The Man Is Practical
As marriage proposals go, Charles Draysmith’s suit is as romantic as the moors in December. Emma Peterson might be only a vicar’s daughter, and he the new Marquis of Knightsdale, and perhaps he would rather marry her than endure the marriage mart. But when he suggests how much he’ll enjoy securing an heir, well, a lady can only endure so much.
But The Lady Is Passionate
There’s something about a woman throwing pottery at a man that piques his interest. Perhaps his proposal lacks grace, Charles thinks. But it does seem a perfect solution. He acquires a wife; his young charges have the mother they so desperately need, and Emma gains security and position. You see? Simple. Practical. Sensib -- oh no, not the ceramic dog... He will have to confess the truth to calm her down. And the truth is, he’s madly in love...
Though I was a little hesitant when I first picked up The Naked Marquis, after a few chapters, I was pleasantly surprised that I was actually enjoying it. After reading excerpts and summaries about Sally MacKenzie's series, it seemed like the books were more on the comical side of romance--something I do not usually go for. But I felt that MacKenzie was able to combine comedy and romance together very nicely, promting me to grab the next book in the series right away *though I still have to go back and read the first one, The Naked Duke*.
The only thing that kind of bugged me about this book was the hero's name-- Charles. I'm sorry to say that I am a stickler for names, and the older ones, like Charles, seem kind of flat for the hero of a romance novel. Not that it's not a good name, but for some reason, it just doesn't quiet work for me *No offense to any Charles out there!*. Other than that, I thought the story line was nicely written, fairly interesting, and the romance was nice, going from scandalous and passionate to sweet and tender.
Another thing that kind of annoyed me was the heroine's lack of knowledge about 'the marriage bed'. I know that in those times, the young women were only told the bare necessities the night before the wedding, but come on! Emma knew absolutely nothing, and I don't think that the excuse 'She's the vicar's daughter' is a good enough reason. In other books, the heroine usually knows a bit about the sexual act, but not in the Naked Series! I have nothing against a virginal heroine in my romance novels, but please, don't make her as ignorant as a nun! I felt that during the times when the author could have had Charles lovingly explaining some of the details, she instead chose to make it akward and slightly funny. I personally would have liked it better if Charles had decided to give her 'lessons' about passion instead of blushing and avoiding the questions.. but maybe that's just me.
4/5 STARS! All in all, the book wasn't too bad, a possible re-read in the future, and I will grab the other books in the series to read because I am interesting in a couple of the other characters, whom I already know have their own book. A great book if you want a historical read that is light and funny, but has a nice plot line, a bit of a 'who done it? subplot' and some passionate love scenes.
~TBQ~
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