About this book:
“When Marcus Haverly's father and older brother unexpectedly pass away, the new Duke of Haverly is saddled with a title he never expected to bear—and more eyes suddenly turned toward his life than a secret agent for the Crown can afford.
To thwart the plans of the rest of his scheming family, the duke impulsively marries one of the Season's young debutantes. After all, a properly raised noblewoman is meek and mild. Sequestering Lady Charlotte in the country and getting on with his work as a spy should be easy.
His new bride has other ideas. No shrinking violet, she's determined to take her place as his wife, front and center—no hiding in rustication. As a duchess, she can use her position to follow her call from God and help the lowest of society: the women forced into prostitution because they have no skills or hope. But these philanthropic, reforming endeavors are not met favorably in society, nor by her husband who wishes she'd remain in the background as he ordered.
Can the duke succeed in relegating her to the sidelines of his life? When his secrets are threatened with exposure, will his new wife be an asset or a liability?”
Series: Book #2 in the “Serendipity & Secrets” trilogy. Review of Book #1, Here! (Connected to the “Thorndike & Swann Regency Mystery” series.)
Spiritual Content- Prayers & Thanking God; Talks about God; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Marcus tries to keep God in a box for only Sundays and would prefer God not encroaching on his carefully laid plans (someone tells him that he can’t do that as God deserves more from him; *Spoiler* Towards the end, Marcus realizes that he needs God in both is personal and professional lives *End of Spoiler*); Charlotte makes many comments (in her head) about God such as finding it hard to believe that He gives good gifts because she’s never received any, wondering if God even cares about her or if she was forgotten, wondering if she’s asking for too much from Him to be happy, doesn’t think her happiness will last because God will snatch it away from her, & thinks that if God was good to her then something she wants would happen; Charlotte asks God if something is a sick joke to her prayer; Marcus feels guilt over not going to church in a while; Charlotte recalls her school teacher teaching the difference between religion and a relationship with God; *Spoilers* Charlotte feels comfort when someone calls her an answer to prayer; Charlotte tries to cling to the fact that God loves her; Pippa makes a sarcastic comment about praying not working for someone if they’re not in church, but changes her mind in a dire situation; At the very end, there is a paragraph about Charlotte realizing about the good gifts God has given her throughout her life *End of Spoilers*; Marcus’ mother says that God has been cruel to her because of the deaths of her husband and oldest son & has abandoned their family; Charlotte thinks her father is “a man of “religion”, but only when others were looking. It had nothing to do his heart.” and suggests him doing a homily on fidelity at church (she says he’s been despicable because of this and still acting righteous in the church which causes her father to punish her); Mentions of God, His plans, & faiths; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of churches, church going, services (including for Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday), sermons, a rector, & homilies; Mentions of blessings & being Blessed; Mentions of sins, sinners, sinful nature; Mentions of a former prostitute being thankful that God saved her & trying to share the Good News with every woman who are prostitutes as well; A few mentions of Jesus Christ; A few mentions of reading Scriptures; A few mentions of those & events from the Bible; A few mentions of Christians & their duty to others; A few mentions of Puritans (in regard to Charlotte’s parents almost being like this with their rules for her clothing, which Charlotte finds hard to believe that a God who created colors would refuse to allow His people to wear them); A couple mentions of a woman saying that she doesn’t know why God allows women to be at the mercy of men but thinks He has His reasons or perhaps it’s the consequences of living in a fallen world; A couple mentions of nuns & priests (in regard to how Charlotte dresses); A mention of praising and thanking God; A mention of a woman acting like a martyred monk over something; A mention of Catholic emancipation; A mention of ‘The Book of Common Prayer’ (at a wedding); A mention of guardian angels;
*Note: Mentions of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses; A man is called a “devil” due to his actions (Charlotte towards her father); A mention of idolatrous imagines (the Elgin marbles).
