When the Marquess Falls
Grade : B-

I knew, when I picked up this coda novella to Lorraine Heath’s Hellions of Havisham series, that I was going to be reduced to a quivering wreck by the end of it.  I suppose that’s a considerable achievement on the part of the author – zero-to-sobbing in under 100 pages!

If you’ve read the final book in the trilogy, The Viscount and the Vixen, then you’ll know where When the Marquess Falls is going to end up, but I nonetheless appreciate the fact that Ms. Heath decided to tell the story of Marsden and his Linnie, which is very sweet and very sad – although don’t despair, there IS an HEA (albeit a slightly different sort of one).  In terms of the structure, it’s more of a series of vignettes than a cohesively plotted novella, but that format works well here.

By the time we met George St. John, Marquess of Marsden in Falling into Bed with a Duke, he had already lost the love of his life following the birth of their son six years earlier.  He stopped all the clocks, stopped caring about anything very much, and acquired the sobriquets the “mad marquess” or “mad Marsden” because the few remaining servants at Havisham Hall often heard him talking to his dead wife.

But it wasn’t always that way – and in this novella, we get to see George and Linnie’s first meeting when he’s twelve and she’s eight, and how, in spite of the massive differences in their stations (he’s a peer, she’s a baker’s daughter) they forge a friendship that remains steadfast as they grow older. By the time they’re in their twenties, friendship isn’t all they want from each other – but nothing else is possible, and in any case, Linnie has plans to move to London and set up a bakery of her own and George must find a suitable lady to marry.  The strength of the connection between them is impossible to deny – but finding a way to be together might be just plain impossible.

Ms. Heath paints George and Linnie with broad brushstrokes, but they’re both warm and engaging characters and you are just rooting for them to be together.  The glimpses we got of Marsden in The Viscount and the Vixen as a man capable of great charm and warmth are borne out here, as George emerges as an honourable, kind man who is prepared to fly in the face of convention for the woman he loves.  And Linnie is… well, she’s a bit too good to be true, to be honest, but she’s lovely; brave, intelligent and loving, it’s easy to see why, after a few years of marriage, she won over all but the biggest sticklers in the neighbourhood.

I enjoyed the story, but given that Lorraine Heath is one of those authors who usually finds a way to rip out my heart and stomp on it, I had to make sure I had the Kleenex handy.  If you haven’t read any of the books to which this novella is related, then it won’t make much sense to you - and please take note that even though it is set partly before the Hellions series begins, it’s NOT a prequel.

A quick read, and a nice way to round out the series, When the Marquess Falls really is one for the fans.  If you’ve read the series and want to find out a little more about Marsden, then I don’t think you’ll be disappointed, but you can leave the series at The Viscount and the Vixen without missing anything.

NB: The final 10% of the Kindle edition is a preview of Ms. Heath's forthcoming novel, An Affair With a Notorious Heiress.

Reviewed by Caz Owens
Grade : B-

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : March 12, 2017

Publication Date: 03/2017

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Caz Owens

I’m a musician, teacher and mother of two gorgeous young women who are without doubt, my finest achievement :)I’ve gravitated away from my first love – historical romance – over the last few years and now read mostly m/m romances in a variety of sub-genres. I’ve found many fantastic new authors to enjoy courtesy of audiobooks - I probably listen to as many books as I read these days – mostly through glomming favourite narrators and following them into different genres.And when I find books I LOVE, I want to shout about them from the (metaphorical) rooftops to help other readers and listeners to discover them, too.
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