My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Lady Aster Everleigh is ready to bear anything for her sister Isobel and that includes facing the man called the beast, Lord Nathaniel Harte and proposing marriage to him. Thane however is the least bit interested but when her guardian uncle’s machinations to get Isobel married to Edmund Cain, Earl of Beaumont who had destroyed Astrid’s reputation nine years ago, Astrid sees red and decided to take matters in her own hands. Running away and taking employment in the Duke of Beswick’s residence, Astrid does not feel intimidated by Thane or his wrath. She refuses to see the scars that has marred his face and body giving him the nickname ‘The Beast’ and thus shunned by the polite society.
This is my first book by Amalie Howard and to say I fell in love with her writing would be an understatement. It was not just the main characters but the supporting ones that had me howling with laughter. Aunt Mabel, the lovable but throw caution to the winds aunt who cares two hoots about society and its norms, the valet, Fletcher and loyal butler Culbert all of them caring for Thane in their own way, fighting to make a point and making him see reason, each of them had such amazing character sketch that the pages in the book just flew.
Thane’s hard to love demeanor and Astrid’s snarky and witty comebacks and quips were a joy to read and their loving chemistry was delightful. The growth of love between Astrid and Thane from friendship to love in spite of the attraction between them was credibly done and gave a solid twist to the age old story of Beauty and the Beast.
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Beauty and the Beast meets Taming of the Shrew in this laugh-out-loud and heartfelt Regency romance.
Lord Nathaniel Harte, the disagreeable Duke of Beswick, spends his days smashing porcelain, antagonizing his servants, and snarling at anyone who gets too close. With a ruined face like his, it’s hard to like much about the world. Especially smart-mouthed harpies—with lips better suited to kissing than speaking—who brave his castle with indecent proposals.
But Lady Astrid Everleigh will stop at nothing to see her younger sister safe from a notorious scoundrel, even if it means offering herself up on a silver platter to the forbidding Beast of Beswick himself. And by offer, she means what no highborn lady of sound and sensible mind would ever dream of—a tender of marriage with her as his bride.