Brief summary: The Marquess of Dain, Sebastian Leslie Huy de Ath Ballister (a handful, I know), is a rude piece of work. Despite his bad attitude towaBrief summary: The Marquess of Dain, Sebastian Leslie Huy de Ath Ballister (a handful, I know), is a rude piece of work. Despite his bad attitude toward everyone and everything, he has admirers that want to be just like him. One of these admirers is Bernie Trent. In his quest to get Dain to like him, he has lost lots of money and gets regularly drunk to the point where he passes out. It's not the best way to live life, to say the least. His sister, Jessica, takes it upon herself to free her brother from Dain's negative influence. She proposes a deal that will protect her brother. Unfortunately, Sebastian is not as agreeable as she hoped he'd be and refuses to her terms. Despite the constant arguing, they share an undeniable lust and can't resist each other no matter how much they try. What starts off as pure physical attraction turned into much more as they get to know each other better.
Dislikes:
There was quite a bit of whore/slut shaming. Dain regularly referred to his mother as a whore and thought of his baby momma as a "greedy, vengeful slut". The story takes place in the late 1700s and early 1800s, which was a time where women were more shamed for being sexually promiscuous than they are today, so the author was really just being realistic. However, that doesn't mean I have to like it.
There was practically no groveling from Sebastian at the end, even though he treated Jessica like garbage 25% of the time. This is the guy who publicly humiliated her, practically ruined her brother, insulted her daily, went out of his way to make her life miserable and threatened her. He did a bunch of other crap too, but I'm too lazy to write it all down. Anyway, my point is that after all that, a little groveling would've been nice to see to show that he was truly regretful about his past choices and wanted to be better for her in the future. Instead they just kind of moved past it and had their happily ever after.
After about halfway through the book, Bernie was completely out of the picture. They hardly mentioned him, which I didn't like since he was such an important part of their story in the beginning. I wouldn't have minded him being written out of the story if there was some closure, but there wasn't any. Readers have no idea where the guy ended up. Did he stop drinking himself to the point of unconsciousness or did he get alcohol poisoning and die? I don't know. You don't know. Nobody knows.
No epilogue. I became invested in the couple while reading, so I hoped for a look into what their future life was like. Unfortunately, we never got that, but we did get a happily ever after, so I can't complain too much.
Likes:
The hero's history was revealed in the first chapter. It was refreshing, since most books do that thing where the character's dark history is revealed late in the novel. It made it easier to understand him and his motives, which made it easier to sympathize with and care for his character.
Another thing I found refreshing was that the hero wasn't painted as physically perfect by society's standards. Every male in romance novels nowadays is muscular, has a six-pack with a sharp jawline, long eyelashes, no acne, high cheekbones, etc. In the last novel I read, the hero had a 12 inch penis. Twelve. Inches. So yeah, reading about Dain and his abnormally large nose felt like a breath of fresh air to say the least. Giving the characters physical flaws like this makes the characters feel more real.
Jessica Trent. I loved her from the second she was introduced. She was badass, intelligent, clever, loving, understanding and ambitious. My only criticism of her is that she could be a little too violent at times, but hey, everyone has their faults.
Dain/Sebastian. This was the guy that abandoned his son, publicly humiliated & threatened Jessica, ignored his wife, whore-shamed his mother and is constantly rude to anyone & everyone. These are all traits that would typically make me dislike a character, yet I liked him. Don't ask me why, because I couldn't tell you. Maybe it was his wit or his unwillingness to bow down to anyone else and conform to society's expectations. I don't know. All I know was that I loved his character and would fight anyone who did him harm.
Sebastian & Jessica's banter was immensely entertaining.
"I am already besotted with a needle-tongued, conceited, provoking ape leader of a lady." "Besotted? You're nothing like it. Vengeful is more like it. Spiteful." "I must be besotted. I have the imbecilic idea that you're the prettiest girl I've ever seen. Except for your coiffure," he added, with a disgusted glance at the coils and plumes and pearls. "That is ghastly." She scowled. "Your romantic effusions leave me breathless."
The hero speaks Italian, which I found incredibly hot. He used the language to confess things to the heroine without her knowing what he was actually saying. It was romantic, adorable and sexy all at the same time.
"Ti ho voluta dal primo momento che ti ho vista."
The sexual tension was off the charts. There was so much build up before they actually did the deed and it made the sex so much better.
It was amusing how they both tried to deny their obvious attraction to each other. Dain got turned on when he unbuttoned her glove. All he saw was a hand and boom! Instant boner. Yet he tried his damndest not to let it show. She was also turned on by his hands and other parts of him. I thought this incident was particularly hilarious:
Walking at her side all the while, he unbuttoned all the trouser buttons, tucked the shirt inside, and leisurely buttoned up again. Miss Trent made a small choked sound. Dain gave her a sharp glance. He could not be sure, given the bonnet and the rapidly deepening darkness, but he thought her color had risen. "Do you feel faint, Miss Trent?" he asked. "Is that why you have walked straight past what should have been your next turning?" She stopped. "I walked past it," she said in a muffled voice, "because I didn't know that was it." He smiled.
And last but not least: there’s a passionate rain kiss between the MCs. Yes, I'm one of those girls that dreams of having a rain kiss with their one true love. Sue me. I'm cliche and cheesy like that. Since I haven't had my own yet, I like to live vicariously through fictional characters that have it. Their rain kiss was nothing short of extraordinary and gave me all the feels, making me a very satisfied reader :)...more
Elita ₊✩ˎˊ˗
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