How to Manage a Marquess – Sally Mackenzie – 3* ARC

How to Manage a Marquess – Sally Mackenzie – 3*

 

How to Manage a Marquess is the second book in the Spinster House series.  This book can stand on its own.  I haven’t read the first book yet and was able to follow along the story just fine without reading the first book.  Miss Anne Davenport is trying to win the spinster house so she can leave her father’s house.  Nate the Marquess of Haywood is trying to keep his cousin safe from a family curse.  Anne tries to get her friend Cat to marry Nate’s cousin so she has less competition for the home.  Nate can’t let this happen since he promised his dying mother he would protect the Duke.

I really wanted to like this book.  I have read a couple of her other books and liked them.  There is humor in all of them which I love.  This book did have humor but the characters to me were very unlikable.  Anne was whiney and a bit annoying.  While Nate was meddlesome and that just rubbed me the wrong way.  There were times where the book was quite enjoyable but about half the time I wanted to smack them and tell them to get over their issues.  The only time I didn’t feel that way with Anne was when her father announces he is getting married without telling her and then the stepmother’s family volunteers her to take care of her new stepbrothers.  She had every right to get mad at the situation since she was being pushed aside with no consideration.  In addition to this her stepmother’s family send her with her stepbrothers and Nate home.  She is unmarried and has no maid so no chaperone.  As soon as that happened you know they are going to get stuck somewhere which they do.  Even though they are caught alone they don’t marry but somehow her reputation remains intact.  Nate had his own issues.  Up until the end of the book he thought it was a bad idea for his cousin to marry.  He is all the curse the curse.  You can’t do what you want because you will die.  I won’t allow it.  Bah the man is grown and can do whatever he wants even if it kills him.

A couple other things that irritated me were how they addressed Anne and the timeline.  Everyone kept calling her Miss but her father was part of the nobility so I don’t understand why she wasn’t Lady Anne.  At one point in the book it is noted the stepmother is a year younger then she is and Anne is 26.  Her mother passed 10 years ago right after her first season this would make Anne 16 when her mother died.  My understanding is most girls didn’t reach marrying age until they were 17.  Maybe I am wrong and she came out at 16 but it just bothered me. 

Between the behavior of the main characters and some disparity in facts as I believe them to be I couldn’t love this book.  I am going to pick up the first book to see if it is better and I will probably get the third book when it comes out.

ARC copy provided by Net Galley