Title: Marry in Scandal
Author: Anne Gracie
Series: Marriage of Convenience #2
Uninspired plot saved by endearing characters
I would like to thank Anne Gracie, Berkley/Penguin Random House, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The charm of the characters saved this novel. The plot is lazy: A man with a gambling debt absconds with a young, naive heiress to Gretna Green to marry her and inherit her fortune, but some kind man she just happens to know just happens to be in the right place at the right time to save her. And though they are the soul of discretion, someone sees them sneaking around together and thinks they’re eloping, and they end up having to get married.
Thousands upon thousands of historical romances have a very similar plot. An author needs to put a twist on it to make it stand out. Unfortunately, not much makes this particular story unique. The villain is one-dimensional and a mere plot device; the only point to Lily getting kidnapped is bring Edward into the fold and create the scandal. Their marriage is the only repercussion, and the villain’s comeuppance was an afterthought at the very end. Honestly, the kidnapping was unnecessary; they should have just met at her brother’s wedding and gotten caught necking in a corner or something. But that would have made a short book even shorter. And it would have been even more cliche.
We spend an entire chapter with Lily getting marital advice from various relatives—which was probably meant to be more humorous than it was; I thought it was just kind of sad, honestly. The book was a commentary on the lack of value and power given to women in the nineteenth century; it made that point over and over and over again.
However, Gracie’s forte has always been her relatable, endearing, witty characters. Lily might have been a little too uneffected by the events in the novel, but she’s such a sweetie. I wanted to hang out with her and Rose and George so badly. She’d been insulted and degraded her entire life, yet she remained kind and optimistic. She reminded me of Mary Bennet from P&P, the only difference being she wasn’t the renowned beauty of the family, and she didn’t faint when Mary would have. I loved that she knew what she wanted and didn’t bend to the will of bullies; we saw her take her first baby steps as far as standing up for herself, and by the end she was a strong heroine who believed in herself. I liked her quite a bit.
Ned was one of those heroes whose greatest fault was caring too much. I enjoyed watching him fall in love with Lily and break free from the prison of guilt he’d locked himself in. He might have been a touch bland, and I wish he’d have had a couple more flaws, a little bit of a dark side that was legitimately dark and not just self-pity. Also, I found it strange that he was supposedly the best man at Lily’s brother’s wedding, yet when he and Ashendon interacted they seemed like mere acquaintances. It was as if Gracie merely claimed they were close friends to make the rescue a big easier to tell, but she didn’t plan to do anything with the relationship otherwise. But he was a decent hero.
I adored the secondary characters: Rose, George, Emm, Cal, Lord Galbraith. Even Aunt Agatha had a certain charm to her. She was abrasive and pompous, but she wanted the best for her family. I am SO intrigued by Rose’s curious silence in regards to men—what happened to her that Lily didn’t know about?—and I can’t wait to see what kind of man takes on George.
Gracie’s writing was skilled, smooth, and easy to read, even if that writing didn’t tell a particularly inspired story. I’ve loved all of her previous books, and I look forward to her future work.