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blimey’, a ‘cor’, two ‘stupid’s, and five forms of ‘idiot’; A woman is called an “ugly cow” by a man; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Some lies by both Charlotte and Marcus (for society acceptability reasons & spy duties, though Marcus withholds information more so than actually lying which hurts Charlotte regardless); Being held at gun-point, physically threatened, kidnapped, tied-up, stepping on and kicked, pain, injuries, blood/bleeding, & seeing someone shot, stabbed, and killed (up to semi-detailed); Seeing women after being beaten, their injuries, pain, blood/bleeding, & helping them (up to semi-detailed); An explosion (up to semi-detailed); Charlotte does sneak out without her parents knowing to go to a shady area of town; Marcus breaks into places & keeps secrets for his job as a spy; Marcus is given champagne at a party but doesn’t drink it due to not liking champagne; Charlotte’s respect for her father disappears after hearing about his mistress; Many mentions of an assassination attempt, potential murders, death (Book #1), & wars and deaths related to wars; Mentions of a man threatening to kill others & beating others (mainly prostitutes); Mentions of deaths, a carriage accident, & grief (a woman for her husband and son); Mentions of women being abused and beaten by men (both their husbands and male clients of prostitutes, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of beatings, violence, injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of kidnappings & being tied-up; Mentions of break-ins; Mentions of robberies, thieves, & pick-pockets; Mentions of prions; Mentions of lies, lying, liars, & deception; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of alcohol (including one called “Dutch courage”), drinking, drunks, alcoholics, taverns/pubs, & drinking socially at parties/dinner; Mentions of smoking, cigars, pipes, & tobacco; A few mentions of opium; A few mentions of blackmail; A few mentions of gambling & gamblers; A couple mentions of slavery; A couple mentions of brawls/fights; A couple mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of hatred; A mention of a child possibly drowning; A mention of the possibility of a young woman disappearing forever (if she’s in the wrong part of town);
*Note: Charlotte’s father is very controlling & unloving towards her and her mother; Marcus and his mother have a unique relationship due to him being the second son (he tries not to let it rankle him and realizes that it is also on him for not getting to know her); Marcus is disappointed over his brother’s child being a girl (and not a boy who can inherit everything instead of him); Marcus has some self-doubt which causes him to try to prove himself to others; Charlotte faces comments from men about woman not needing to read or be educated (she fights against this thinking & voices her thoughts) & mentions of this throughout the book (including a man making a comment that she’s good at something “for a woman”); Mentions of women saying that men do not keep their word/promises; A mention of prostitutes possibly having “unwanted children” to care for.
Sexual Content- A cheek kiss, a forehead kiss, two not-detailed kisses, a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, two semi-detailed kisses, two border-line semi-detailed // detailed kisses, and a detailed kiss; Remembering kisses & touches/embraces (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to kiss & touch (up to semi-detailed); Many Touches, Embraces, Cuddling in bed, Dancing, Sitting in his lap, Hand holding, Electricity/Shivers, Warmth/Heat, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Blushes & Winks; Noticing & Staring (including muscles and curves & Charlotte seeing Marcus shirtless when working out, up to semi-detailed); Charlotte and Marcus enter into a marriage of convenience & there many hints to their nighttime actives and consummating their marriage with fade-to-black scenes as well (such as her nightgown on their wedding night being “bridal and virginal”, him undoing her hair and then thinking of “important things” that were to come, him coming to her room often and the “physical side” of their marriage happening at that point and her feeling loved by him then, wondering if she’s carrying his child, when he doesn’t come to her bed room she wonders he she displeased him, Charlotte accuses Marcus for only needing her for one thing (implied intimacy), that neither of them slept much when together at night, and waking up the next morning cuddling); After a first kiss with Charlotte, Marcus wonders how someone “so untouched and virginal” could “stir his pulses” like she did (also adding later that he needs to wait to kiss her again until they are married because of his feelings); Charlotte recalls her mother tell her that for her wedding night, her husband will “know what he was about” and that she will “survive her husband’s attentions as all married women did” (which Charlotte hopes that it will matter to both of them and not just him); Marcus visits a prostitute for information & the woman shows her shoulder to him which makes him tell her to cover up (*Spoiler* This causes problems later when Charlotte finds out he paid the prostitute for something, but he promises he has been faithful to his vows and nothing sexual happened between them *End of Spoiler*); At the beginning of the book, Charlotte learns that her father had a mistress and a child out-of-wedlock, she is hurt by her father doing this (especially as a man active in the church), & she is determined to help her half-sister who has become a prostitute; Charlotte goes into a sketchy tavern and is accosted by some men there (who make comments on her appearance, thinking she’s a prostitute, making suggestive comments, and grab at her, up to semi-detailed); Charlotte’s mother tells her that all men are unfaithful and that ladies aren’t comment on their husband’s “peccadilloes” (which Charlotte comments that adultery will continue to happen unless someone says it’s wrong); Charlotte’s half-sister is a well-known