Making the Marquess

Brotherhood of the Black Tartan

By: Nichole Van

Narrated by: Rosie Akerman

Lady Charlotte Whitaker is devoted to her family, particularly her sister’s son, Freddie. Her late father, the marquess of Lockhead, died without a male heir. But on his deathbed, he requested that Freddie inherit the title. Consequently, Lottie’s family has petitioned the Crown. But even though she wants nothing more than to honor her late father’s wishes, she unwittingly reveals a wrinkle to the plan....

Dr. Alexander Whitaker is dedicated to his work as a physician in Edinburgh, Scotland. He dislikes surprises - disruptions to his daily schedule, interferences with his ability to care for his patients, and events that might alter his future. He particularly abhors things that threaten to do all three. So when a solicitor calls with news that Alex might be heir to an English marquisate, Alex wants nothing to do with the claim. But the law is the law, and a man cannot revoke his lineage, can he?

Alex does not want to be the new marquess; Lottie is determined to honor her late father’s wishes. Their goals should be simple enough to accomplish, right? But when two kindred souls crash into one another, the resulting conflagration may have consequences neither can anticipate. And Lottie and Alex soon face a difficult truth: Sometimes, life makes us choose between two loves, and in order to have one, we must forsake the other.

©2021 Nichole Van (P)2021 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Excellent series

This is such a fun series and the stories are great the way they stand alone but tie together. The reader does a great job of switching characters and the writing is witty and enjoyable.

Fabulous!

WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Lady Charlotte Whitaker is devoted to her family, particularly her sister’s son, Freddie. Dr. Alexander Whitaker is dedicated to his work as a physician in Edinburgh, Scotland. When a solicitor calls with news that Alex might be heir to an English marquisate, Alex wants nothing to do with the claim.

Since Alex does not want to be the new marquess, and Lottie is determined to honor her late father’s wishes for Freddie to inherit, it seems Alex and Charlotte share a common goal. But he does his due diligence into the estate management with Lottie by his side, and the two fall in love. When Alex begins to see irregularities in how Freddie's father has been handling the estate as the interim caretaker. And people are suffering because of it, something Alex cannot sit back and let happen.

But Lottie and Alex soon face a difficult truth—sometimes, life makes us choose between two loves, and in order to have one, we must forsake the other.

MY TAKE
Another delightful romance with all the feels! One of my favorite parts of a romance is when the couple is falling in love. Van does a delightful job of throwing these two together. Lottie already had a good (if hilarious) impression of Alex because he'd been the doctor called to help with Freddie's emergency delivery.

There were a few times I laughed out loud.

But the only way the two can be together is if they each give us something they love dearly, something they've both already refused to surrender in the past. The resolution is both heartbreaking and touching. I knew Lottie's grandmother would play a role in it somehow!

The mystery of what happened to Jamie moves along with part of the epilogue leading in to the next book. That one's totally going to rip my heart to shreds. I can already tell.

I listened to the audiobook again, and the narrator is growing on me.

****SPOILER ALERT*****







It bugged the heck out of me how Margaret kept using emotional manipulation on Lottie. If Lottie chose Alex, she would be deserting her family. No one mentioned that the entire issue lay with Margaret's husband. He was the gambler who was stripping the estate to feed his debts. If he'd been trustworthy to care for the estate in behalf of his son, Alex wouldn't have had any compunction about signing away his rights. But no one looked at the loser and laid accountability at his feet. So infuriating!

Written well with lots of interesting twists. Kept me guessing!

I don’t have any criticism except the person who did the voice. While she did an excellent job and her accents were believable and easy to discern between characters I would ask that the volume of her voice be less extreme. What I mean by that is the excitable emotional times were ear splitting and the whispers were so low you couldn’t hear. I use headphones to listen while I work and constantly head to jump back and fourth to resisted and adjust volume. That was very frustrating. I use Bose headphones so they are good quality. It just felt she could express her emotions more a little more moderately so there wasn’t so much variation in sound of that makes sense. Otherwise I enjoy her reading very very much.

A rewarding addition to the series

This was very well written I felt a part of things, although Lottie was a little daft at times for someone who is supposed to be so smart. I do wish there was less swearing.