Ravishing the Heiress

Fitzhugh Trilogy #2

by Sherry Thomas

Millicent understands the terms of her arranged marriage all too well. She gets to be a Countess by marrying an impoverished Earl. And in return, the Earl Fitzhugh receives the benefit of her vast wealth, saving his family from bankruptcy. Because of her youth, they have agreed to wait eight years before consummating the marriage--and then, only to beget an heir. After which, they will lead separate lives.

It is a most sensible arrangement. Except for one little thing. Somehow Millie has fallen head over heels in love with her husband. Her husband, who has become her very best friend, but nothing more...Her husband, who plans to reunite with his childhood sweetheart, the beautiful and newly widowed Isabelle, as soon as he has honored the pact with his wife...

As the hour they truly become husband-and-wife draws near, both Millie and Fitzhugh must face the truth in their hearts. Has their pact bred only a great friendship-or has it, without either of them quite noticing, given rise to a great love?

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical, Historical Fiction, Friends To Lovers, Regency, Fiction

283 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 2012

About the author

USA Today-bestselling author Sherry Thomas decided years ago that her goal in life is to write every kind of book she enjoys reading. Thus far she has published romance, fantasy, mystery, young adult, and three books inspired by the martial arts epics she grew up devouring. Her books regularly receive starred reviews and best-of-the-year honors from trade publications, including such outlets as the New York Times and National Public Radio.

A Study in Scarlet Women, A Conspiracy in Belgravia, and The Hollow of Fear, the first three entries in her gender-bending Lady Sherlock historical mystery series, are all NPR best books of the year. The Magnolia Sword, her 2019 release, is the first young adult retelling of the original Ballad of Mulan in the English language.

Sherry emigrated from China at age 13 and English is her second language.

“Sherry Thomas has done the impossible and crafted a fresh, exciting new version of Sherlock Holmes. From the carefully plotted twists to the elegant turns of phrase, A Study in Scarlet Women is a splendid addition to Holmes’s world. This book is everything I hoped it would be, and the next adventure cannot come too soon!” —Deanna Raybourn, New York Times bestselling author

“Thomas weaves a lush, intricate fantasy world around a gorgeous romance that kept me riveted until the very last page. What a breathtaking journey!” (Marie Lu, New York Times bestselling author of the Legend series )

"Sherry Thomas is the most powerfully original historical romance author writing today."—Lisa Kleypas, New York Times bestselling author



Visit Sherry at her website

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Reviews

[Rachel (BAVR) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full disclosure here: Angsty storylines are not my cup of tea. More to the point, angsty storylines are my brain's Kryptonite. So what's a girl to do when she opens a book to discover two relentlessly annoying people angsting over each other (and other people) for a couple hundred pages? Well, snark about it, of course. It's the only way my brain can process the fucking PAIN. Okay?

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Seriously. THIS is what happens to me if I lay off on the snark. This is also how I envisioned the characters for 75% of the book.

I would be hard-pressed to call Ravishing the Heiress a romance. Sure, there's a bit of sex, and the characters wangst constantly about love and hearts and marriage - blah, blah, blah. But when it comes down to the plot itself, there's nothing particularly romantic going on here. Most of the characters just really, really suck.

SUMMARY:
(as told from the immature, emo-teen perspective that Fitz uses for 3/4 of the book)

So there's this girl with tons of money because her family got rich from canning sardines? Her name's Millie, but her folks are totally not in with high society because EW - sardines. Right? Anyways, even though Millie's super plain and not very interesting, her parents manage to arrange a match between her and this totes hawt guy who just inherited an earldom? His name's Fitz, and once again, he's super duper dreamy. Millie falls in love with Fitz at first sight, which is soooo romantic, but there's a problem because Fitz's heart belongs to some chick named Isabelle. And Isabelle's like, "Don't get married, Fitz! I know that if you don't marry for money, your title, estate, and family will be forced to live in poverty, but this is 1880-something, and a girl has needs." And Fitz is like, "I'll love you for all time, Girl I've Only Kissed Once! But I must do this for the sake of my family and my honor. However, to prove my undying love for you, I'll be the whiniest, most irrational dick EVER about the marriage of convenience that will make me super wealthy. M'kay?"

Millie totally gets that Fitz has a love boner for a prettier, more interesting girl, so despite her own feelings on the matter, she proposes that they just, like, abstain from sex for a few years because she totally doesn't have feelings for him or anything (blatant lies). And Fitz jumps on that idea like a dog on a bone. He even proposes, "You say we should wait to have sex for 6 years? How about 8? Because no one in this marriage will ever have needs. That would be unrealistic." So Fitz and Millie get married and don't bone for 8 whole years. And just when it's about time to start jumping on the heir-creating love wagon, Isabelle returns to London as a widow. She totally wants Fitz back, and Fitz wants her, too. Will Millie ever open her freaking mouth and tell her husband, "No! You may NOT take all my money through marriage and run off with some dirty mistress without ever giving me a real chance," or will Fitz end up with the girl of his wet dreams and abandon his wife for good? Geez! Can you FEEL the romance?

Millie the Brainless Martyr:
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This, the most disturbing image I've used in a review yet, is representative of Millie's story arc during her marriage to Fitz.

The way this woman pants after Fitz is disgusting. I could understand it at the beginning of the marriage because she's only 16 and believes in love at first sight. Of course she'd make a fool of herself over a hot body and handsome face. But after the 8 years was up, and Fitz was still parading his line of mistresses in her face and acting like that type of thing wouldn't embarrass a woman in the 1890's? Come on, Millie! Grow some velociraptor balls and stop melting into a fucking puddle every time Fitz does something halfway decent, like asking you to make advertising decisions for the business that YOU brought to the marriage. This girl is the quintessential doormat. Even though it breaks her heart, she has casual conversations with Fitz about his mistresses. When Isabelle comes back to town, Millie falls over backwards to make it incredibly easy for Fitz to LEAVE HER FOR GOOD and live a loving, devoted life with the girl who he never stopped reminding everyone he loved when he was a freaking boy. Noooo, Millie couldn't insist that Fitz be a normal man and act with discretion about his mistresses and imagined soul-mate. She needs to be his best buddy about the whole ordeal because she LOVES him so damn much. Fuck. This. Shit. The whole time, I was begging Millie to find her inner-TSTL heroine and throw the biggest hissy fit London's ever seen, but she never does. She even APOLOGIZES to Fitz at the end for never telling him the truth about her feelings. Sure, that was really stupid, Millie, but have some PRIDE, woman!

Fitz the Selfish Man-Child:
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"My name's Fitz, and I really want to tell you about my feelings. Do you have any tissues?"

This man is incredibly unattractive. Sure, he might have a pretty face, but there's nothing charming or handsome about a guy who whines and pouts like a toddler. He HAD a choice at the beginning of the story. He could marry Millie and have some cash to renovate his dilapidated estate, or he could run off with Isabelle and be annoying with her for eternity. He chooses the money! So don't go crying to the rest of us about your "broken heart," you fortune hunter. Fitz's behavior during their honeymoon was perhaps the most pathetic, dumbest thing I've read in a long time. He doesn't seem to dislike Millie for any particular reason beyond having to marry her for money, so why he finds it appropriate to drink himself half to death and destroy furniture and other breakable things EVERY NIGHT is beyond me. He spends so much time feeling sorry for himself and angsting over his great adolescent love that I'm surprised Millie doesn't attempt to have him committed. At one point, she gets all upset because she walks in on Fitz staring down the barrel of a gun. Convinced that he's suicidal, she confronts him about it A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER (because it's always responsible to let your supposedly suicidal husband keep up his antics for a few more days), and he thinks her concern is hilarious because it was only a toy gun. How fucking melodramatic of you, Fitz. This guy is the biggest baby ever. Later, when he's considering leaving his wife for Isabelle, all he worries about is making sure that he and Isabelle are happy. Even after her realizes that he doesn't want to run off with the woman, he still puts her needs before his wife who he apparently loves. Seriously. This fucking guy.

Isabelle the Boring Home Wrecker:
Why did everybody tip-toe around this woman in the story? She really had no particular claim on Fitz to begin with, so the whole argument that she was the wronged party - even from Millie's perspective - got old incredibly fast. Plus, Isabelle gives very little reason to like her character. She's flighty, selfish, possessive, and apparently unconcerned by how her children would be received if she carries on openly with a married man. Even though Millie's a long-suffering martyr with a wet blanket complex, I STILL would choose her over the annoyingly vapid Isabelle. But since Isabelle is treated like a glass figurine from beginning to end, huge portions of the story are devoted to a wholly uninspired character. I kind of wanted her to die in a carriage accident so I wouldn't have to read about Fitz's obsession with her anymore.

The Stupid Enablers:
Millie's love for Fitz is NO SECRET to their family and friends. But does anyone say something to Fitz about it? Maybe just a gentle, "Hey, dude, maybe your wife feels more than she lets on. How about you stop being such an insensitive prick?" OF COURSE NOT! That would just spoil the nonsensical, painful plot. No one can convince me that neither of Fitz's sisters, two strong and out-spoken women, wouldn't at least tell him that his behavior is improper. But under the author's puppet strings, these people just watch on in silence from a distance and grimace a lot.

