Review: The Beast of Beswick (Everleigh Sisters #1) by Amalie Howard
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Series: Everleigh Sisters #1
Author: Amalie Howard
Published November 26th 2019 by Entangled: Amara
Goodreads Synopsis
Beauty and the Beast meets Taming of the Shrew in this laugh-out-loud and heartfelt Regency romance.
Lord Nathaniel Harte, the disagreeable Duke of Beswick, spends his days smashing porcelain, antagonizing his servants, and snarling at anyone who gets too close. With a ruined face like his, it's hard to like much about the world. Especially smart-mouthed harpies—with lips better suited to kissing than speaking—who brave his castle with indecent proposals.
But Lady Astrid Everleigh will stop at nothing to see her younger sister safe from a notorious scoundrel, even if it means offering herself up on a silver platter to the forbidding Beast of Beswick himself. And by offer, she means what no highborn lady of sound and sensible mind would ever dream of—a tender of marriage with her as his bride.
Goodreads
Review
The Beast of Beswick follows Lady Astrid Everleigh as she needs to finds a way to protect herself, and her sister, Isobel, from the vindictive Earl who is out to make all the Everleigh's suffer after Astrid refused him 10 years ago. Now considered a spinster at 25, she knows that she will come into her inheritance as soon as she turns 26, but her debt ridden aunt and uncle will stop at nothing to get their hands on Isobel's dowry. Astrid knows she needs to do something extreme, and heads to Beswick, to ask Lord Nathaniel Harte, the disagreeable and disfigured Duke of Beswick, to marry her, and protect the sisters. Thane has been known as the Beast of Beswick since he returned home for Spain, injured, and angry. He doesn't want to marry, and is more than happy to spend his days in his home, acting like the beast everyone thinks he is, and not let anyone get close. They come to an agreement that Astrid and Isobel will move in, Astrid cataloguing the priceless artwork in the Abbey, while Thane ensures their safety. However, that's not enough, and soon Astrid and Thane need to marry, and quickly, to protect Isobel, and both of them are soon falling in love despite all their best intentions.
This book definitely had Beauty and the Beast feels, and also made me think of Tessa Dare's The Duchess Deal. Astrid was a strong and smart main character, who during her first Season, spurned the advances of the heir to an Earldom, and was labelled as a harlot and shunned. Since then, her parents died, and her uncle has spent all of their money, except for the ironclad protected dowries that fall to the sisters when they turn 26, or marry. The newly inherited earl wants to ruin Astrid further, and promised her uncle the dowry if he allows Isobel to marry. However, if Astrid marries first, her husband will be Isobel's protector, and Thane utterly despised the earl for abandoning his position in Thane's battalion. Thane was left with scarring, both physically and mentally, and wants to be left alone with his guilt. As soon as Astrid arrives, she worms her way into his heart, and into the affections of his disgruntled staff. With Astrid, he begins to feel himself returning to life before the war, and feeling like himself again. Their chemistry was unreal, and I shipped them from the very start. The secondary characters, especially Isobel and Roth, were fabulous too, and I can't wait to read The Rakehell of Roth. Amalie has definitely become a must read author of mine!
Dates Read:
July 4-5, 2020
Rating
4 Stars
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