Series: Marrying a Mabry #3
Author: Lexi Post
Published September 29th 2023 by Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
Goodreads Synopsis
Can a fake betrothal give them another chance at love?
Lady Mariel Mabry Beaumont is shocked to discover the man she loved, who died in the war, isn’t actually dead and has been in hiding for the last three years. Furious, hurt, and determined to have answers, she sets out to confront him, but the spontaneous, energetic man she used to know has truly disappeared, leaving her to face a cold, hardened stranger.
Marcus Stratton, the new Viscount of Blackmore, curses the fact his older brother died for many reasons, one of which is it has revealed him to society. Now there will be expectations, expectations he cannot fulfill, but what he can fulfill is his oath to bring the last of his men to justice…once he finds him. When the woman he hoped to avoid seeks him out, his true torture begins. Despite his love for her, or rather because of it, he must turn her away. She deserves far more than he can give her.
Yet unable to resist, he finds himself agreeing to Mariel’s proposition of a fake betrothal in which she’ll happily throw him over in mere weeks to avoid being pitied by the ton. But as they spend time together, his fear becomes reality and he falls even deeper in love, putting her life in danger.
Now, the only way to end their façade is to reveal his personal war wounds, but will that be all that’s revealed?
Goodreads
Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.
When she heard that her fiancee was killed in war, Lady Mariel Mabry's life imploded. As the eldest daughter, she knew she needed to marry well, and to help save her sisters - and because she'd never love another anyway - she marries an old, wealthy lord. Now widowed, she discovers that her fiancee was not killed, and that Marcus is the new Viscount of Blackmore. Why has he stayed hidden for the last 3 years, only to come back to society now that he's inherited the title? And why is he so angry that she married when all hope was lost?
The final book in the Marrying a Mabry series nicely tied together any loose ends. The fact that Mariel managed to get her happily ever after, after going through an unwanted marriage just to support her family, was great. I didn't enjoy the miscommunication between her and Marcus, and wish he had opened up to her much sooner. Even so, it was lovely seeing them rediscover one another, and come to term with the traumas of their pasts.
Dates Read:
May 6-7, 2024
Rating
3 Stars