The Freaking Formatting:
The chapters alternate between the beginning of the marriage to eight years later. So at the start of the book, you already know where these people will be in eight years. So tedious. So boring. Between the insufferable navel-gazing segments about unrequited love and pining after god-forsaken Isabelle, Thomas keeps us riveted in the "past" chapters with long, detailed accounts of Millie and Fitz's estate renovation project. Later, she treats us to the trials and adventures of creating Victorian advertisements for (probably) disgusting canned foods. The movement of plot suffers for this. Just when I thought I might be interested in the present, Thomas would hurl me back into the past so Fitz could wax poetic about losing his dreams and stuff. Unbearable. To make matter worse, huge chunks of the "present" portions of the book are devoted to the main couple of the NEXT BOOK in the series. I won't be reading that.

Despite all of my complaints, I've read worse than Ravishing the Heiress. The writing isn't bad, although I did notice a few awkward turns of phrase and several typos. If only the content hadn't been so insufferable and depressing, I wouldn't have to be so harsh in this review.

Special Note:
I endeavored into this book as a buddy read with my GR friend Karla. You can find her review, which I guarantee will entertain you, here.

[Las · Rating 1 out of 5]

The take home message of this book: Be a good girl, never complain, don't make any waves, and eventually he'll fall in love with you.

Yeah, I hated everything about this book.

It's love at first sight for Millie. She just sees Fitz, and boom, it's love. I'd give her a pass on that since she was only 16, but since she shows no signs of growing up in the course of this story, I'm calling it Fail #1.

Fitz still fancies himself in love with Isabelle after not having had anything to do with her for 8 years. "But they were so in love!" you say? They weren't married, or engaged, or in a relationship, really. They were teenagers in the throes of their first crush. As tragic as the circumstances of their parting were, they each went their own way and had lives of their own. But they still managed to be in love with each other, so much so that when Fitz finds out her husband died, he immediately contacts her, and they make arrangements to spend the rest of their lives together, his wife and her children be damned. That's...not normal. If it had been, say, three years, sure, that would be understandable. But eight years? Fail #2.

So Fitz just announces to Millie that he plans to permanently live with Isabelle, right? But first he and Millie are going to follow their original plan and finally have sex after 8 (EIGHT!!!) years of marriage, and hopefully conceive in the 6 month window Fitz--without consulting with Millie, but why should he, since she'll just nod her head like the good little girl she is?--has decided is an appropriate amount of time. After a bit of a freakout, Millie, of course, agrees, no questions asked. Questions like, "Hey, asshole, don't you think it's fucked up that you plan to abandon me for another woman, making me an object of curiosity and ridicule in society?" or, "So let's say I conceive--what's your plan then? You're going to abandon your child? Or do you expect me to hand him over after I give birth? How exactly will this child be raised with one parent sobbing in her pillow every night because she's a pathetic loser with shitty tastes in men and another who's shacking up with his childhood sweetheart? And how will society treat him under such circumstances?" (You can change the above language to make it historically accurate.) With all that's wrong with this book, THAT is what most chaps my ass. Those things didn't occur to anyone? Fail #3.

As Fitz and Isabelle spend more time together, he inevitably starts comparing her and Millie, with Isabella coming short. That's right, people, he has to be annoyed by the woman he loves in order for him to consider staying with Millie. What's the problem with Isabelle? Well, what it all boils down to is that Isabella is too opinionated. She's impulsive, vivacious, has qualms about his interests in business and isn't afraid to tell him so. I suppose I should be grateful Sherry Thomas didn't go completely conventional and make Isabella a total bitch, but, really, the end result was the same...Fitz having an easy choice to make because one woman is so "obviously" wrong for him (personally, I think he could use a woman who would challenge him, but that's not the kind of heroine we're stuck with). Fail #4.

Both the book and many reviewers insist that Millie should have been honest about her feelings to Fitz. I don't agree. First, because I don't really believe in her love for him--love at first sight doesn't count, and there's not a single indication that Millie's love ever matures from that beginning. If at the very least there has been a moment where Millie thought, "What the hell was wrong with me that I thought I loved this fool," especially during their honeymoon, and then showed her falling in love in earnest, than yeah, I'd call it love. But that never happened. Second, and most importantly, Millie's pride in this is about the only thing I found admirable about her. Why would she confess to loving a man who's made it clear he doesn't love her; who plans to leave her and live with another women? We're told that by telling him, it will open his eyes to how much he loves her, and that's what ends up happening. And that, my friends, is bullshit. Why would anyone want that? How could anyone believe in the love of man who barely noticed you for 8 years, who had to told that you loved him in order for the possibility of a future between them to occur to him? How can anyone believe that this man truly loves her instead of just feeling a combination of lust and obligation? Of course, Millie believes it easily. She actually knows he's in love with her before he does, and she just (quietly! Ever the stoic martyr, our Millie) hopes that he'll eventually realize it and and come back to her, so she can happily take him back, no questions asked, no anger, no recriminations. Fail #5

The book sets up Helena's story with Hastings. Helena, pretty much the only interesting women in the series, is getting a really shitty love story. Another love at first sight tale, since Hastings has loved her forever, and he has a really creepy way of showing it. Following her around, interfering in her private life, threatening her...yeah, that sounds like the makings of a great love story. Fail #6.

What the hell happened to Sherry Thomas?

[JenReadsRomance · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has wrecked me, and I'm going to have to take to my bed all day and think about my feelings.

[Colette · Rating 1 out of 5]

“I’d once hoped my marriage would be an adventure—and it has turned out to be just that.” His gaze still on the fog, he placed his arm around her shoulders. “If something should befall us this day, know that of all the heiresses I could have married four years ago, I’m glad it’s you.” Even as a child, Millicent Graves knew that she would marry well. She was brought up as a proper lady and trained as what one might expect of a Lord’s wife. She was supposed to marry Lord Fitzhugh who was much older than her who then died before they could make their vows, and so a distant cousin took his place as the Earl. From the moment Millie saw the new Lord Fitzhugh, it was love at first sight. Unfortunately, he already loves someone else whom he was forced to give up in order to marry Millie and to save the estate he inherited from his distant cousin. Before Millie and the new Lord Fitzhugh married each other, they made a pact about not performing their marital duties for eight years. After years of being married, Millie and her husband have developed a friendship. But as his first love comes back into the picture, it seems that Lord Fitzhugh would give up their marriage, right after honoring the pact he had made with his wife, and then reunite with his one and only love: the lovely and newly widowed Isabella. 

Ravishing the Heiress is the second book from Sherry Thomas' historical romance trilogy about the Fitzhugh siblings. This book is set in the late Victorian Era. I hated this book. I hated the hero. I will never read a Sherry Thomas book again. I should’ve known when I read The Luckiest Lady in London and was disappointed that I wouldn’t like anything else she wrote. God, how does this author manage to make me feel so furious all the time whenever I read her books? After this one, it is safe to say that I have no desire to read any of her other books. 

Meet Millicent Graves: Millie is a sardine heiress. Her family is wealthy and she was brought up as a lady but their blood is not blue. She understood what was expected of her and she always knew that the marriage she would have is one not of her choice. She knew that she couldn’t pick the man she would marry and so she opted to be indifferent, unfortunately she met the new Lord Fitzhugh who managed to make her feel as though she’s one of the younger bennet girls who giggled at the mere sight of him.  Even with the Earl’s indifference towards her, Millie performed her duty to marry him. 

Meet George Edward Arthur Granville Fitzhugh: He was the distant cousin to the former Lord Fitzhugh who never expected to inherit the title and debts that came with it. He already has someone else who he’d like to marry, and he was planning to be a captain but alas, the former earl had to die. Because of the unfortunate circumstances, his plans for the future had to change. He had to marry someone he didn’t love and would forever be grieving the loss of his chance at life with Isabella. 

When Millicent was fourteen, the search for a title who was impoverished enough to have a sardine heiress for a bride started. After twenty months, the search ended. It seems her husband would be an Earl Fitzhugh. But after months of drawing up the agreements, the Earl died. His place was taken by the new Lord Fitzhugh who was a distant cousin. He was only nineteen, three years older than Millie’s sixteen. The new Lord Fitzhugh had different plans for the future but because he inherited the earldom and all the debts that came with it, he had to marry Millicent. Millie would be a countess, and the impoverished Earl can fix his estate and fill the coffers with the vast wealth that Millie’s family had to offer. The two married soon. As the years went on, Millie and Lord Fitzhugh developed a friendship and a partnership. He was free to have lovers with no wife to nag him. Millie, who was in love with Lord Fitzhugh at first sight, loved him even more than she did eight years ago. But she never showed any of her real feelings to the Earl because she knew that he would only ever love Isabella. Even as they developed a fondness for each other, it seems that Lord Fitzhugh would give up his marriage in order to reunite with his first love…but the more he spends time with Isabella, the more he realizes that the life he wanted all along is the life he’s been living with his wife. 

