Meredith Burnley's family has been devastated by the death of her father. Her sister, Annabel had been in poor health but seemed to be feeling better. Now, her uncle has moved his family into their home and Annabel has taken ill again. When her aunt lets her know that Meredith must marry her cousin or Annabel will be sent to an asylum, Meredith determines that she and Annabel will escape.

Meredith approaches Annabel's grandparents. Annabel's stepmother was cut off when she married the son of a factory owner. When Meredith approaches General Stanton, he tries to throw her out of the house. His nephew, Stephen Mallory, Marquess of Silverton, and his grandson, Robert, calm the situation down and bring in Lady Stanton.

Lady Stanton agrees to take on Annabelle to introduce her to the ton. She insists that Meredith join her in the debut. Meredith and Annabelle are established in their own home since the General is adamantly opposed to his wife helping the two girls.

The Marquess and Robert Stanton set out to protect the girls from their uncle. The more Stephen learns about Meredith, the more impressed he is with her courage and strength of will. As they learn more about her uncle, the more concerned Stephen becomes. His determination to protect her surprises him.

As events unfold, Stephen and Meredith will discover there is much more to her uncle's plans. His desparation will put both Annabelle and Meredith in danger.

An interesting and more convoluted plot than I expected, Ms. Kelly has done an excellent job of writing a story which will keep the readers coming back for more. While Annabelle and Robert were nice secondary characters, the Marquess and Meredith were the most interesting characters. Other than Meredith's distressing to break down in tears occassionally, she was a strong character who handles nearly everything thrown her way. Ms. Kelly is an author to watch for.

Book Summary

Since the loss of her parents, Meredith Burnley has contented herself with a solitary life looking after her half-sister, Annabel. But Meredith’s peace is shattered when her uncle schemes to marry her off to his son in order to gain her inheritance. Desperate, Meredith has only one choice: to flee with Annabel to their estranged grandparents’ home. But their arrival soon reignites a family scandal—and kindles unexpected romance…

Happily reunited with the girls, Annabel’s grandmother resolves to convince her nephew, Stephen Mallory, the Marquess of Silverton, to abandon his rakish lifestyle and wed Annabel. Stephen is clearly captivated—but with the wrong sister! Determined to make Meredith his own, Stephen embarks on a seduction that will leave her with no choice but to surrender to his touch…

Author Note

Inspiration for stories comes from all kinds of places—movies, a friend’s life, a conversation we overhear in a café. The inspiration for my novel, MASTERING THE MARQUESS, came from a topic which captured my imagination in school.

I spent several years in graduate school studying the theme of women and madness in 18th and 19th century British literature. Women were sometimes committed to asylums by their male relations, for a variety of reasons. Sometimes these relatives decided the unfortunate woman was troublesome or disobedient, and the best punishment for that was confinement. In other cases, they simply wanted access to the poor woman’s money. I thought the later reason would make a great basis for a story, plus I would get to use some of the arcane bits of knowledge that had been floating around in my brain since graduate school!

So even though MASTERING THE MARQUESS is a Regency novel, I included elements of a classic gothic tale, including incarceration in a madhouse. It’s a suspenseful storyline that places both the heroine and her sister in extreme danger.

This kind of suspenseful storyline allowed me to explore some really fascinating themes, which I wanted to develop through the actions and emotions of my heroine. Meredith is a very serious person, and she’ll do anything to protect the people she loves. She’ll sacrifice her own needs and desires, especially to protect her little sister, Annabel. Meredith’s had a hard life, and doesn’t expect much good to come her way. She’s much more tortured than my hero, Silverton, who has the world pretty much at his fingertips. Putting Meredith and her sister in danger allowed me to explore the themes of self-sacrifice and heroism and, ultimately, the redemptive power of love.

And the redemptive power of love is really what romance is all about, isn’t it? Happy reading!