Review: Marrying a Marquess (Widows of Mayfair #3) by Christine Donovan

    

Print Length: 262 pages

Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing (October 3, 2025)

From Goodreads.com: Courting two gentlemen at the same time—only one courtship is real, and one courtship is fake.

Since Lady Priscilla was ten years old, she was told she would marry Nicholas Pierce, the future Marquess of Hollingsworth, when she turned eighteen.

Nicholas Pierce dreads the day Lady Priscilla turns eighteen. That will be the day he refuses to propose to her and crushes her girlhood dreams. But she deserves someone better than his broken, damaged self. He has nothing of himself to give her.

That time comes and goes without a marriage contract. Then two years later, she elopes to Gretna Green and marries a Royal Naval Officer, who then dies at sea months later during a battle with the French.

When Priscilla’s year of mourning comes to a close, she reenters society and forms an unlikely alliance with Nicholas. Both wish to marry but have no prospects, so they agree to a fake courtship to help each other attract a marriage partner. But during their fake courtship, Nicholas dares to kiss Priscilla one night at a ball, and vivid color enters his world. His heartbeat resets, and for the first time in years, he feels. This is great news, except Lady Priscilla is now courting someone else.

While trying to win Priscilla over and prove to her that her current suitor cannot be trusted, Nicholas’s past returns to haunt him. His enemies use Priscilla against him, and he must risk everything to save her.

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My Rating: 2 stars out of 5

Right off the bat, and I will admit to this just being a nitpicky kind of complaint, but it irked my soul whenever Priscilla would say that SHE was courting two men. Women didn't court men, they were courted BY men. But as I said, that was just my personal nitpick, and I actually didn't take away any stars for it, although I wanted to. 

No the reason for the low rating is because this book had an interesting premise, however the overall execution of it fell flat for me. I liked the concept of Priscilla and Nicholas in that they had known each other for many years; she had been raised to believe that she was going to marry him, but he broke her heart only to have him come back years later and need her help. That part of it was solid, if only the author had chosen to take it deeper than just scratching the surface. It seemed like the moment they kissed, all was forgiven, yet not forgotten and that was a hinderance to the story that in my opinion went on for entirely too long. Also, for characters that were purported to have such tragic pasts, both of them seemed a little flat. 

To me, Priscilla needed to open to up Nicholas about how what he did to her in the past not only hurt her, but also helped shape her into the person she became. She needed to talk about her husband, not in the 'I thought we would grow old together' kind of way, but in the 'we had always planned to do this', kind of way. Maybe it would have given Nicholas something to promise her, or insight into how to win her over properly. 

For Nicholas, he needed to confront his demons and learn to let them go much sooner than he did. I understand why he thought he wasn't good enough for Priscilla, but I also never really believed he was working towards being a better man for her either. To me it was more he enjoyed the physical aspect of being with her, and confused that for being in love with her.

Then we have the subplot that came across as more of a filler to up the word count than adding anything of real substance to the plot. To begin with, I found the whole blackmail scheme to be preposterous. If Nicholas could find the woman, why were none of the other people being conned able to do so? And moreover, despite his advanced age, why would the person who started the scheme turn the reigns over to someone he didn't even know? Someone, as it turned out, who couldn't keep their mouth shut about their new business deal? And don't get me started on one of the culprits getting away. That was annoying. 

I did like that this book stands completely on its own so if, like me, you haven't read the prior two, you don't have to worry about being confused or feeling like you missed out on anything. I just wish there had been more attention to these two overcoming the things they were afraid of, and the things in their past together, so that their happily-ever-after would have felt more fulfilling. 

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.