And requests that he is rewarded for his endeavours in ways that only she can full fill.

She makes him promise never to investigate her identity and never remove her veil. Under normal situations they cannot be near each other without verbal confrontation and barely touched each other in 11 years and so she is amazed by the attraction Gabriel has for the countess and she falls deeply in love with him and finds herself under pressure to keep her disguise a secret to ensure that Gabriel will help save her family and one evening accidentally slips by wearing the countess perfume.

This was a good book and a great addition to the bar Cynster. They are both believable characters with a nice development. I think it is a nice twist on friends who have known each other for a lon time but they see each other differently in disguise. There is a nice involvment of the rest of the Cynster clan, but no too pushy and it nicely interrelates with the rest of the books in the series.

I have read some of these series intermittently and so I can never remember who I have read about. It does seem a bit of an unnecessary thing to have them all to have nicknames with deadly connotations and I still haven’t found the book which explains why they occurred.

Some things I don't understand from the characters is how her father and step mother are completely removed from the financial accounts of the family. He is quite happy to let his daughter so everything, even when he knows he has possibly ruined them all by signing up to this speculation. He does not seam resourceful. There is only one little mention I think in which his wife says he is basically put out. Seems a bit too laid back to me and I think would have made the story a bit more believable. Although I am being a bit picky. The other thing that got a little annoying towards the end was the constant reference to the height of the two characters ( we get it, their both tall). When they are in a crowded ball room and they can look around and find people, I can understand. It was the mentioning of their long legs intertwined because she is tall, and apparently legs cant intertwine if they are of different heights. It probably doesn’t come up that much and im making a mountain out of a mole hill.

That said I enjoyed it and even her hesitation to say yes to marriage seemed appropriate and understandable. Which sometimes can annoy me. But I would definitely recommend it.

A-

Find it on Amazon - A Secret Love (Cynster Novels)