I am conflicted about my feelings. I think I liked the heroine. She deserved so much better than what she got. She has such a shitty husband, one she didn’t even choose. One might call her a doormat, but I don’t think that was the case. She let her husband do whatever he wanted with his life and never uttered a word about her true feelings in order to protect herself from further hurt and I think she's quite smart for that. If I were in her position, I, too, wouldn’t dare be vocal about my feelings towards the hero especially if I’ve been his wife for eight years and he’s yet to show any signs that he feels the same love for me. However, I think that because neither of them was willing enough to show their true feelings, the status of their marriage remained passionless and thus there was no push to elevate whatever they had to develop into something more. On another note, the heroine was such a good wife to her husband. I liked her the moment I read the flashback part during their honeymoon and everything that occurred and how she managed to care for him and pull him out of his shithole. And with the present day Isabella coming back to take Millie’s husband away from her, she’s been kind even when neither her husband nor Isabella deserved it. If I were Millie, I would not let the other woman take my husband away from me that easily. Like what do you mean you want him back when the money he'd be using to support you would've been non-existent if not for the money I brought to our marriage? I would’ve fought that bitch to death. As I’m typing this, I’m still very furious. I can’t be mad at the heroine because she was honestly the better character and she made this book somewhat bearable. I couldn’t blame her for her decisions and how she wished to handle things regarding her marriage, but I do wish she fought both her husband and Isabella because those two had so much audacity. I was fuming. 

I hate this hero. He is the worst hero I’ve ever encountered in my whole life. I hated how he treated Millie. This dude is honestly weak! Imagine being so pathetic that you still pine for the woman who obviously hasn’t thought of you for years? Who, of course, now wanted him back because she’s widowed and they could finally live the future they once dreamed of together. Well, news flash, Isabella! The man is married! How do you even plan to reunite with him? Have you no shame for yourself? I know that the hero is the one to blame but let’s not say that the other woman is blameless in this case. She knew full well that the hero is married, and if she’s widowed and he’s not, they still can’t be together! Oh and the fact that Lord Fitzhugh set up a house for her? With what money?  Obviously the money that he now has, thanks to his wife’s wealth! He would be nothing without his wife! And yet he had the audacity to reunite with his first love and continuously disrespect Millicent? While I’m typing this, I’m literally furious. I hated this hero. He deserves to be miserable with his first love. He did not deserve a happily ever after with the heroine. The heroine would have been so much better off without him. He has no spine. He fears hurting the other woman and yet he has no second thoughts when it comes to disrespecting his own wife! The wife that has been there for him all those years, the one he built a partnership with and the one who is the only reason he even has money to support his estate and lifestyle. The fact that he didn’t even pick his wife over the other woman until the very last chapter? If this is what a romantic hero is like, I don’t want it! If the hero can’t be devoted to the heroine, I don’t want it! I understand that he had to give up the life he wanted but at the same time, he should’ve learned to live with it and moved on and be grateful that he had been blessed with a very understanding wife. This hero is a joke and I’m not even sure he should be called a "Hero". What a pathetic excuse for a man. This is not a flawed character! He is a spineless hero who deserves nothing but miserable things that will come his way. If this whole paragraph is not enough to convey the depth of my hatred towards this man, just know that if you’re planning to read this…Just don’t. He is just so offensive, so insensitive, selfish (Yes, he still is even if he gave up his first love) and thoughtless. Honestly a sad excuse for a romantic hero. If this man is what one deemed as a hero, then the heroine is very unfortunate indeed, unless she’s the other woman. 

I am aware that the word “Hero” was repeated multiple times but we move. With all that said, I would never again read a Sherry Thomas book in my life. Also, I do not care one bit for Helena and Lord Hastings. Stop giving them scenes! I skipped all their parts because both of them are so annoying and they can rot. Just from the blurbs of her other "romance" books, I’m sure they'd be all as anger inducing as this book had been. Now, I’m sounding really mean. I hate to be that person who is overly mean in her reviews but with the rage that this book managed to make me feel, I can’t help but write out my thoughts and if they are mean, the book is well deserving of such hatred. 

I honestly don’t know what the author was thinking when she wrote this book. If a romantic book is one with a hero who has no balls and can’t decide who to pick between the heroine and the other woman until the very last minute, then by all means read and enjoy this one. However, when a book is marketed as a romance, I expect a hero and heroine who are devoted to each other. If romance is all about the heroine in love with the hero while he goes off to fuck other women and plans a reunion with his first love, then it is honestly sad that this one should even be considered a romance book. This book is a shame to the romance genre. Shery Thomas should’ve just written Isabella and Fitzhugh their own book because the romance that the hero and heroine supposedly have is non-existent. 

Also, after everything Millie and Fitzhugh went through, the readers couldn’t even get a proper Epilogue. What a waste of time. A sad excuse for a romance book. If you’re going to make your characters miserable from the beginning towards the end, at least have some decency to write them an Epilogue wherein they’re faring well. Sherry Thomas writes well enough but she needs to write a better romance book. Anyway, I wouldn’t care because I’m not reading any more of her work. This book was not badly written per se but I can't give this book anything more than one star because this a poor example of the romance genre. Pining for your husband who did not even choose you until the very last chapter over some other woman isn't romantic nor angsty. 

Some quotes: 

“She hated him then: Nothing and no one had ever made her feel so wrong, as if her entire existence served only to tear apart soul mates and turn perfectly promising young men into destructive shadows of their former selves. All the same, her heart broke for him, into a thousand pieces.”

“But looking back, she could see nothing but wonderful moments, the threads of two separate lives gradually, imperceptibly weaving into one.”

“At times she’d wondered how her life might have turned out differently had she been given a choice in the matter of her marriage. Now she knew: There would have been no difference, for she’d have chosen the very path that led her to this precise moment.”

“And whatever the outcome tomorrow, I couldn’t have asked for a better partner in this endeavor—or any other, for that matter.” It was not a declaration of love, but one of friendship. Her heart ached—yet at the same time, filled with sweetness. She closed her hand over his, the one bearing the ring.”

“He looked at her as if he hadn’t seen her in a very long time. Or perhaps, as if he might never see her again, and must memorize her features one by one.”

[Didi · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 STARS

I LOVED this. Let me first just say that the title is quite misleading. Ravishing The Heiress is a title that sounds like you'd be reading a bodice ripper, or that the story is quite lusty and not very deep. In reality it was none of these things. It was angsty, emotional, heartbreaking and beautiful all at the same time. This is not a quick historical romance and although it's just under 300 pages, it unravels slowly, letting you witness the evolution of love from friendship.

This also reminded me of Unforgivable, by Joanna Chambers. Same idea: a young and plain girl gets married off to a fledging man of the nobility to save his family from ruin. Said man is resentful and not at all happy to be married off to someone other than the girl he loves. Where as in Unforgivable, the hero was quite the asshole, abandoning his wife and seeking other women for pleasure, this book shows our hero accepting his lot in life and basically making the best of it.
You see, impoverished and almost destitute, George Fitzhugh has become an earl at age 19. His distant cousin, the previous Earl, has died suddenly and was betrothed to Heiress Millicent Graves, in a bid to save his land and title. Now the burden falls on Fitz( George), but not only is he in opposition to the union, he also must abandon his love, Isabelle Englewood and marry Millie.

My heart broke for Millie so much throughout this book. She was in love with Fitz from day one even though she was only 16. Their marriage became very amicable and they became very good friends but never consummated their union, rather deciding to wait 8 years! Why? I'm not going to spoil that one!
But throughout their marriage, they became close and dear to one another. Millie would get her hopes up but then they'd be squashed again with Fitz's unrequited love. She never shared with Fitz how she felt, believing that to protect her heart she must remain stoic and complacent. She knew what he did with other women, it wasn't a secret then that a man had a wife and various lovers throughout his life. But she suffered internally and quietly.

I also loved Fitz. I tried to hate him for how he made Millie feel, although unbeknownst to him, but he was a great and caring husband in almost every sense of the word. But his affection and lust were entertained elsewhere. Until Isabelle came back on the scene. I couldn't stand that woman! I understand she and Fitz once had something but she was so callous at times and insensitive to Millie and her position in Fitz's life.
Watching Fitz slowly realize how he truly felt about Millie was one of my favorite things about this book. It was almost subconscious, his change in feeling. He'd bottled up his desires and thoughts and mistook them for friendship but when things were tested he really came through. Still, the honeymoon scene broke me in two, and many others had me tearing up constantly, especially when Millie believed Fitz had abandoned her.

This was a beautifully written, moving, emotional and affecting book. I love the friends to lovers plot but seeing it with a twist here was fantastic. Unrequited love is a guaranteed tear jerker for me, it gets me every time. But when that person finally sees the fool he or she has been, it's perfection. the only thing I wished was for there to be an epilogue, it just ends but maybe in the next book we'll see more of Fitz and Mille though the next book is about Fitz's sister, Helena. Highly recommend this book to HR fans, it's different and refreshing, also beautiful and epic feeling. Loved it, loved it!

