Mastering the Marquess is Vanessa Kelly’s first book and it’s a decent, although not exceptional debut. The story is pleasant and the characters are too, but the book was not one to linger in my mind.

Meredith Burnley and her half sister Annabel are in a very uncomfortable situation. Annabel is wealthy from a legacy left by her mother, but she is not yet of age to manage her own affairs and she is in delicate health. Their guardian and uncle Isaac Burnley has plans for her money and in order to get it, he wants to send her to a private asylum, and he has every legal right to do so. Meredith is made of sterner stuff and takes a chance. She smuggles Annabel out and together they go to London to their estranged grandparents, General and Mrs. Stanton who had disowned Annabel’s mother for marrying Mr. Burnley who was in trade.

Mrs. Stanton is overjoyed to see the girls and plans to launch Annabel and Meredith as well, into Society. She has a perfect candidate to marry Annabel, Stephen Mallory, the Marquess of Silverton. However, Silverton falls madly in love with Meredith. His mother decidedly does not approve since Meredith’s mother’s family was in trade. However, Silverton is not as high in the instep as his mother and he wants Meredith for his wife.

On her part, Meredith spends quite a bit of time in “I’m not worthy” mode and does not want to take Silverton away from her sister. Meredith has always felt protective toward Annabel, and has always deferred toward her, but when she sees that her sister has fallen in love with someone else, Meredith begins to feel that she and Silverton might have a future. However, Isaac Burnley is not about to let all that money slip through his fingers.

Mastering the Marquess begins well and ends with an exciting rescue scene, but the middle is a bit slow. It doesn’t drag so much as it meanders. Meredith, Annabel, Silverton and the rest of the characters go to balls and other social events and since they are all quite nice characters, it’s pleasant to follow their activities, but it does pall after awhile. Actually, Mastering the Marquess reminded me a bit of a traditional regency with a couple of sex scenes. Since I miss traditional regencies very much, I found this book to be a pleasant enough read, although not a truly memorable one.