How to Impress a Marquess by Susanna Ives

TAKE ONE MARQUESS: Proper, put-upon, dependable, but concealing a sensitive artist's soul.

ADD ONE BOHEMIAN LADY: Creative, boisterous, unruly, but secretly yearning for a steadfast love, home, and family.

STIR in a sensational serialized story that has society ravenous for each installment.

COMBINE with ambitious guests at an ill-fated house party hosted by a treacherous dowager possessing a poison tongue.

SHAKE until a stuffy marquess and rebellious lady make a shocking discovery: the contents of their hearts are just alike.

Take a sip. You'll laugh, you'll swoon, you'll never want this moving Victorian love story to end.

Book 3
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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆
How to Impress a Marquess is the third installment in the Wicked Little Secrets series, so I suggest reading the series in order for maximum enjoyment. However, I'm sure it could be read as a standalone without any major confusion.

I feel the need to point out how the blurb gives no hint of the premise whatsoever.

The novel features some of historical romance's favorite tropes. The guardian and the ward falling in love. The stuffy alpha male who lives a life by the rules vs the independent-minded, untamed damsel. Reluctant, guilt-inducing lust. Scandal bringing about marriage, where the guardian finds his ward too intriguing to let her go. The ward refusing to abide by any rules.

All these tropes are angst-filled and yummy deliciousness. The issue for me, is that combining all those above was a bit too much to handle. In my case, it was an issue of finding Lilith immature rather than independent, silly rather than mature. I had a difficult time falling into the story and finding entertainment when the heroine annoyed me with her behavior.

I enjoyed George for the most part, but I found it impossible that George and Lilith could be meant for each other with the wide gap of maturity level, with her behavior and antics (which I'm sure some readers will find refreshing, spitfire, or humor-inducing) of that of a wife.

This is on me, with my too serious personality, because once you find one of the main characters frustrating to read, the entertainment value of the novel itself fades. While I enjoyed George, how well this installment fit into the series, and some of the tropes used, I had a difficult time suffering through Lilith's character.

Recommended to fans of Historical Romance, Susanna Ives, and the Wicked Little Secrets series.

Also Available in the Wicked Little Secrets Series

Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca

Book 2
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca

For reviews & more info, check out our Wicked My Love post.

Susanna Ives started writing when she left her job as a multimedia training developer to stay home with her family. Now she keeps busy driving her children to various classes, writing books, and maintaining websites. She often follows her husband on business trips around Europe and blogs about the misadventures of touring with children. She lives in Atlanta.

Connect with Susanna

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of How to Impress a Marquess (Wicked Little Secrets #3) by Susanna Ives to read and review.

Wicked Reads Reviews – Wicked, My Love by Susanna Ives

A smooth-talking rogue and a dowdy financial genius

Handsome, silver-tongued politician Lord Randall doesn't get along with his bank partner, the financially brilliant but hopelessly frumpish Isabella St. Vincent. Ever since she was his childhood nemesis, he's tried-and failed-to get the better of her.

Make a perfectly wicked combination

When both Randall's political career and their mutual bank interests are threatened by scandal, he has to admit he needs Isabella's help. They set off on a madcap scheme to set matters right. With her wits and his charm, what could possibly go wrong? Only a volatile mutual attraction that's catching them completely off guard…

Book 2
Buy Links

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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆
Wicked, My Love was a lively read. A love-hate relationship, with an endless stream of the Hero & Heroine's push-pull banter. Childhood rivals turned business partners. The romance built and built, and even after it reached its climax, the H & h didn't surrender until the end of the novel. A copious amount of will she/he, won't she/he from page one until the end.

Several steamy scenes, also featuring many a reference to tingling between the thighs, sacred passages, and cutesy terms for both the male and female parts and their uses.

The romance took a backseat to the mystery of the tale- a mystery that flowed smoothly but was interspersed with chaotic, action scenes of zany comedy, over-complicating the simplistic mystery until it was oft times confusing.

Many a Historical Romance reader who peruses reviews before purchase are looking for whether or not the novel is realistic of the era- Wicked, My Love was filled with politics, women's rights, and the state of the lower class system. Mind you, I have no idea if this was an accurate representation of the times, but it was in great detail and full-fleshed out. However, our heroine ran free for the entirety of the novel, and I questioned the validity of her easy independence.

Wicked, My Love had an interesting mix of characterizations: an over-emotional Hero, a logical, independent heroine- both equally commitment phobic yet longing to create a family of their own, as well as career-driven -with every other male shown in a villainous light, and every other female shown as irrational and flighty, giving off a sense of comedic relief that added a heavy dose of frustration.

Recommended to Historical Romance fans who love over-the-top sequences, being taken on a ride with the narrators as they solve a mystery with many twists and turns that draws you back to where you began, witty banter, an abundance of humor, and a pair of narrators who fight their love every step of the way.

Also Available in the Wicked Little Secrets Series

Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca

Susanna Ives started writing when she left her job as a multimedia training developer to stay home with her family. Now she keeps busy driving her children to various classes, writing books, and maintaining websites. She often follows her husband on business trips around Europe and blogs about the misadventures of touring with children. She lives in Atlanta. – Sourcebooks bio

Connect with Susanna

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads
Google+  ~  Pinterest

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Wicked, My Love (Wicked Little Secrets #2) by Susanna Ives to read and review.