My Favorite Marquess [Paperback]

Alexandra Bassett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2006

A Marquess on a mission to secure a piece of land and the stubborn widow who owns it find themselves battling wills and surrendering to passion in this lively historical romance. After conventional means fail, Sebastian, Marquess of St. Just, takes reckless measures to secure the crumbling monstrosity known as Trembledown - a haven for local smugglers and moonlighting spies. He plans to scare, not seduce, its owner, but when a midnight encounter leaves them soaked, stranded, and possessing just one blanket for warmth, Sebastian, a.k.a. Robert the Brute, discovers that the widow Violet Treacher is not only wilful and unafraid, she is maddeningly desirable...Though the wilds of Cornwall hold no allure, Violet won't give the arrogant Marquess the satisfaction of a sale, so here she shivers, in a wreck of a house, with lips still burning from the passion of a masked smuggler. She knows he's near - for her own bit of real estate is quite the magnet for secrets, danger, even treachery. But how will she recognize the gentleman by day...with only the memory of his kiss in the dark?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bassett's latest, a winning Regency, begins quietly enough: on her way to England's Cornish coast to claim Trembledown, the derelict estate she inherited after her husband's death, Violet Treacher thinks her only real trouble is the Marquess of St. Just, Sebastian, who has aggressively pursued the property. That's before Violet is snatched from her carriage by notorious smuggler Robert the Brute, who forces her to spend a night with him in a coastal cave. There, animosity and a bit of liquor lead to a night of passion the likes of which Violet had never experienced during her loveless marriage. Still shaken, Violet is released by the masked Brute the next morning, just in time to play host to the haughty, pretentious Sebastian—who, unbeknownst to her, is the Brute himself. His condescension heightens Violet's determination to restore Trembledown, even if she must do the work herself, and sets the stage for much sparring between the two headstrong leads. Several characters from Bassett's His Chosen Bride take supporting roles, giving balance to this rollicking tale of passionate sex and modest skullduggery. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Absolutely delightful and completely charming. I couldn't put it down!"

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Zebra (July 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821777874
• ISBN-13: 978-0821777879
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,506,453 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Humour and romance!, November 19, 2008

By 

Lisa A. Malmquist (Chicago, Ill) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: My Favorite Marquess (Paperback)

I have to remark on something that the review has completely missed-the humour of the story is really well written and clever.Sometimes it made me laugh out loud!
Anyway, onto the story, Violet Treacher is a young recent widow on her way to wild Cornwall. She goes to claim the house that her deceased husband"s family has left her. Her Neighbor, the Marquess St Just has offered to purchase the house in order to cover for his clandestine spy activities for the English crown. His idea is to kidnap her in the guise of a smuggler, which starts a whole tangle of identities and humourous incidents. Violet finally sees the run-down house she's been given and almost high tails it straight back to London. A battle of wits and funny incidents ensues. The secondary characters add another touch of humour and mayhem! There is the Butler, Peabody, who is more snobby than the nobility, constantly worried about position and appearances. Henny, a spinster cousin of Violet, who gets involved in a secondary love story.
All in all the characters give an amusing take on the class society while entertaining as you go along. Honestly, yes its formulaic but so is just about every romance I've read, that's a good thing! A bit of very amusing escapism at its best!
To be fair, I wanted anyone who might look at this book to get another opinion and a bit more info than the reviews provide. Because I think its an excellent light, humourous romance and those are hard to find!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very amusing light hearted romance, February 12, 2009

By 

LoveMyBooks (NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Favorite Marquess (Paperback)

This was the first novel I've read by this author and I'll try to read her other books as well. The book made me laugh out loud so many times. The writing was very humorous and the characters very interesting. Actually the hero's character was more bland than that of the secondary characters, but I don't read a book just for the sake of interesting heroes & heroines. The butler was very funny and so were Violet's family & friends. Overall, I found it a very lighthearted and funny regency romance, with the emphasis on lighthearted. The end was formulaic. But overall a satisfying read.

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting for about half the book, June 15, 2011

By 

Shannon Boyer "Shan J" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Favorite Marquess (Paperback)

I found the story interesting during the first half of the book but I could not get into the heroine. Violet comes off as a selfish brat who lacked any sort of charm. Her one redeeming quality was her beauty and apparently her stubbornness. The one character that was truly enjoyable was the Marquess. Also, I would highly recommend that the author fire whoever was her proofreader. There were numerous grammatical errors, that I would not expect to find in a published book and at some parts the story had serious plot falls. I do not regret reading it but I will probably not ready anymore of her books.