Mary and the Marquis

Mary and the Marquis is author Janice Preston’s debut novel. I’m a big fan of Ms. Preston’s work and decided to read the few books from her backlist that I’ve yet to read. This was a fabulous debut and a great start to all the fabulous books that have followed. Lucas Alastair, Marquis of Rothley has become a recluse after returning to his estate after his father died. His father was a cruel man and left the estate in deep debt. Mary Vale is a widow with two children. While escaping from a bad situation, she stumbles across Lucas injured in the woods. While nursing him back to health at his estate, these two find it hard to resist the attraction between them. Well, I’ll admit I’ve been curious about Lucas and Mary for awhile! I first caught a glimpse of this couple in Janice Preston’s story, Lady Olivia and the Infamous Rake which featured Lucas’s younger brother Hugo as the hero. Lucas and Mary seemed like a couple truly in love and I longed to find out exactly how they met and became a couple. From the very beginning, I liked Mary. She’s a woman who hasn’t had an easy life, but she’s doing everything in her power to take care of her children. Lucas was easy to like too. He’s charming, handsome and a rogue, but definitely struggling with trust issues.  He has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders, which weighs heavily on him. This was a well-paced wonderfully written story of two people whose pasts are overshadowing their futures. Both are trying to trust each other and yet scared to move forward. There were some wonderful secondary characters in this story! Mrs. Lindley, and Mary’s children to name a few. I loved Lucas’s interactions with Mary’s children; it brought out a side of him that was good to see. With an evil villain who could destroy both Lucas and Mary’s future, this story kept my attention from beginning to end. Janice Preston is an author I highly recommend from her debut novel to her very latest, you won’t be disappointed!