[Farda Hus · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

So, after finishing Wuthering Heights, I had this itch for a historical romance with some unrequited love vibes to scratch. Off to Reddit I went, and that is how I stumbled across this one, highly praised by a fellow redditor. Would you blame me for being skeptical at first? I mean, the title alone.

But if you can ignore the tacky title and the tacky cover, this really was not a bad read at all. I actually finished it in one sitting, or rather lying, since I stayed in bed until 3 AM just to finish it.

My heart truly ached for Millie. The only real disappointment, other than the title and the cover of course, was the lack of groveling. I was fully expecting groveling galore and was wrong.

Still, it was a solid read. Any book that makes me willingly sacrifice my precious sleep definitely deserves some credit. After so many years away from historical romance, here I am enjoying it again, and I am glad to be back.

[Warda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This played with my emotions in the best way.

The writing was enchanting, so naturally the story was too, and the characters. Enchanting as well as compelling. I could not stop reading once I started.

[OLT · Rating 5 out of 5]

Usually when I read a romance I'm observing the couple from afar, recognizing when it's a well- or badly-written HR and just enjoying it rather objectively. But with this one my stomach was often in knots in sympathy with the heroine, even though I knew the book would have the requisite HEA.

While the first book in this trilogy was a homage to Judith Ivory's Beast, this one seems to be Thomas's homage to Georgette Heyer's A Civil Contract. As a teenager I read that excellent marriage of convenience romance by Heyer, which is pretty much the same theme as this one and remember I did not like it because of the poor heroine's agonies, but a re-read as a mature (Read "old" here, I guess) woman left me with a much more favorable impression of the book.

In Heyer's book, Viscount Lynton, Adam Deveril, is madly in love with beautiful, vivacious Julia Oversley, but financial straits force him to marry Jenny Chawleigh, the quiet and plain daughter of a very wealthy "cit". Adam learns to appreciate Jenny's hidden depths and finally sees that his beautiful Julia is not as perfect as his younger self had remembered and learns to be content. (Jenny, of course, had fallen deeply in love with Adam, but she's "quiet", you know.)

Well, Sherry Thomas has gone Heyer one better, IMO. Here hero Earl Fitzhugh is in the same financial straits and must marry wealth, which appears in the form of our heroine Millicent (Millie) Graves, daughter of a very wealthy middle-class businessman. You meet the already-married couple in Fitz's sister Venetia's story (Beguiling the Beauty (Berkley Sensation), but now we get the whole back story in flashbacks alternating with the present.

We see how very madly in love a much younger Fitz was with Isabelle, his first and, so the book might have us believe, only love. It was a very deep attachment and when he is forced by circumstances to marry Millie, his suffering is great. (The first year of their marriage is quite a stressor, BTW, for them and for the reader.)

Millie, on the other hand, falls in love with Fitz almost at first sight, but she's quiet (like Heyer's Jenny) and doesn't let it show. When they marry Millie is only 16, so they agree to wait 8 years to consummate the marriage. Now, during this time Fitz is free to seduce whatever woman strikes his fancy (not Isabelle, of course. She's his Perfect Love on a Pedestal and anyway she married and moved to India).

I didn't like this "open marriage" aspect of the situation, but then again a "man has needs" and he's not to bed Millie for 8 long years. So he's getting sex outside the marriage, but he and Millie are developing a great friendship and partnership inside the marriage.

IMO, this book is beautifully written and I very much enjoyed the agony of the read. This may be the first time I was happy that a good HR was relatively short (only 283 pages). I don't think I could have taken many more pages of Millie's heartbreak without looking for a Xanax.

And how does Thomas do Heyer one better? By having Fitz realize that Millie is actually The One for him. It's not just the mild contentment Heyer's Adam feels with his Jenny. Heyer's take may be more realistic, but I do prefer Thomas's more romantic ending.

[Ali L · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute lunkhead of a man marries a woman far too good for him because he needs her money. She’s in love with him because she doesn’t know her own worth, and he spends the honeymoon trying to drink himself to death which he sadly fails at. He vows to remain faithful to his first love — emotionally, not physically, this dude bones anything that stands still long enough except his wife — and Millie just sort of accepts it because the Edwardian era was inherently unfair. Who is the first love? It literally shouldn’t matter because she full-ass married someone else. When his first love is widowed, he decides he’s going to knock up his wife before leaving her for the other woman, which is a weird plan at best. Turns out the wife’s vagina is magic and he abandons his life plans to reside there permanently.

[Sam I AMNreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been feeling like rereading this book for months. All Sherry Thomas, really. In these times, I'm finding this the most satisfying way to read--revisiting old favorites.

I found so much more to love about this book the second time around. My first review was certainly inadequate, but I feel like my first read of it was as well. Upgraded to a full 5.

Original Review:
I rate this about a 4.25. I'm big into rounding down these days.

About 4.25 of those stars are for Millie's fortitude. Her stoic pragmatism was something here, and her strength something else.

I won't recap, but I'll definitely say in many ways this isn't an easy read. And it would be easy to malign Fitz for his choices and seemingly constant rejection of Millie, but part of why this book worked was that he, too, was rejected time and again by her. (At least in my eyes. If my spouse is all, "hey, going to meet another lover?" or "hey, jumping off the bed when you are sexy snuggling" it'd feel kind of shitty) I'm not sure why he'd think anything but what he thought, and his appreciation of her really did ring true from the very early 'bricks' of their relationship. Also well done was her 'status' in his eyes. This very sweet "no one treats my wife rudely" thing, which could sound ironic, but isn't.

And friendship is such a lovely foundation, isn't it? I think the choices in this book were brave and made for a unique plot. It would be easy to have Fitz hung up on his long forgotten lover but Thomas made her available to him, and in the end that's what set this book apart. I did feel like the end was too quick--would have loved some more quiet scenes from these two once they really start their lives together.

So a couple random paragraphs there, but in the end I'll just say this: I loved their quiet humor, I loved their quiet strength, and I loved their quiet and powerful love.

[Rachel L · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars
HELL HAS FROZEN OVER


I found a historical romance book that I LOVED!!! And it's all Didi's fault because of this spectacular review she wrote.

I have a long history of loathing with historical romance. As a history major in college I get nitpicky about the details and often end up screaming things at the book such as "why are you not pregnant yet?!" or "why are you talking like a millennial!". <---Neither of these two things were an issue with this book.

Ravishing the Heiress (with a title that has nothing to do with the book) is about a young girl named Millie who meets her intended fiance and falls in love with him on sight. The problem is Fitz is in love with another girl but he must marry Millie for money. Cue eight years of Fitz's anguish over losing the love of his life, and eight years of Millie anguishing over a husband who could never love her back. Through these eight years the two become best friends and have an unconventional marriage in which they aren't together initmately but only put on a show for propiety. Fitz also remains unaware of Millie's feelings for him.

This was the perfect angsty read to get me out of my reading funk, and it definitely made me rethink my historical romance ban. As long as it's angsty and historically accurate. For those who are maybe interested in reading this, it reminded me quite a bit of Natasha Anders' The Unwanted Wife, which I also loved.

[ᑭᑌᑎƳᗩ [Punya Reviews...] · Rating 2 out of 5]

My review contains spoilers and they're mostly my thoughts as I went with the book...



That above space is blank because I’m in mourning. That’s right, I’m mourning because I just gave a ST book a 2 star. I tried, tried, tried, tried.... I F*CKIN’ TRIED loving this book but I failed. If you know me, you’ll also know that I’m a huge fan of hers. I love her writing so much that I would read anything she writes. I know she’s a charming wordsmith of expressing emotions, angsts, romance in a way that’ll surely take your breathe away. She definitely took mine away with her first 4 books. ST can even write cheating (something I loathe and avoid) in a way that I can’t but bow down to her superiority. But in this book, she failed me miserably. I put my faith in her writing but I ended up being so miserable that I was torn between a DNF and throwing the book out the window. Even the first book in this series, though not a favorite, I enjoyed much. But God, what the hell happened in Ravishing the Heiress?

First, words of caution: This review is going to be all rants, disjointed rants at that and might question my sanity. But I have to let these off of my chests. If you’re still interested, you may proceed...

As I always do, a little recap of the series first (and to keep myself calm). In Beguiling the Beauty, an enraged Venetia weaved a drama of deception for the Duke of Lexington, Christian because he tried to defame her in one of his lectures. Christian is a scholar, who has been in love with Venetia (and her unearthly, head-bumping beauty) his whole life. Even though the reasons behind that deception, how it was carried out and some of Venetia’s activities bugged me, I was convinced by the end that these two have a stronger feeling for each-other than I initially gave them credit for. Venetia even apologized for hurting Christian and considering her personal troubles with first two marriages, I sympathized with her. In between, we got glimpses of Fitz, the Earl and Venetia’s younger brother, and his ‘plain-looking-but-the-heiress-of-a-big-fortune-made-in-canned-foods’ wife Millie. I liked Millie from the get go because undoubtedly she was no vapid miss. Even though she’s reserved and keeps a calm demeanor, she is smart and has a brilliant head in business. It was explained that their marriage was a MOC. They’ve married very young but in these 8 yrs. they haven’t consummated their marriage because of pact. At first, I thought it was something to do with Millie’s fortune or something, some official agreement probably. Then, it was revealed that she’s madly in love with her husband, has been since the first day. Fitz doesn’t see her as anything but a polite friend, even though Millie’s money gave him the backbone to take care of the debts and estates left by the previous Earls. Then I learned that he has been in love with another woman, whom he planned on marrying before he was ‘forced’ to marry Millie. That woman, Isabelle married later, been in India but recently informed him that she’s a widow and soon, would be returning to England. It was hinted that Fitz is still pining away for the beautiful Isabelle and wants to take up with her once she’s back. Alright, I knew trouble was ahead… and then, in a very disgusting scene it was also revealed that Fitz is a cheater. He keeps mistresses regularly and worse, flaunts them. Millie not only knows that but also, she knows of their identities. This scene, where they discuss about his sluts and Millie recommending him a new one as he’s broken off with his latest, made me so sick I felt a gag coming. I knew their book will have some stuff for me to weather but as I said, I put my trust in ST’s hand, knowing she’ll handle everything just fine.

But that didn’t happen.

I also disliked Helena, Fitz’s twin. She was happily committing adultery with a man who couldn’t even stand up to his mother and married someone of her choice instead of Helena, even though he was courting her. She thinks their relationship is ‘sacrosanct’! (b*tchslap anyone?) Helena is independent, as in she owned a publishing company from some relative and earns herself. She thinks she’s doing what any other independent, unconventional women would do. Huh? B*tchslap!!! It was because of her is how Venetia, who had no idea about Christian but for his title, finally meets him. We see that Fitz’s best friend, Viscount Hastings, an incorrigible rake, has also been in love with Helena all his life but Helena doesn’t even have a clue. She actually hates Hastings. And Hastings likes to rile her up, very recently with the knowledge of her secret affair. The buildup of book 3 was there as well but I’m not grudging it as some reviewers did because it’s something necessary for a series where each books are so connected. Either way, Helena and Hastings’s banters were SOOOO good, and Hastings so YUM, I enjoyed those scenes.

Then came book 2... Let me tell you about the flashbacks first. These flashbacks I despised because not only they were distracting me from the present but also, they were full of Millie’s miserable existence and Fitz’s immaturity. Millie grew up knowing she’ll never have a choice in her marriage, let alone love and was fully prepared to marry anyone with whom her rich, businessman father betroths her. She knew she would never be a ‘great beauty’, having a very average face and figure. Her self-confidence was low to begin with, thanks to everyone around her. I really felt for her. She learned other things to make up for, such as, how to run a house, all the ladylike behaviors that a titled gentleman will look for in a wife, mastering the piano and different languages etc. From all things, Millie was dedicated and brilliant. She knew she would never fall in love when she saw the 33 yrs old Earl of Fitzhugh, yet she sympathized because he was also being forced in this marriage for money. But that man died soon after the betrothal. The next on the line was one of his cousins. No one was sure if he’d be up for this match. But Millie’s world tilted from its axis the day she saw Fitz. He was much closer to her age (she 16, he 19) and as handsome as they came. Millie fell in love, just like that but she knew this man would never love her back. I can’t tell you how awful I found the later scenes… One day, Millie finds out that Fitz is in love with another woman. Seeing how beautiful she is and how Fitz’s face becomes full of yearning, Millie’s heart breaks and she begins to think of herself as someone who ruined lives. WHY Millie? WHY? I tried telling myself that she was very young and read on.

In a nutshell, they were to marry soon. Fitz had no other way but to ‘give up’ his childhood crush, Isabelle. I loathed his attitude towards the marriage because his interest in Millie was probably zero. He thought her ‘cold and bloodless’, and so, she meant nothing to him. And he NEVER tried to know her or her mind, which he termed as ‘mysterious’ over and over again because Millie kept her distance. Then before the marriage, it was Millie who made this stupid pact of non-consummation. I got that she felt vulnerable of being too much hurt. I understood her standing. I even got that Fitz was a bit taken aback because this rubbed on his manliness but did they have to abide by this moronic plan for 8 yrs? Seriously??? The reading of Fitz’s immature behavior just before and after their marriage was pure horror. He got drunk and sick on their honeymoon. Oh, how lovely! A honeymoon of every girl’s dreams! Millie had to take care of him, knowing this is what she drove him to. I say, serves him right! Guilt and more guilt were being piled up on her conscience. He ignored Millie most of the times, and dreaded seeing her. There were many scenes that broke my heart but this one was one of the specials... Fitz had a pet dormouse named Alice, given to him by Isabelle. Fitz took care of it like it was a treasure and last link to her. He never, once, while Alice was alive, let Millie hold the mouse or pet it, even though Millie craved this little attention from him. It was as if Millie will sully it with her touch. It rubbed me raw, that he dismissed her feelings just like this. But, knowing how much Fitz loved the mouse, later Millie made taxidermy of the mouse and kept it on his study. Fitz kept on treating Millie like a tree-stump and took up with other women soon enough. He would leave her for days to be in London (and more women), while she was alone, working to restore his country house or some other duties. Yes, Fitz liked to talk to her about the house and the business etc., he even got that his wife is intelligent but that was about it. Millie knew it all but she was still guilt ridden about everything, though I don’t know WHY, and let him have the free reign. She thought she could spend her life like a martyr. At least for the next 8 yrs...



As time passed by, Fitz tried to remember her birthdays and so on, but those were nothing but duty. I can’t explain it in any other way. Millie would remember everything about him though, would even give him small gifts that reminds her of Fitz (like that walking stick that has the same blue on it as his eyes). But Fitz remained as callous as ever. At some point, some of his supposed kindness towards Millie begins to chafe raw on me, as if she deserved these crumbs and nothing else. It also grated on my nerves that Millie would think of him the ‘perfect man’ for her, who’s always doing ‘the right thing’ (seriously?) and that she was happy to be his (pretend?) wife. Someone kill me now! Fitz would become upset with the news of Isabelle’s marriage and subsequent coming of children, be a moron and drink and f*ck other women, while his wife pined away for him and got hurt and hurt and hurt. Millie was even sadistic enough to tell Fitz that she’s in love with a married man. I think you know whom she meant. Fitz took her by her words, never once trying to delve into this reserved woman, who became his good friend in a very short time. I can’t possibly explain the misery, the feeling of it, for Millie and for me as well.

So, I understand that for the first 3/4 years, Fitz didn’t see Millie because had his head inside his arse (and other women’s for that matter) but in one flashback, it was revealed that in the 4th yr of their marriage, he began to feel really attracted to Millie (and her brilliant business focused mind that so far helped them build an empire of sort). But did he do anything about it? Did he consider pursuing her, finding out if there could be anything between them? NO! He kept on finding new fuckb*ddies instead, never once feeling guilty about it. SOB!! I was SO MAD, when once they went on to this vacation in Italy (in flashback) to celebrate their recent business success. By this time, their relationship was much better, consisting of more affection. Millie was still putting up this façade of ‘good friends’ to keep her sanity. But of course, Fitz the cheater didn’t disappoint and soon found someone to f*ck, even there. Millie observed and knew. What was that Millie? You started talking about his sluts after you found that out? Asking him how does it feel to seduce women? You even gave him clues as to how he works on getting his next slut, as you’ve observed over the years? Fitz discussed them as if it was nothing but a sport akin to horse-riding. He even confirmed that he slept with two sisters at a time. After all, Millie is his close friend now! *gag* Then, in your mind, you begin comparing yourself with them, that how it’d feel to be one of them? For this undeserving dirty f*cker who kept his virginity for his beloved Isabelle, until he knew he was marrying YOU? OMG, I felt like brushfiring Fitz!! Millie, GOD, MILLIE!! What is wrong with you woman? How could you sit there all those years, enduring this misery when I knew you had so much more to offer? I loved you woman, I still do and I believe we could become best buddies if you were real but I would never tolerate what you did! NEVER!! Why didn’t you stand up and took him by his d*ck and let him know who’s the boss??!

Millie?????

And thus, I found out that discussing Fitz’s sluts was an old ‘friendly hobby’ of theirs. God, I feel sick, plain SICK!

The flashbacks were distracting the hell outta me because I wanted to learn more of their relationship development at the present, rather than that gigantic mass of utter misery and the boring tidbits of their business world. I just didn’t care if they sold millions of canned foods or soft drinks or whatever. I just DON’T give a F*CK! I want to know what’s going on now. So I got really annoyed and skipped the business part and kept thinking of killing myself (or Fitz) with each and every wretched scene that reminded me that Millie was nothing to Fitz but a means to money and duty and just maybe a little affection. I didn’t believe in his supposed kindness. He was a man I would never respect! How can a man be so oblivious of this woman, with whom he was living and who worked with him every day to build his home and hearth, rain or shine? How was it that he never even thought about delving in and at least to know who she really was? Oh yes, that’s right, insensitive SOB who was also immensely immature. Fitz never grew up from his 19 yrs old self, and I can sadly confirm that neither did Millie from 17 yrs. old. And because of those flashbacks, there weren’t enough stories between them as far as their no-existent romance was concerned.

Then, Isabelle was returning and this cheater f*cker started planning away adultery, even arranging a townhouse, with Millie’s money. He was thinking of buying a house somewhere, with Millie’s Money. Every freakin’ thing on his back was bought with Millie’s MONEY and he had the temerity to think cheating on her was alright? And Millie, who never was jealous of those thousand other women (Fitz, shy? MY ARSE!), now suddenly is hurt because of Isabelle? Isabelle returns and Fitz the cheater goes to meet her with springs on his step. Ooh, my beloved has returned after 8 yrs! *gag* Millie inquires after these meetings as if she’s discussing some close friend.

Millie???????



Then, there are more gagworthy scenes between Fitz and Isabelle. She’s oblivious that she’s going to wreak a home, planning away their adultery too. It’s as if Millie’s feelings don’t count at all. I sat there, agape, thinking how callous people can be! I saw it much earlier what Fitz saw at the end (though maybe not in my way), that Isabelle was just looking for someone to take care of her and manipulating Fitz was just plain convenient because he was a moron of the first order. Isabelle becomes angry when Fitz takes something from his and Millie’s farm to give it to her, because it had Millie’s touch. Oh really b*tch? She tells Fitz how not cool it is for a man of his station to ‘engage himself in businesses’. She even had the audacity to present herself in the train station, when Venetia returned home from her honeymoon, as if she belonged there and Millie, who was a bit late to arrive, had no place, even after all she’d done. Isabelle was unwanted by everyone but Fitz.

Then Fitz thinks, oh, it’s time to make legitimate heirs, then move on and so, time for another stupid plot. Have sex with the ignored wife of 8 yrs for 6 months, get her with child, then leave her for committing adultery. My head was hurting because neither Isabelle nor Fitz even considered the ramifications, be it Millie or the child. The home-wreaker b*tch was even angry that Fitz would bestow this much attentions to his wife. OMFG! And then, when they finally started having sex, everything turned from misery to plain awkward. It was painfully clear that ST has lost her focus and rhythm, as if she was grasping for something that wasn’t quite coming out right... Millie was still compromising as ever, always saying sorrys that Fitz didn’t deserve in the first place. NO WOMAN, no one asked you to be that understanding! I felt nothing from Fitz but lust. He never really had to prove anything to Millie. He NEVER ONCE apologized for his deplorable behavior throughout the years, while she proved herself over and over and over again and only got hurt in return. She NEVER voiced herself, until the very end and it wasn’t even for herself but she was concerned for the children Fitz might have with Isabelle. They will bear the brunt of their illegitimacy and so, Millie asked for a divorce, so that Fitz can marry Isabelle.

Till the end, I had to witness Millie getting hurt (no matter the reason) and I wanted to question ST about why she was being so cruel and make Millie suffer so? Why not just kill the freakin’ woman and give her some relief! She broke my heart over and over again, never quite delivering enough balm to heal my wounds. I don’t want to read such misery that gives me nightmares. I don’t want to read about a callous hero who humped OWs and pined away for someone else throughout the book. And I don’t want such a ‘saintly’ heroine, who doesn’t know when to think of herself and stand up when it’s absolutely necessary. And I don’t want to talk about this book ever in my entire life!!!!



I still feel like I haven’t done enough ranting!

PS: Some development about Helena and Hastings’s relationship were there too, and saved me from keeling over in misery. It seems like Hastings wants to become a writer and gave Helena his personal erotic writings aka porn *winkwink* to publish. Loved it! The only bit of fun I got from this book. Anxiously waiting for Tempting the Bride.

PPS: The author’s note explains that the home-wreaker b*tch would be getting her story, a novella, in an upcoming anthology. I’m plain horrified by ST’s attempt at making a wounded party out of her. Whatever! You can rest assured I’m not reading that.

[Lacey (laceybooklovers) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I realllyyy wanted to enjoy this more since I loved book 1, but there was BARELY any romance here. It was love at first sight for the heroine, and the hero spends about 80% of the book in love with another woman. Oh, and he had endless mistresses during their marriage of convenience. I know Sherry Thomas can do angst well, but there was way too much of it here.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

If this didn't have a happy ending, it would've probably sent me into a clinical depression.

I mean, are you looking for the angstiest yet MOST BEAUTIFUL romance novel??? Well, YOU'VE FOUND IT!!!

The first book I read by Sherry Thomas was The Luckiest Lady in London, and I absolutely loved it. And yet, the other books in the series did not warm my heart in the same way; the second book was just too heartbreaking to even contemplate, and the third book just did not scratch any kind of itch for me. After that, I sort of moved on to other authors.

BOY, WAS I MISSING OUT!!!!

This is the story of Millie, a girl who was born into a very rich family and thus, obviously, raised to elevate the family to the next social ladder by marrying a nobleman. So, at just sixteen, she's introduced to nineteen-year-old Fitz, the Earl Fitzhugh, whose estate is in shambles and could definitely use her dowry.

Millie, who's incredibly practical and calm and contained, uncharacteristically falls in love immediately. It's almost too good to be true: she gets to marry the man of her dreams with her family's enthusiastic approval. The catch? He's desperately in love with someone else, and this arranged marriage is the worst punishment he could ever conceive. The only reason he's even going through it is because of the outstanding debt he inherited.

The book picks up eight years into their marriage, though we get many glimpses of their journey towards the present. They became best friends and partners, but, while Millie's feelings have only ever grown stronger, Fitz has had a myriad of mistresses and has never stopped longing for Isabelle, his lost love. And it's great news for him (and terrible news for us): Isabelle is now a widow and is coming back to England, eager for them to pick up where they left off.

I can't begin to describe how beautifully this book is written and how much it broke my heart. Millie had the luck to be placed in her dream circumstances, but none of it mattered, because Fitz's heart was always with someone else.

Sherry Thomas is a master of show-don't-tell. So many times Millie acted in a way that conveyed very clearly how distraught she was, and it never actually had to be explained to us.

The grovel here could be a tiny bit better, I'll admit, but I also don't think the author felt like there was room for it because the book is so quick-paced, and relatively short. Also, was there an actual need for groveling when Fitz never once went behind her back and was always completely honest about his feelings? (I mean, I always want to see groveling, but, you know.)

This was so gorgeous and emotional. I wanted to bash Fitz's head in but I also felt so sorry for him throughout. Millie deserves the world. 10000/10.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a depressing read with it's unrequited love. The book starts with a marriage of convenience. The H at 19yrs old inherits a mountain of debt from the previous Earl. He is madly in love with his childhood sweetheart, but he gives her up for duty. The h falls in love with the H at first sight. Let's just say the H treats the h like crap at first. She represents what he had to give up. They agree to a pack. They won't consummate their marriage for 8 yrs. YES... 8 YRS!!! But of course he can sleep with other women.

Over the years they become best friends. They make all their decisions together. This was one of the best parts of the story, watching them collaborate together.

8yrs later, the H 's childhood sweetheart is a widow. This is his chance! He plans to leave his wife and live with his lover. Before he leaves he wants to sleep with his wife for 6 months to get her with child so she won't be lonely when he leaves. He is such a clueless , insensitive a**hole!! Just because the h doesn't show her emotions that doesn't mean she doesn't feel. I have to admit the story had me crying for the h. Though I did want to slap her sometimes. She never voiced her feelings.

The last 100pgs of the book are great. The self discovery of their marriage at the end was enjoyable, leaving me to have mixed feelings of the book. Why oh why did the author put me through so much before the story got good???

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

No one is more sad than me that I didn't love this. This one had SUCH an angsty plot and I was so ready to fall in love. But the execution just didn't have the romance I wanted. Millie and Fitz have a marriage of convenience when they are both quite young and Fitz is in love with someone else. They become friends and enjoy being married to one another, though they never consulate their marriage. Millie fell in love at first sight with Fitz, but he was still hung up on the woman he loves. Eight years later, the women he loves is now a widow and Fitz is ready to have her as his mistress. Millie is devastated, but they decide to have six months to try for a child before Fitz moves on to his childhood love while still being married to Millie in name.

Ummmm how did Millie go EIGHT YEARS without ever telling Fitz her feelings?? Especially since he was her husband??? And during that time Fitz was just off enjoying his mistresses and still pining after his childhood sweetheart. This book was so not romantic and I really didn't care about Fitz at all. He didn't even realize he wanted Millie until so close to the end and at that point I just didn't care about him. Millie was such an intriguing, smart heroine, and it was sad to see her so passive when it came to her husband. I just felt like there was nothing redeeming about Fitz. I also wasn't a fan of the constant back and forth from past to present of the storyline, especially since I listened to this on audio. This book just had so much potential and didn't really deliver.

[Giorgia Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars

In my opinion this was not a "great story of unrequited love" nor was it angsty.

It was horrible.

Millie made bad decision after bad decision and she was the only one at fault for her unhappiness.

Fitz was ... bland and I didn't see what was so great about him.

Yeah.. a total miss for me.

[boogenhagen · Rating 3 out of 5]

In general I like ST, and for the most part I liked this book. But.... (and there is always a but, isn't there.) What kind of cockamamie idear was it to sleep with the guy you know is going to leave your hiney before he shacks up in blissful love with his bit on the side?

Are you freaking kidding me? Who DOES that and thinks they're not an idiot?!?

Well this h, that is who. I did not get it, she was supposedly in love with someone else, at least that is what the H believes, and yet she was willing to sleep with the H to get preggers. That makes NO sense to me and really comes across a device plot to give the H his cake and let him eat it too and a very convoluted way to keep the h chaste while the H manages to land every piece in skirt that flashes by.


If Milli was so intent upon letting Fitz go to the point where she demands an annulment so everyone can live in moral decency, there was no reason to have her sleep with him - especially when she was so reluctant to begin with. Now I realize there has to be a certain amount of steam in the book to keep things going, but that whole let's go to bed with each other even tho we are in love with other people irked me to no end.

Millie wants an annulment, if that is the case don't jump into bed with the guy, get your annulment and find someone who won't cheat at the drop of a hat when a glimpse of stocking wanders by.

I believed they loved each other by the end, but it wasn't the kind of end all be all I read romances for, more like making the best of a bad situation because Milli couldn't keep her knickers on as she was too weak to say no to coercion when there was no compelling reason not to. By the end, Milli's parents had been dead for years, the company could still be run and Milli was finally free, but she settles for an asshat instead.

Which just goes to show how hidebound and simplistic she is, especially when we revisit her character in the next book and she is a total moral prig. This one isn't bad, and the H, aside from being a manho, was okay. I just had a very hard time with the evolution of this h at the end.

[Nikki ღ Navareus · Rating 4 out of 5]

My friend JP turned me onto this angsty MOC/unrequited love story, and I'm so happy she did. This story had all the feels I could ask for from a young bride paired with a husband who is already deeply in love with another woman. When I first looked this story up here on Goodreads, the reviewer hate for this story was real.

That was all I needed to get me to dive into this story. Usually when the goodreads haters detest a story with unrequited love, a heartbroken herione who gets cast aside for another woman by her husband, or even the mere mention of cheating by a hero, I KNOW I'm going to love it. And I did.

My heart broke for lonely Millie as she went through the years with a husband who had already given his heart to another. Millie and Fitz developed a deep friendship and a strong respect for one another over the years. And even though he'd never fall in love with Millie, Fitz was a very kind and honest husband and business partner. I felt all the achy sadness I desire from unrequited love stories, especially when Fitz's real true love moved back to town widowed and once again available. Fitz and Millie's relationship was an extremely slow burn, that eventually found its way to a lovely HEA. I thoroughly enjoyed this tale.

[kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️ This dude is a shithead 🤡👺
I rated this purely because this book had my heart throbbing and for the life of me I couldn’t put this down. The characters start off in an arranged marriage with each other when they were 16 and 19 years old. The guy is in love with this other chick so they make this deal where they will live their lives as if they are not married (she’ll have freedom to do whatever she pleases and he can seek out other women) and in 8 years they will divorce. That’s sounds like an okay arrangement right? Well that doesn’t go out as planned…. you see the person that the dude fell in love with (that he kissed one time right before the wedding because he’s a dick) gets married shortly after he got married so they don’t see each other until six years later when her hubby is in the ground, dead and gone. She’s now a widowed momma and want to get “her man” the audacity!!!!!!!! So the stupid jackass is like sure babe let me go tell my wife. 💋💋💋💋💋💋 So he goes home and at this point him and his wife are super platonic friends, like she’s still a virgin and everything. 🙄 He knows that he be breaking the deal is he ran away with his mistress so he makes another deal with her, which is……. Hey, how bout I knock you up and THEN runaway with my mistress. The girl’s like well what if I don’t get prego the first time. He’s like, good point how bout we bang for 6 months THEN I runaway with my mistress. She’s says okay because she is madly in love with him. Which is why my throat was closing up because this motherfucker was fucking other bitches in front of her (not literally) but everyone knew that he was unfaithful. So are you shitting me that ending was so fucking rushed she confessed her love to him and he basically rejected her for the other woman. Then when he finally is like oh shit I’m a dumbass what the fuck am I doing he tells the other chick like, babe you rock and all but I don’t love you not more. I MISS MY WIFE 🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃💨💨💨Him running back to his wife after dumping his side piece. And this bitch just immediately takes him back. THE FUCKING END 😑😵‍💫

[Vintage · Rating 1 out of 5]

I should have listened to the reviews. I started, then skimmed, then DNF.

I had a hard time with the idea of the H coming to his decision to go with live his young love after trying to get his wife pregnant. The reactions from his family were ridiculous. They would have expressed more than a raised eyebrow or two perhaps, "You're an idiot!" or at least a "You're crazy!"

And I know the placidity of the h was to show her quiet strength and love for the hero, but I'm not a fan of I'll stab myself in the heart in order to give you, my love, all happiness I think you deserve. Here wipe your feet on my back as you leave for the other woman. Let the SOB can stay and be miserable.

[Mei · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know if I could do what Millie have done, but I applaud Ms. Thomas for having written such a wonderful story!

I wanted so many times to slap, shake, punch Fitz that it's not funny!!!!


How can an intelligent man submit a woman (his wife!!!) to something like that???!!! Inconceivable!!!

I got, at the beginning that he was devastated. I got that he didn't want to marry. I got that he was sick to his heart. I got all that!!! But, for God's sake, he went with other woman without shame or thought how his wife will feel about that!!!!

And when, after many years, finally they became friends and partners and they both had feeling for each other what did he do? He decided to leave Millie for his ex when she returns to London as a widdow!!! With two children too!!! OMG!!! O-M-G!!!!

So, I don't, really don't know if I would have been able to bear all Millie went through! She was a saint!!! A fool, IMHO, but stilll a saint!

So, why 5 stars? Because Ms. Thomas (you, dear lady, are a genius!!!) has written an incredible story, where a saint (Millie) gets her heart's desire: the idiot she loves! More, the idiot finally discovers what a gem he has as a wife and how much he loves her!

What a journey this was!!! Spanning years, heartbreaks (for poor Millie obviously!) and beautiful freindship-building moments, this story has left me with a satisfaction of having read a true life, not love, but life-story!

[Joanna Loves Reading · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a reread. This one is an interesting contrast with the first in series book Beguiling the Beauty, which seemed to be more of a pre-destined fate that the h&h would come together and love was the by-product. This one was more about opening the heart to the reality. Feelings can slowly change over time. I accept both stories arcs and enjoyed both stories, but this one really packs in the feels.

Millie loves her husband since the moment she met him, but his affections reside elsewhere. Through flashback storytelling, we see the wall around Fitz slowly crumble. There current works well in terms of a partnership. When open and acknowledged love finally comes, you know that their marriage will be based more than on hopes and dreams. It’s a lovely story but understand those who don’t enjoy it. It’s not for everyone.

[Kelly22 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.00 Stars - Historical Romance/Victorian

Fitz

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The majority first part of the book was amazing. You read this book with a very heavy heart. The dialogues, the emotions, the way the story commenced, matured and proceeded, the visits to past and the returns to present, make your heart constrict so bad that it pretty much makes you one of those candidates who cry time to time from reading a book. It’s one of those books you feel helpless reading. You feel helpless that you can’t solve the problem; neither will you know how to turn it into a happy ending and put the protagonists out of their misery. Every dialogue, every incident and every tiny yet intense anecdote between the scenes make you die a thousand deaths and yet you still keep going with a hope of happy ending.

The 19-yr old exceptionally handsome Earl Fitzhugh inherits the earldom in a very dire and destitute condition. On top of that, the previous deceased earl, who was 33, has left behind not only vast amount of debts and obligations, along with his disheveled castle and no-good estate, but also a 16-yr old fiance, whose gigantic dowry has been chosen to rebuild and reestablish the earldom after their impending wedding. But Fitz, with his own dreams of a 19-yr old dashing man and joining the army, was madly in love with his childhood friend Isabelle. But he was helpless to do anything and take initiative since he didn’t come out of age yet.

The 16-yr old Millicent was brought up to be the lady of a manor someday. She was prepared for any earl/viscount/duke to be chosen by her father to conduct her fate of an arranged marriage. She was prepared for anyone and anything, accepting her duty and obligation to marry and produce an heir. What she wasn’t ready for was to fall head over heels in love with the supremely handsome and young earl, who doesn’t and will NEVER love her and who has eyes only for his childhood love Isabelle, the prettiest girl she has seen. But she was helpless.

Eight years goes by and Millicent and Fitz are now a married couple living a PLATONIC friendship by their choice. Their marriage is companionable, friendly, but nothing that a man and a woman will share were they were truly married. Until now that is. Lady Isabelle is a free widow now, coming back to London. Both Milli and Fitz have agreed upon on him taking up with Isabelle and having a second chance of love that has been snatched by fate from them. But prior to that, Fitz must now finally consummate his marriage to Milli to beget an heir and before return to Isabelle and remain faithful to her for the rest of their life, leaving Milli behind for good. They have six months before the sham marriage ends. Six months to start his life with Isabelle which he was destined for. Six months to finally say goodbye to his sweet wife who has been there with him in sickness and health for the last eight years. Six months for Milli to have her ‘friend’ of a husband to herself before she says good bye with a smile.

But is it too easy to farewell the man you love so much to the girl he always loved? Can she remain impassive still and hide the tremendous love she has for him since always? Will it be easy for Fitz to finally touch his young wife he has been seeing grown up right in front of his eyes and walk away? You will want to know these answers once you start reading this book. It’s addictive.

The story started and proceeded with such a huge promise and high hopes that I couldn’t help but get disappointed with the abrupt ending. I felt the author ran out of page suddenly and hence had to finish it with the given few that were left. Not a good feeling. But I’ll tell you dear readers, the first majority of the book is so good that you keep on thinking 5.00 starts all along and thank your lucky stars that you picked it up. However, the ending, no matter how much agreeable, didn’t do much for me. It was short and rudely abrupt. Hence the 4.00 stars. Regardless, with its exceptional plot and supreme writing of Ms Thomas I recommend it is worth for you all to give it a try.

[Crystal's Bookish Life · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS BOOK !! It absolutely destroyed me in the best way.

If you are an angst lover like me pick this up.

[NMmomof4 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars

Overall Opinion: This was an alright read. I think, however, it had the potential to be better. I wanted to feel the h’s unrequited love more. I wanted to connect with her to the extent that I had no choice but to get emotional for her. I wanted to care more that the H didn’t see her feelings, but instead I understood how he might not have. The ending sucked too with leaving us with just sharing of ILYs and no real time experiencing their HEA. Bummer.

Brief Summary of the Storyline: This is Millie and Fitz’s story. They ave an arranged marriage because Millie’s wealthy family wants her to gain a title and Fitz is a new earl that has inherited nothing but debt along with the title. Fitz is in love with another woman and is devastated with his new reality, but they become friends and allies in business dealings. They also come to an agreement that they will not consummate the marriage until 8 years later since they are both so young and forced into their situation. There is some OW drama, some sad moments, some sweet scenes, and a few sexy times...and they get a HEA ending.

Point Of View (POV): This alternated between focusing on Millie and Fitz in 3rd person narrative (with some side characters too).

Overall Pace of Story: Good until the ending. I never skimmed and I thought it flowed well. It does go from the past to present for most of the book.

Instalove: No, they are friends to lovers

H (Hero) rating: 3 stars. Fitz. He was alright....yep, that’s it.

h (heroine) rating: 3 stars. Millie. I felt like I never got to connect with her tbh. She was so stoic and held all her emotions in all the time. I wanted to feel for her and her situation more.

Sadness level: Low, no tissues needed but a few tears were shed

Push/Pull: Yes The H pushes away until the end

Heat level: Alright. They have some tension, chemistry, and scenes -- but not very much and not so much it takes away from the story.

Descriptive sex: Yes

OW (Other Woman)/OM (Other Man) drama: Yes The H is in love with OW while married to the h

Sex scene with OW or OM: No

Cheating: Yes The H has many mistresses during their marriage

Separation: No

Possible Triggers: Yes The H is in love with OW while married to the h and also takes on many mistresses during their marriage

Closure: This ended wayyyy to abruptly for my liking! I wanted to experience some of them as an in love married couple! I would reluctantly call this a HEA but that’s just because they are married.

Safety: This one is probably Not Safe for most safety gang readers

- Does have cheating
- Does Not have a descriptive sex scene with OW/OM
- Does have the H pushing the h away
- Does Not have a separation between the h and H
- Does Not have abuse
- Does have a HEA ending (see above)

[Elisabeth Roam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm sad to say I was disappointed by this book. I was really looking forward to it and even paid the full price for an ebook version. After all is said and done, almost 9 bucks is a little much for a book that really doesn't deliver.

I wanted to like it because the story line is amazing and has so much potential. I think Sherry Thomas is a good writer, Some of the lines in the book were very poetic and true of love and life.

I get the main idea with Fitz, he's heartbroken about not getting to live the life he had planned. He's in love with a woman he can't have. But the way that his heartbreak was used as an excuse for his behavior over and over again was annoying. There is nothing I hate more then a heroine who is humiliated through out the novel repeatedly and then made to feel sorry for by the reader. The author didn't even have the good grace to make the heroine some what beautiful. It was said many times that she could never compare to her husband in looks and that she wasn't as beautiful as the woman he really loved. Ugh! At least make her beautiful if she's going to suffer for most of the novel! I was cringing at the thought of Millie (who is described as short, tubby and not very pretty) finally confessing that she had secretly loved her husband for years. Great! Just the clincher that makes her look more pathetic. I know the book praised her many other qualities but I felt that Fitz needed to suffer a little more and really yearn for Millie like he did Isabelle. The fact that Millie can organize and remodel a house and start a business doesn't exactly do it for me. I had a hard time believing that those qualities endeared her to Fitz as much as they did.

The last few chapters were rushed and there wasn't even an epilogue. In fact the closing chapter is that Millie's face is all splotchy and red from crying and Fitz starts to kiss her, really? The love scenes left something to be desired and I felt the book in general lacked that heat, that special spark that should endear us to Fitz and Millie. Instead we were given lots of facts and events that took place "with his wife" and "with her husband". In the end it sounded like Fitz was just way too comfortable with his dowdy wife and the life they had built together. Way too comfortable with the way "his wife" had catered to him over the years and done everything to make him happy as he continued to pine after Isabelle.

The author did very well in describing two people that shared a friendship. The author did very well in describing the story in the element she most likely intended it to be in. Yet as the reader I kept thinking, Where's the spark? The passion? Why doesn't Fitz man up? Where's the retaliation that Millie deserves? Where are the 'fantasy elements' in this romance novel? Where's the freaking epilogue?

[Margo · Rating 1 out of 5]

RAGE-inducing. Just don't.

[Jenn (The Book Refuge) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very thought provoking and I had a great time actually. Even though this has some themes I do not love, I still enjoyed these 2 best friends realizing their love.

4/5 Stars

[Raffaella · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another awful experience with the worst hero ever.
No romance here and a couple that more pathetic I’ve never seen.
It’s incredibly well written and the feelings and emotions of the heroine and the hero are well described.
Sadly this is a disgusting tale of a passive doormat of a heroine and a pathetic weak worthless hero.
I understand that for this author it’s more important a promise given personally and not a sacred vow uttered in front of god and people.
I’m sorry but I definitely don’t agree with her.
Marriage vows are worth nothing to the author and nothing to the hero either.
The would be plot is about a young gentleman man, only 19, who’s in love with a young woman but since both of them are poor he’s forced to marry the heroine that is a rich heiress.
The heroine is in love with him at first sight and decides she will marry him even if she knows he doesn’t love her and is on love with another woman.
She proposes 8 years of friendship marriage, basically they will live as siblings for 8 years.
Sadly the hero has sex with everything that moves and he doesn’t even bother to hide his yucky ways to the heroine, thinking of her as his bff.
This is bullshit.
The heroine, being the spineless pathetic woman she is, keeps loving him and suffering, pretending she doesn’t care a bit about his sex escapades. I think that any woman with a bit of decency and self respect would have after some time (months not years) stopped loving him and start hating and despising him.
But this is not the worst.
After 8 years the true love of his life comes back as a widow and wants the hero back.
And of course he’s happy and wants her back.
I hated him with all my heart because he feels that he would betray her if he had sex with his wife.
Sorry author, honor is another thing.
Honor means to respect and be truthful to the vows you willingly spoke in front of the world to see.
Not certainly be faithful to a woman who has been happily married and had two children with another man while you’re married to another.
Twisted.
And wrong.
Only in the end he realizes he loves his wife and even then he’s worried for ows happiness because he promised her they would be together.
His first thoughts are always for ow and never for his wife.
I hated this book as few others.
I can’t see any love for her and I can’t see anything to save in this hero.
He disrespected and betrayed his wife and never cared about her while she saved his sorry ass with her money and loved him all along.
I can’t understand what is to like in a book where for the 96 % the hero is either screwing ow or in love with his first love.
Awful.
Degrading.
Pathetic.
Yes, angsty too but not in a good way because there’s no grovel and there’s nothing that can save this man in my eyes.
FO the book. And now I’m pissed again.