Much Ado About You
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4.2 • 67 Ratings
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- £2.99
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
A racy Regency romance from the New York Times bestselling author, Eloisa James, perfect if you love Bridgerton.
Never marry for love, it's the worst reason of all…
Finding herself under the unlikely guardianship of the kind but shambolic Duke of Holbrook, Tess Essex is suddenly faced with her duty: marry well and marry quickly. Once that's taken care of she can arrange matches for her three younger sisters: Annabel, Imogen and Josephine.
But just when everything looks like it might be in order Tess's own fiancé gets cold feet and one of her sisters elopes with a reckless young lord…
And is Tess really as sensible and proper as she thinks she is? Lucius Felton is a rogue whose own mother considers him irredeemable but he is delicious and obscenely wealthy…Surely she can't really be contemplating marriage to one of London's most infamous rakes?
Absurd as it seems Tess fears she may have fallen utterly and completely in love…
Reviews
Praise for MUCH ADO ABOUT YOU:
‘So full of dashing cads in breeches that it’s got me seriously hot under the collar. Bravo for Eloisa!’ FIONA WALKER
‘Great fun and love the modern take on a classic Regency romance, with all its nods and winks to Austen…a great achievement that matches fast-paced romance with well-crafted social observation.’ FIONA WALKER
‘Great fun! I couldn't put it down. Move over Georgette Heyer!’ DAISY WAUGH
‘Hurrah! Romance is back in fashion. No grisly body count, no lurking serial killer. The only four-letter word is love. Choc-full of romantic heroes that would give Darcy a run for his money. Sheer joy from beginning to end.’ Carole Matthews
‘In the first in a new series featuring the wonderfully amusing Essex sisters, New York Times best-selling James' gift for superb characterization and elegantly sensual, delightfully witty prose creates a thoroughly romantic treat.’ Booklist
‘[Lucius] possesses a quiet intensity and magnetic presence.’ Publishers Weekly
‘There's nothing old-fashioned about the very spicy love scenes.’ The Seattle Times
About the author
Eloisa James is a professor of English literature, specializing in Shakespeare. She teaches at Fordham University in New York City, and lives in New Jersey. Oxford University Press published her academic book in 2000. Eloisa's books have been translated into Dutch, Russian, German, Polish, French and Spanish. She is the daughter of poet Robert Bly (winner of the American Book Award for Poetry) and short story author Carol Bly. Eloisa’s godfather was the poet James Wright, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his Collected Poems. Among those poems – and one of Wright's most beloved – is a poem written for his goddaughter, Mary Bly (aka Eloisa James).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Reviewers have compared James's Regency-era romances (Your Wicked Ways, etc.) to Sex and the City, but her effervescent voice is somewhat subdued in this first installment of her new series, focusing on four squabbling sisters. After their father passes away, Tess, Imogen, Annabel and Josie Essex find themselves impoverished, uprooted and taken under the wing of a benevolent duke. As the eldest and most sensible, Tess decides she must marry so that she can help support her sisters. But who should she wed? Garret Langham, an earl who seems to admire, though not lust after, her? Or the untitled but ber-wealthy Lucius Felton, who hides his emotions behind a mask of cool civility, save for when he kisses her? Tess is mildly conflicted but generally content to go along with whatever fate throws her way, which makes her a less than inspiring heroine. What she lacks in character is more than made up for by Lucius, however, who possesses a quiet intensity and magnetic presence. The chemistry between the two easily overshadows the rather tenuous camaraderie that Tess and her sisters share. Sex and the City gals they are not; they bicker constantly and rarely connect on a sisterly or even friendly level. But though the book isn't as spry as James's earlier novels, it contains a romance that will induce sighs of satisfaction.
Customer Reviews
Wonderful
Delightful story
4.5*
Four sisters become wards of a Duke. I really liked the Duke and how thinking his wards were going to be tiny children he went to great lengths to set up a comfortable nursery for them. Incidentally he also took the news that they were adults very calmly. I was quite disappointed when I realised that he wasn’t going to be the hero of the story. You get to know all of the sisters and four prospective suitors fairly well but the main love interest is between Tess and Lucius. I thought the story flowed well (despite the typos) and I enjoyed the relationships between the characters and the passion that developed between Tess and Lucius.
Much ado about you
Enjoyed this book. Like all her others it is very entertaining.