A MOST INDECENT PROPOSAL
Annabelle Green needs a husband-and quickly. To inherit the only home she’s ever known, she must be married by her twenty-fifth birthday. But finding a suitor has been next to impossible after a reckless rogue named Quinton Carlisle seduced her into a scandalous midnight tryst. Her reputation in ruins, Belle now needs a rather large favor. And she knows just who to turn to . . .
Quinn can hardly believe that the shy bookish girl he teased as a child has grown into such a brazen beauty. The very idea of marrying Belle to right the wrongs of his past is downright shocking . . . and deliciously tempting. Too bad marriage, convenient or otherwise, is the last thing Quinn wants. He’ll help Belle find a husband and be on his way. But if he can’t control his attraction to the bride-to-be, this marriage could go up in flames-of wicked desire.
The Meta Details:
Source: Netgalley
Format: eBook
Length: 352 pages
Publication Date: August 29th, 2017
Genre: Historical Romance
Content Level: Adult
Pearl Clutching Content: she swims naked in duck ponds, runs an estate, wears trousers, and drinks scotch… Wait… It’s not 1817…
…just the graphic sexual content then…
Trigger Warnings: attempted kidnapping, bullying, kisses without consent
Featuring: blue stocking spinsters, rakes no longer picking up leaves (if you catch my drift), and a meddlesome auntie.
Scorecard:
Recommended for: fans of historicals
Rating: An all around fun time.
Ginny Lurcock’s Thoughts: Before I begin my review, I have a confession to make. My husband and I poke at and tease each other as frequently as possible. Call it giving each other shit, call it riling each other up, call it bickering…. Whatever label you give it, it’s how we show we care.
We’re nerdy, dorky, assholes, and we love each other for it.
So the fact that Quinn and Belle poke at each other with the intention of riling each other up just makes my heart fill with joy. Add to that a fairly absurd plot line and I am there. I am so there it’s not even funny.
(No seriously, I woke up in stays… it was traumatic.)
You see, super wicked smart with no pedigree Bluestocking Spinster Annabelle Greene (daughter of a convict and a housekeeper) needs to get married to keep the estate she lives on. In a month. Because she was barely on the edges of polite society when she came out, and then she was found in a torn frock in the garden with a notorious scoundrel.
She’s basically bacon at a bar mitzvah now. Ain’t nobody touching her.
Now, of course, she could just marry a nobody. Someone from town, a soldier, a clergyman, literally anyone not in society… but where’s the fucking fun in that?
No, she goes for the third son of a Duke who’s promised to never fall in love, is leaving for America in a month, picks fights with her constantly… and is the very same rake she was caught in the garden with that got her totally rejected by polite society.
(Was I right about the plot line, or was I right?)
It was equal parts budding romance, obstinance, absurdity, mystery, fire, passion, women in men’s clothing, and good Scotch hidden all over the house.
I will warn you there were several moments of him threatening to kiss her, her telling him he’d better not, then him kissing her anyway… which, I know… There was also a couple of “she doesn’t make me feel like other women” and “I don’t fit in with other women” which is dangerously close to “you’re not like other girls” which I loathe. But it only sort of skirted the line without making me actually pull out all my hair.
All in all, it was a satisfying way to spend a Tuesday evening. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have nips to hide all over my house. (Like the raddest Easter Bunny… or Dowager. Whatevs.)
A complimentary copy of this book was provided in exchange for a fair and honest review via Netgalley.
Ginny Lurcock 