Sandy M’s review of When the Marquess Falls (Hellions of Havisham, Book 4) by Lorraine Heath
Historical Romance published by Avon Impulse 14 Mar 17
If you’ve been reading about the Havisham Hellions, you know all about the Marquess of Marsden, the mad man running around the family estate where clocks no longer work and the ghost of his wife is said to keep him company on occasion. But you also know he raised four young boys to be the noble gentlemen who find love in the other books in the series. Here, however, we see all those “mad” things we associate with Marsden from his point of view. This is a story of love transcending not only but everything else in life.
George and Linnie grew up together, meeting on the day of George’s father’s funeral when George ran from a houseful of people laughing and enjoying the life his father no longer had. Finding a young girl sitting high on tree branches peering down at him, George had no idea his life was about to change. He’d just found his best friend for life, and what a childhood these two had together.
But because Linnie is the baker’s daughter, their paths eventually veer in different directions. She has high aspirations of opening her own bakery in London, knowing she could never watch George marry to produce an heir. Despite that, she tries to help him find the right sort of woman to have him if she can’t. As a last gift of friendship, George makes sure an invitation to their Christmas Ball is issued to Linnie, who always watched the festivities from afar and wished she could join in.
Having her near is more than George can handle, especially when all other prospective brides bore him. Not caring what anyone thinks, he goes against society and tradition, proposing in front of nobles and commoners alike. Linnie doesn’t hesitate to say yes. Their love story is truly off and running toward all things good and wonderful. But tragedy strikes much too soon, and George is left alone with his son to raise. As much as this man loves his wife, and as deep into his grief he gets, he comes out of it all to do right by his son and also the other three Havisham Hellions who very soon come along.
Marsden may seem mad to the rest of the ton, but the man only loves his wife and she watches over him over the years, keeping him in the here and now for the time being. I always enjoyed the scenes in earlier books between father and son, but here they are much more poignant because we know everything that has happened to this family. I also like that we see the earlier generation of both the Duke of Ashebury and the Earl of Greyling – the apples don’t fall from the tree, despite those two and their wives perishing young.
I don’t cry very often when reading romance – it takes a special author to get that emotion out of me. But Lorraine Heath is the only writer who has now brought me to tears twice. If you haven’t started this series yet, pick it up soon. I can guarantee your heart will rejoice and break before the tears finally fall with happiness when reading this novella.
Grade: A+
Summary:
The long-anticipated and utterly extraordinary tale of the Mad Marquess that proves love truly does last forever.
The Marquess of Marsden always follows the rules. Expected from birth to adhere to decades of tradition, he plans to marry a proper young woman from a good family. But when a beautiful, and completely unsuitable, woman snags his heart, he begins to realize that to get what you want, sometimes you have to break the rules.
Linnie Connor dreams of the independence of running her very own bakery. And while she may be allowed to be a marquess’ childhood companion, the baker’s daughter never ends up with the handsome nobleman. Determined to achieve at least one of her dreams, Linnie makes plans to leave her sleepy village for London, intent on purging him from her heart.
And yet, when an invitation to the Marsden annual ball arrives, she can’t refuse her one chance to waltz in his arms. It will be a night that stirs the flames of forbidden desires and changes their lives forever.
No excerpt available.
Other books in this series:
