Her Grace's Passion

As the third part of this series, this book can stand alone by itself as a funny, romantic, and tragic novel all in itself. Well, all in it self it does and this amazing book brings together most of the characters from previous novels in a very satisfying way. We finally find an end to Her Grace's pain. Humorous of course and brutally historic we find ourselves embroiled in a story that only needs a little bravery and a handsome (yes of course, handsome) hero. He has his own problems of course. Most of all when he is almost rid of his wife; his countess delivers a very strange heir in the middle of a ball room. All of this is a very humorous and satisfying end to this trilogy. Marion Chesney is a marvel for her literary talent in writing amazingly funny and wonderfully tragically stories about historical lives in her novels.

In a nutshell: Matilda, Duchess of Hadshire is finally free of her abusive husband when he is murdered by his own mistress. She falls in love with the Earl of Torridon, trapped in an unhappy marriage himself. When circumstances lend him his freedom, Matilda's guilty conscience will not allow her to be with him. Ok. This is probably my least favorite of this series but I still really liked it. This heroine was more interesting as a friend of the previous two heroines in this series (The Scandalous Lady Wright & His Lordship's Pleasure) than as the "star" of this tale. The hero was a little of a nonentity although I was sorry for him in his choice of first wife. But, a little over halfway through the book, a new character is introduced. Letitia is over six feet tall and quite clumsy. She is incredibly sweet, however, and incredibly loyal. Her pleasant attitude and amusing antics make the somewhat irritating main characters far more palatable. She was my favorite character. As usual, this is very much like other Marion Chesney books. She succinctly tells a story while dropping tiny little factual tidbits about the selected time period. A light, quick read.

Matilda's cruel husband, romanced his mistress under her nose. He subsequently was killed and by all rights she should have been a merry widow. She turns to an Earl, who himself is trapped in a loveless marriage. However, her guilt plagues her and she can only dream of her longed for love and happiness. Until fate lends a hand and you'll discover a few surprises in store for both of them. Another winner !