More or Less a Marchioness

Somerset Sisters Series, Book 1

By: Anna Bradley

Narrated by: Heather Wilds

The Somerset sisters, three beautiful, headstrong debutantes in Regency London, are discovering that a bit of scandal is a delightful thing....

For the sake of propriety, and her younger sisters' reputations, Iris Somerset has kept her rebellious streak locked away. But though she receives a proposal from Phineas Knight, Lord of Huntington, Iris can't marry a man she knows isn't truly enamored with her. In fact, Iris no longer wants to be chosen - she wants to choose. Under the clandestine tutelage of "wicked widow" Lady Annabel Tallant, she'll learn how to steer her own marriage prospects - and discover her secret appetites.

What kind of debutante refuses a marquess? Finn is surprised, a little chastened - and thoroughly intrigued. This new, independent version of Iris is far more alluring than the polished socialite she used to be. Finn believed he needed a safe, quiet wife to curb his wilder impulses. But the more Iris surprises him, the more impossible it becomes to resist their deepest desires....

Contains mature themes.

©2018 Anna Bradley (P)2018 Tantor

Excellent story!

This story will keep your attention from beginning to end. The narrator, Heather Wilds knows how to tell a story with multiple characters. The writer teaches all to love people for who they are.....big 5 Stars ⭐️

So good!

Delightful story with interesting characters. Narration was excellent and I had no problem slipping into Regency England for a romantic escape.

Read the second book first, also extremely good, maybe even better and am headed to the third in the series now with great anticipation.

Confused emotions / conflicted on how to rate this title

I wasn't sure how to rate this but I always try to write reviews I would find helpful if I was considering a title. I thought More or Less a Marchioness was a creative spin on a classic HR trope and the characters were intriguing, but on the other hand, the plot was confusing at times, repetitive, and felt like there was a chunk in the middle of the book that had been cut out. Also, I had some issues with the editing. I understand Heather Wilds narration and cadence is disliked by some listeners, I happen to like her, but there were some editing issues where alternate reads weren't deleted or audio chopped together and it's a bit jarring. The beginning was cute and entertaining, the first part of the middle section got a bit tiediess, the second part of the middle was confusing and it felt like there were random plot lines thrown together abruptly and out of no where, and the ending was actually quite sweet. In the end I think I would recommend listening to this novel with the expectation that it won't blow you away but is an easy listen. I'll go into detail about some of the story’s details that I found frustrating and left me with mix feelings below. I'll try the next in the series and hope it's better.

**spoilers below**

Finn’s ex-mistress made an appearance at the beginning of the book and causes a scene that is brought up to exhaustion throughout the story, yet she never makes another appearance and although the drama remains a constant part of the plotline, it was also more or less brushed aside. I thought there was an opportunity to use her character to help develop the relationship of Iris and Finn (in several different ways) but she just appears, causes a bit of drama and then was gone and it just felt clumsy. Additionally, Finn’s “dark desires” (which is just that he likes to bind women, snooze) is brought up at length but when the two finally become intimate it was quite tame, to put it mildly. It was rather disappointing. I thought at the beginning there was fun banter and entertaining back and forth from the two characters that helped the plot along and allowed us to see the development of their feelings, but about halfway through things abruptly changed. Iris jilts him which gets his attention and he becomes captivated, cute, funny, typical, but it went from him being confused by his reaction and starting to develop deeper feelings to him suddenly proclaiming he was in love with her. The change was so abrupt, I thought I had accidentally skipped several chapters and even rewound the audio to check. It just didn't make any sense. It just all felt rushed and unfinished. The story had good bones. There was a lot of potential with the characters and the plot but it fell short, which was disappointing because usually I think Anna Bradley is fantastic. I also didn't care for the climactic conflict with Iris racing Chaos after finding everything out Lord what's his name had done and Finn begging her not to. She really irritated me in that moment but even worse the horse she supposedly loved and felt so connected to sustained an injury during that race and she's so upset she takes off to London without a second glance? What??? She just abandons the animal she loves so much and is injured because of her obstinace?? Again, it just didn't make any sense. I'm glad Finn took on the responsibility and nursed chaos back to health and in the end it was his actions that redeemed the ending and the entire race business. Hope the second book similarly redeems the series...

LOVED THE STORY

This book has a very creative storyline. Lots of characters with lots of different personalities. Not my favorite narrator but not terrible either. Looking forward to the next book in this series.

Enjoyed

Oh, I did enjoy this book. Regency romances are the best. And the chemistry between Iris and Finn is very touching. I have never been able to accept the mistress in these stories.

Great narration, story is a bit repetitive

The narrator is great but this story repeats and repeats so much I had trouble stay the course

Enjoyed this read.

I read it in one day. Characters are well written and I loved how they had the women stick up for themselves without being pushy. Narrator did a great job.

Loved the storyline

I enjoyed the characters and thought the flow of the story was great. Good narration.

Good, mostly

The story line was a good one: "proper" marquess choosing a "proper" debutante to be his marchioness, without really caring who she is except that she has the right bloodlines and behaves properly. Both of them are more than they present to the world, and when the heroin finds out more about her betrothed, she finds she can't go through with it. Despite being jilted, twice, the marquess still intends to marry the heroin, even more once he really gets to know her. But, there was WAY too much inner dialogue that made the story a bit too long. And the narrator, Heather Wilds, was ok, but could have been better in differentiating the character voices and she was a little slow in the narration.

Awesome

Love the work of this lady! She weaves in and out and keeps you guessing if the couple will ever actually an up together!