courtesan & brags about the fact that she’s sought after the richest men in the city (*Spoiler* A man acts as if she’s his possession, beats her when she disobeys, kidnaps her when she tries to disappear on him, & suggests selling Charlotte to another man *End of Spoiler*); Charlotte is uncomfortably cornered by men (including a man making suggestive comments about her character which makes Charlotte slap him); Charlotte is offered marriage by a man old enough to be her grandfather (he comments that he doesn’t want a “child bride” but someone more “mature”); Seeing a married man with another woman (flirting/luring her into an alcove; *Spoiler* Charlotte’s father which she puts a stop to *End of Spoiler*); Many mentions of prostitutes/courtesans/doxies, mistresses, brothels/bordellos, infidelity/adultery, men not keeping their marriage vows, & out-of-wedlock children (nothing is truly detailed, but there are many mentions of the women satisfying men, selling their “favors” and the only commodity they had, women being badly beaten by their “clients”, entertaining “callers” all night, men going to brothels, catalogs of prostitutes for men to browse, men “owning” the women at a brothel, & the women being abused in many ways including sexual; Mentions of wedding nights, consummating a marriage, married couples sharing a bed or not, & them not sleeping when together; Mentions of some believing that prostitutes are in that career due to “some fatal flaw in her character that she couldn’t overcome” which “made her behave so poorly” (neither Charlotte nor Marcus believe this); Mentions of kisses & kissing, & kissing skills (Charlotte thinks that she can improve her kiss skills if given a bit of practice with Marcus); Mentions of flirting & flirts; Mentions of curves & figures (including a married woman comments on her figure getting somewhat better-endowed after having a baby); A few mentions of a reformed prostitute who tries to help other girls leave that life; A few mentions of husky voices (after kisses); A couple mentions of a woman who was seducing and “disgraced” by a man (and got pregnant from it, Book #1); A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of women being assaulted in war-torn areas; A mention of prostitutes having possibly having a disease later in life; A mention of Charlotte knowing about “relations between a man and woman” due to her science and medical books; A mention of a man not being censured about parading a courtesan around but receiving approving humor from another man about it; A mention of a man kissing his wife; A mention of Marcus staring at Charlotte like a “starving man”; A mention of a goal to impose an “age of consent”; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
*Note: Charlotte thinks negatively about her appearance, picking out her flaws;
Mentions of families needing an heir and a spare, wives being a vessel for that, & disappointment over a baby being a female and not a male heir; A few mentions of bosoms & buxom women (including Charlotte); A couple mentions of low-cut gowns; A couple mentions of two women who died in childbirth; A mention of the Elgin marbles being too “scandalous” for women to view; A hint to a woman’s cycle.
-Charlotte Tiptree, age 21
-Marcus Haverly
P.O.V. switches between them
Set in 1814
305 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
After reading the first book in this series recently, I was expecting to give this book low ratings. Which turns out to be correct because of the marital intimacies hints I fully expected in this book, unfortunately.
Like the first book, there were many things I did like about this book that makes me wish I could recommend this book for older teen girls, but I can’t because of the content.
I really liked Charlotte and seeing her bloom once away from her controlling father. Marcus was a sweetheart to her, and they were really good together. I did like that we got to see the actual wedding because so many books skip over that (and lead into suggestions, which I could do without thankyouverymuch). There was even a masquerade ball scene, and if you know me at all you know I love a good masquerade ball scene.
I’ve been excited to read Marcus’ story for the past three or so years after first seeing him in the “Thorndike and Swann Regency Mysteries” trilogy and while it was great to actually see his story, there was content that I didn’t like seeing.
There was a lot of politics not only in the fictional world but also in the current world of this book’s historical setting, both which I struggled at times to keep up with. Some of it was interesting, but some of it made me yawn at times, to be quite frank.
Now, the romance parts. Being a marriage of convenience, I knew there would be mentions and suggestions to marital intimacy. This book—while hinting and never straight-up giving the details of what’s going on—does heavy allude to their bedroom activities. It felt very sensual (for lack of a better word) and it is why I don’t recommend this book for those in BFCG’s target ages. Which I honestly expected when I started this book after reading the first one.
Like the first book in the series, the main girl of this one had a lot of negative comments about God despite believing in Him and often is thinking that He never gave anything good to her (or if He did, it was taken away quickly). But at the very, very, very end she realizes in a paragraph but that is not true. I wish since those thoughts lasted over 90% of the book we would’ve seen that discussed or thought on a little bit more than just a paragraph towards the end, particularly because of all the comments prior. I like to see more of a conclusion or development when a character has those untrue thoughts.
Overall, I’m not shocked to give this book a low rating. I fully expected it, actually. Some might think me mean or heartless for that and yet still reading it, but I plan to fully review this trilogy regardless and share the content warnings for those who may want to know.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
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